2007 Prius Alignment question - how to read the readings?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by tampaite, Jan 16, 2017.

  1. tampaite

    tampaite Member

    Joined:
    Jul 29, 2011
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    Location:
    FL
    Vehicle:
    2014 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    Got 2 new tires, put them on the front . The rear tires are fairly new(less than a year old).

    Decided to goto my local trusted mechanic. After an hour, they tell me that they cannot align the rear wheel but did align the front wheel and since they couldn't *finish* the job, they wouldn't charge me but did suggest taking it to dealer.

    Attached is the before and after alignment readings.

    i see the rear tire toe is out of range.
    • The rear left one shows at -0.13 whereas the range is 0.03 to 0.28
    • The rear right one shows at 0.45 whereas the range is 0.28 to 0.03
    Do I need to take the car to Toyota dealer for alignment?


    Alignment_.JPG

    How do I read the numbers to know if they are bad and absolutely need an alignment to prevent wear/tear on the rear tires?

    Thanks.
     
    #1 tampaite, Jan 16, 2017
    Last edited: Jan 16, 2017
  2. 05PreeUs

    05PreeUs Senior Member

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    Location:
    MSP
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
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    To, technically the rear alignment is not adjustable. It *is adjustable* but the adjustment is neither built-in nor prescribed by TMC.

    Adjusting the toe and camber on the rear involves installation of shims - which IS NOT FACTORY APPROVED. However, there are no deleterious effects from doing this, as long as "adjustments" are being made; as opposed to "kludging" a bent or damaged axle so the vehicle will look *right*.

    You should seek to remove ~0.5* of Caster from each side and reduce toe (toe-out??? - not clear how this was measured, not in the traditional way).

    If their DIAGRAM is accurate....

    - Shims on bottom bolts of hubs to move TOP of tires in, more on RH than LH....
    - Shims on RR rear bolts to reduce toe-out (big change)
    - Shims on LR front bolts to reduce toe-in (small change)

    There is another post about doing exactly this, but I did not save it for reference.
     
    #2 05PreeUs, Jan 16, 2017
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