How often for wheel alignment?

My wife took our new Camry 2007 SE V6 in for oil change at 5,000 miles and the dealer tries to pressure her into an alignment saying she "needs it everytime she does an oil change." Luckily she gave me a call and I told her no and it's bull that you need it every oil change.

However, this does raise an interesting question, how often should I do it? I know the old conventional wisdom is every 10,000 to 15,000 miles but someone has told me that you don't need it ever if your car don't steer to the side.

Thanks for the replies.

Reply to
Big Blue
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Carefully check the wear on your front tires. If the tire wear is even, and the car is easy to steer straight ahead without swerving off the road, then you probably do not need an alignment. However, improper inflation can also cause a tire to wear unevenly, and to not steer straight.

If you do need an alignment (and your tire wear is uneven for any reason), the best time to get one is right after you replace the front tires. The rear should not need an alignment unless you have suffered some damage back there.

My 98 Camry V6 XLE (only 60K miles) has never been aligned.

Reply to
Mark A

My 92 Corolla Wagon is just about to 200,000 miles and it has never had an alignment....and the tires wear just fine...

Reply to
Scott in Florida

There is no manufacturer-recommended interval for having the alignment checked, and I do not bother with my car unless I notice one or more of the following symptoms:

Steering wheel not centered Uneven or unusual tread wear (invest in an inexpensive tread depth gauge - well worth the $10). Vehicle drifting or pulling to one side

In a modern vehicle, when it is time to get an alignment, get a 4 wheel alignment, not just a front-end alignment.

Reply to
Ray O

I've yet to have a Toyota needing a wheel alignment. My Sienna goes straight as an arrow, even with my hands off the wheel.

Reply to
dbu'

I agree with Ray on this one, with a tiny caveat. I think it is okay to drift slowly to the right because this can come from the crown in the road sending the car to the lowest side of the pavement. One has to discern if the drift is caused by the roadway or the suspension, but I give the roadway some of the credit for the error. The freeway has enough crown to send the car to the side at an imperceptable rate unless one removes his hands from the steering wheel to see how straight the car will go.

Reply to
Jeff Strickland

Heh.

Reply to
Gary L. Burnore

I think some vehicles seem to go out of alignment rather quickly and with monotonous regularity....I'm thinking the large Fords of the early 1960s for example. I knew a man who had one and had to have it realigned a number of times. But in my experience with Toyotas, (3) I've never had to have a wheel alignment, the tires wear quite well, and even in my '97 Camry, you can leave hands off the wheel and drive on a flat highway for a mile before you have to tweak it a bit. Just like being on tracks. I'm sure folks who make a habit of parking too close to the curb, or drive over curbing, etc. may have more opportunity and need to get alignments.

The fact that a Toyota dealer (or his service writer) states that you need a wheel alignment with every oil change sort of indicates that the next payment on his boat is due. That's why dealers get bad reputations, and rightly so. If dealers charged reasonable labor rates and didn't overdo their service requirements, they might get more business than they do. I for one would sooner deal with one or two mechanics I KNOW and who know me, than with a mega dealer whose employees think of my car as just another job, to be dealt with as quickly as possible to get onto the next job.

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Reply to
mack

My Corolla 1200's (1974 and 1978, both brand new) were HORRIBLE at keeping alignment! The OEM tires wore through rather rapidly (surprise!) and when I put new sets on the alignment had to be done. I attribute this to the

1200 being such a light car that they put light-duty suspension pieces that weren't quite up to the task. IIRC, I bent an A-arm on one of the cars (don't quote me, I was young and wet behind the ears. Electronics I could handle, cars were a Foreign Language then...) and had it replaced under warranty.

OTOH, my 1980 Corolla SR5 needed an alignment ONCE in it's entire 247,000 mile life, and I can't recall ever having an alignment done on the Hachiroku. I think my Mom's '86 Camry has never had an alignment, but it only has 84,000 miles on it, and is only on it's 3rd set of tires (Mostly due to age and dry-rot rather than wear!)

I messed with the suspension on my Celica after having a new rack put in, I had that aligned once and drove it 30,000 before it's 'retirement', and I had the Supra looked at when it had new tires. It has slightly worn bushings that need to be replaced; it will need an alignment afterwards, but it has no nasty habits and the tech said it's so close to spec he wasn't going to waste my time or money aligning it.

I think the OP needs to find another Service department, or call the Service Manager or General Manager and ask them what the hell is going on, telling a woman she needs an alignment at every oil change!!!

Reply to
Hachiroku

Mine too. Tomes

Reply to
Tomes

I think it was dbu' who stated:

The '05 Camry, with just over 20K miles is like that, but after driving it this weekend I realized this morning on the way to work that I've been correcting for the '06 xB, at 9K miles, that tries ever so slightly to veer off to the left if I let go of the wheel.

It's a Toyota too, and that ain't right. It's only had commuting duty

-- ten miles to work and ten miles home on county roads -- and occasional short trips mostly on highways . . . .

That should be a warranty item, shouldn't it?

-Don

Reply to
Don Fearn

I think that adjustments are only covered for 90 days.

Reply to
Ray O

=============== That's true. However it can also come from "radial pull" where the tire sidewalls are manufactured with slightly different stiffness between sides which makes your tire roll like a styrofoam coffee cup so try switching front tires side to side --- if the direction of the pull changes it's the tires. Sometimes new tires do this and should be able to be exchanged under the tire warranty as a manufacturing defect.

Reply to
nospampls2002

if theres actually a problem, sure. "ever so slightly" might be considered in tolerance. if your dealers any good, theyll go ahead and put it on the alignment rack for free.

Reply to
SoCalMike

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