Traveler Posted December 15, 2007 Share Posted December 15, 2007 When replacing your front tires, can a wheel alignment be done before the balancing and mounting of the new tires? Reason I ask is because my front tires are wearing excessively on the inner treads on the front. They seem to be wearing pretty bad. I want to make sure that there is nothing else wrong that a standard wheel alignment can't fix before putting two brand new tires on. I don't want to leave the tire shop with something else wrong, but I also don't want to get taken advantage of with any false claims of additional work AFTER they've installed the tires. Bottom line: Can a shop do a wheel alignment first with the old tires in place with no need of another alignment after the new tires are installed? Thanks in advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbf2530 Posted December 15, 2007 Share Posted December 15, 2007 (edited) When replacing your front tires, can a wheel alignment be done before the balancing and mounting of the new tires? Reason I ask is because my front tires are wearing excessively on the inner treads on the front. They seem to be wearing pretty bad. I want to make sure that there is nothing else wrong that a standard wheel alignment can't fix before putting two brand new tires on. I don't want to leave the tire shop with something else wrong, but I also don't want to get taken advantage of with any false claims of additional work AFTER they've installed the tires. Bottom line: Can a shop do a wheel alignment first with the old tires in place with no need of another alignment after the new tires are installed? Thanks in advance. Hi Traveler. :D A wheel alignment should be done after the new tires are installed. Sounds like your alignment may have too much negative camber. But it could also be a "toe" problem, or under-inflated tires (or any two, or all of the above). Good luck! :beerchug: Edited December 15, 2007 by bbf2530 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonas1022 Posted December 15, 2007 Share Posted December 15, 2007 What he said^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^. :shades: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NLPRacing Posted December 15, 2007 Share Posted December 15, 2007 I've heard the opposite as the wear pattern helps the guy aligning. But, since the machine goes off the wheel and not the tire, it really shouldn't matter. Also, if you haul around a lot of stuff in the trunk on a regular basis, make sure the trunk is loaded when you get the alignment done. Also, make sure your wheels are true. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Traveler Posted December 16, 2007 Author Share Posted December 16, 2007 Thanks guys. A relative was driving the car a couple of weeks ago and drove off the pavement onto a driveway. The problem was the driveway was washed out and they didn't realize it until the car dropped off about 7 inches off the pavement at about 15 mph. I wouldn't think that would have knocked the wheels out of alignment so severely...but something has because I know there wasn't that much wear just a month or so ago. I've been sick so I haven't been able to check the car until this week. My wife has been driving it, but she said it seemed to have been driving okay. I drove it earlier in the week and I didn't notice any pull either. It is, however, wearing evenly on both sides. Go figure. Anyway, I had a few thousand more miles on the tires, but now have $400 to spend Monday and I was needing tires for my truck more than the car. Oh, well. That's the way things go sometimes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthewq4b Posted December 16, 2007 Share Posted December 16, 2007 Thanks guys. A relative was driving the car a couple of weeks ago and drove off the pavement onto a driveway. The problem was the driveway was washed out and they didn't realize it until the car dropped off about 7 inches off the pavement at about 15 mph. I wouldn't think that would have knocked the wheels out of alignment so severely...but something has because I know there wasn't that much wear just a month or so ago. I've been sick so I haven't been able to check the car until this week. My wife has been driving it, but she said it seemed to have been driving okay. I drove it earlier in the week and I didn't notice any pull either. It is, however, wearing evenly on both sides. Go figure. Anyway, I had a few thousand more miles on the tires, but now have $400 to spend Monday and I was needing tires for my truck more than the car. Oh, well. That's the way things go sometimes. The alignment should be done with new rubber. The circumferance of the new tires will be larger than the old ones (naturally) aftecting the overall diameter of the tire. Also not all tires of the same size are exactly the same Diameter. If you align it with the old tires on the camber will be out with the new ones. Yes it will be point's of a percentage but it will still be out. If the car was dropped off a curb then ya the alignment has been knocked out. Of course what was knocked out Toe, Castor or Camber will depend on the suspension design. Matthew Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Traveler Posted December 17, 2007 Author Share Posted December 17, 2007 When you're replacing just two tires...aren't you suppose to put the new tires on the drive wheels? If so, I'll have to have them to rotate the back tires to the front. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbf2530 Posted December 17, 2007 Share Posted December 17, 2007 (edited) Hi Traveler. :D No. When replacing just two tires, the two new tires should always go on the rear of the car. This is the case whether the vehicle is FWD, RWD or AWD. Short story, this is to avoid an ill handling car with over-steering tendencies. Don't just take my word for it, go to LINK - Tire Rack for the expert advice. Good luck! :beerchug: Edited December 17, 2007 by bbf2530 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbf2530 Posted December 17, 2007 Share Posted December 17, 2007 (edited) Oooops. Sorry, double post. Edited December 17, 2007 by bbf2530 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Traveler Posted December 18, 2007 Author Share Posted December 18, 2007 Everything went okay...I suppose. It really didn't seem that much out of alignment before, but it does feel a bit better. Of course, reason for that is they put the new ones on the front. They didn't get to me for an hour and my son had a unexpected doctor's appointment, so I just didn't squabble about putting the new tires on the rear and rotating back to front. The back tires aren't that bad anyway and I can get them rotated next oil change. They charged me $137 for each tire for the Michelin Energy LX4s. Thanks again for all the info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbf2530 Posted December 18, 2007 Share Posted December 18, 2007 Everything went okay...I suppose. It really didn't seem that much out of alignment before, but it does feel a bit better. Of course, reason for that is they put the new ones on the front. They didn't get to me for an hour and my son had a unexpected doctor's appointment, so I just didn't squabble about putting the new tires on the rear and rotating back to front. The back tires aren't that bad anyway and I can get them rotated next oil change. They charged me $137 for each tire for the Michelin Energy LX4s. Thanks again for all the info. Hi Traveler. :D You're welcome! Good luck! :beerchug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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