Alignment question...

[mjl1297]

My wife took her 2008 Toyota Yaris into a local tire merchant's shop to get her tires replaced. The merchant was unable to do an alignment on her car and tried to sell her a set of aftermarket shims for the two rear tires to adjust them. They were also unable to adjust her front tires. In the notes section on the receipt they indicated the following--

09/10/12--needs shims in back, recommended both sides. Shims $20, labor 30 each. Did not charge for alignment yet due to no adjustments are needed except shims. Mechanic tried to put a 15mm cambolt in on Right Front but could not get the numbers to improve so we took it back out.

Is this unusual with the Yaris sedan or does it sound as odd as I think it does?

[vten]

You should check how the tires need to be replaced on the first time . How the thread was ? Was it wear evenly, wear on the middle or the sides only ... The rear shim is to correct the camber and the toe ....

I don't see if you need any shim as if you're not lowered . The Yaris has a natural toe in and a slight neg camber .... Even so the front tire is usually needed to be replace faster than the rear .

I would go to other shop to get a different opinion .

[mjl1297]

These were the original tires apart from the rear passenger tire which was replaced a little while back when the original was damaged beyond repair as the result of a puncture.

The other three tires were all worn to the point they needed replacing which is to be expected I suppose since the car has just under 52,000 miles. They said the tire we had replaced still had about 2/3 of the tread left but was starting to show signs of scuffing and shoulder wear.

Again does this sound normal?

[vten]

If they are wear off on both sides of the shoulder , most likely because you didn't manage to have enough air pressure for the tire . Weekly checks would be great and look at the driver side bottom door ... It'll tell you how much psi youll need for the tires .
I normally put about 32psi on a stock tire and higher up to 40psi on a low profile tire .

Hopefully this help :)

[CoryM]

... Mechanic tried to put a 15mm cambolt in on Right Front but could not get the numbers to improve so we took it back out

I agree that is odd. The cambolts typically get 1.5° of camber adjust. Meaning your car was more than 2° out. That is a LOT unless the car was crashed. Is the car a rebuild or ex-rental car?

If you have a good relationship w/ this shop I would find more info out. Otherwise take it to another shop for an alignment check. If you get a copy of the printout I can advise further.

Cheers.
Cory