Does Alignment need to be checked due to car accident

[fnkngrv]

Here's another thing to consider. It is hella easy to knock your toe out. All it takes is a good pothole, etc. My rear passenger's wheel is out and on the border of acceptable range. I have not seen ANY mpg differences personally so they only thing that I could guess would be that your toe would have to be way out to get worse mpg?

[Hershey]

The total toe for the front is in the middle . Thought that's what it's supposed to be . . This is new to us . Have to wait and see if any drop in gas mileage and keep an eye on the tire wear . Plan to take it for a drive that produces good gas mileage . Should be 120 miles or so .

[Hershey]

Can the adjustments effect the tire wear than that of the old settings ? Thus having an impact on rolling resistance ( fuel economy ) . This make any sense ? Not sure how to explain it .

[Viperoni]

Originally Posted by Hershey

The total toe for the front is in the middle . Thought that's what it's supposed to be . . This is new to us . Have to wait and see if any drop in gas mileage and keep an eye on the tire wear . Plan to take it for a drive that produces good gas mileage . Should be 120 miles or so .

I don't understand what you mean by "in the middle"... the total toe spec is -0.07 to +0.37, and you are sitting at -0.01, which is toed out by a miniscule amount.

Aside from 0.00 toe, you can't get much better - as the amount of scrubbing your tires will experience from front toe issues is, for all intents and purposes, 0.

[CoryM]

Originally Posted by Hershey

Thanks . A bit disappointed . Should it be taken back ? Or will they dance around it and then tempers be flaring ? I would point out the settings of the right and left toe to 0.07 and they would likely say something like are you a technician and / or where did you get this information ?

There isn't much point taking it back. It is w/i spec and I doubt you will notice any change in MPG or tire wear. Chances are they will just say it's w/i spec and that's as far as you will get. If you play nice and explain that you would like to see it closer to ideal they might work with you but it really depends on the people there. The mechanic will be annoyed to redo it because he loses $$, but it's not his choice. The foreman or manager can tell him to do it and he has to. The only other thing I can see is if your steering wheel isn't centered well and taking it back. Even if you are careful you get the odd alignment where all the specs are good, but the wheel is slightly off-center. This way if you bring it back with that concern, you could also ask them to get the toe closer to perfect than that.

The reason you don't set toe to 0° is because you want to be at 0° while driving down the road, not sitting still. As you are moving the bushings flex due to drag on the tires, and drive forces. The engineers calculate how much they will flex, and adjust the toe specification so it is as close to 0° as possible while driving.

End of the day, your car is still w/i spec, your steering wheel is straight (presumably), and you will probably not notice any negative effects. Was your money well spent? That's for you to decide. I would have done the alignment better, the guys up front would have explained it better (I hope), and you would have spent $109+tax to get the steering wheel straightened and toe set to as close to perfect as possible.

If it were me, I would take it back and ask them to do better just for the sake of principles. Do it right or don't do it at all (especially when charging for it!).

I hope I've been helpful.
Cory

[Hershey]

Want to say thanks for all your input . Still undecided on taking it back . Took it for a fairly long drive that included gusty winds up to 25 form the W/N.W. , temps in the upper 60s' , some very steep hills , city driving , and the 2 of us . Seems like it was more difficult to get gains of .1 on the Eco-Meter where I usually do . Take this route most of the time for past 4 yaers . Maybe it's just me knowing the results of the alignment . It was quite windy with a extra load of groceries of about 60 lbs. on the way back home for about 35 miles . The tires were put to 36 before leaving . The Eco-Meter has been reading .5 lower than the calculated gas mileage . If the calculated ends up being lower for next few fills that may be a tip off that the alignment is off a bit . Time will tell . Here are the results so far .

[Hershey]

Called the service center and spoke to the manager . Said all within specs and can't guarantee any improvements . So , wlll pass on it . May take it to a tire shop that checks alignment for free and get their opinion . Had to fill up the car with 1 blinking bar . The Eco read .146 (40.6 ) lower than the calculated gas mileage of 40.74 . Had been anywhere from .4 > .6 lower before the alignment . This could be do to 2 cold mornings of upper 30s' > low 40s' and her having to wait for school buses . So , not sure if any impact from the alignment . If so , not so bad . Tires are set at 36 p.s.i..