i went to align my car today. the mec told me they aligned the wheels but a pull to the right is till there. they said my tires are worn uneven and that i would need tire balancing. i called discount tire and they said tire balance wouldnt help at all.help
It's unlikely that tire wear would cause a pull and it's CERTAIN that a bad wheel balance won't cause a pull. These people must take you for an idiot. A lot of alignment shops will roll your car to calibrate the vehicle to the scanners and then just move the heads (the reflective sensors that bounce back the flashing red light) instead of actually adjusting the mechanical aspect of the vehicle to change the camber and caster on the computer and then adjust the toe after. Camber/Caster are what cause a pull. A lot of shops in my area are notorious for bumping the heads. Ensure that the tires are properly inflated all around and ask them to give you a BEFORE and AFTER printout of the alignment specs. If it's possible to watch the technician do your alignment then make sure he doesn't turn those heads while the red lights are flashing! They should redo the alignment for free.
Two different things - balancing the tires will help to avoid the tire from shaking or bouncing when driving, whereas an alignment is to keep the wheels pointed straight ahead. 4 tire balance will be approx 25 to 50 dollars, and an alignment can be anywhere from $ 75 to several hundred $$; just depends on the shop doing the work. Get estimates for both repairs from at least 3 shops before getting the work done
there are, in general, 3 reasons for excessive tire wear. 1: tire pressure not within spec. 2: lack of rotation. 3: bad alignment. a pull to the right could be caused by a low tire, which will cause uneven tire wear. make sure to keep what the manufacturer suggests in each tire, generally speaking it's 30 psi for passenger cars and 35 psi for light duty trucks. after you've verified proper tire pressure, you'll need to look back on your maintenence history and find when the last tire rotate was. if it was more than 6,000 miles, it's time for a rotate. the drive wheels go straight forward or back and the non drive wheels criss cross to the front or back. this will ensure that the tires make their way completely to each corner before going back to their original position. if properly rotated, tires can last twice as long. bad camber angles or improperly set toe-in or toe-out will cause the fastest tire wear. if you had yours aligned, and you trust the repair facility , you should look into the other realms of tire wear. however, if you think you might have gotton jipped, go back and explain your point of view. hope this helps NOTE: tire imbalance has nothing to do with alignment angles or tire wear. it is simply an inconvienence going 65 down the interstate. vibrations can vary widely from 1st order, to 4th order.
