Alignment with 4yr old S-techs

[JustinVGT]

Earlier this week I rotated my tires and found the front pair to have badly worn on the inner edge. I had never seen it worn like that in the past almost 6 years. I figured it must have something to do with the alignment. So I took it to the shop and thought I’m going for a $70 alignment. They set it up on the machine and came back to me with a $480+ estimate! Ouch, I was a little shocked! Turns out the camber was off quite a bit on the front and they had to install a camber bolt to correct it to spec. The rear was slightly off spec and they recommended installing shims on the rear hubs. I decided to wait on the rear shims since I had not noticed any abnormal wear there, it has probably been off all these years since it is a solid rear axle, and not to mention it more than doubled the cost to install them. I installed my S-tech springs almost 4 years ago and had the alignment done 1-2 weeks after the install. The shop made some minor adjustments back then, but it didn’t take much correction. I was a little surprised to find such a large change and the bad wear on my front tires this week. I understand the suspension has most likely settled a bit over the past several years, but the tires have worn fine all this time except the last ~6 months. I’m sure the shop was not ripping me off because the mechanic was really cool and I asked if he could show me on the car and explain everything. I watched them use the computerized system and make all the adjustments. I also just enjoy learning how everything works and now have a better understanding of how all the adjustments are made.I was just wondering if many others with S-techs or other lowering springs have had their alignments off much. Now that many of us have had our springs on for a while, there is probably more experience on the board here. I remember back when I was first researching lowering springs, people were concerned about blown struts, accelerated strut wear, etc. My car is approaching 88k miles, about 63k/4 yrs with the s-techs and 18s and this alignment seems to be the only issue. The struts seem to be fine right now. I have also hit some really bad pot holes a few times where I even pulled over expecting to find damage and fortunately haven’t had any. Those of you lowered, how have your alignments been? Any feedback on getting rear shims? I don’t have the results sheet with me right now to show how off everything was, but I can get that info later.

[Raven]

You could buy a new set of struts and S-Techs for less than $480.00.I would try another alignment shop before spending any big bucks. Your struts could be wearing out with that mileage. I was told rear shims were recommended but have not seen any unusual tire wear without them.

[kevera]

Ouch,that seems quite high.I replaced the front camber bolts,one per side.They were $8 each,and took 5 mins to install.I went with the kit in the back,I wanted it as close to stock as possible,and they cost $18 for the kit.I brought mine to a Lexus dealer because they have a cool alignment machine,much better than must places.For a grand total of $140 Canadian.I've been keeping an eye on mine and haven't noticed any wear yet.

[JustinVGT]

I had them go ahead and install the camber bolts and set the alignment for the front end. Now looking back, I could have bought those bolts and installed them myself, then taken it in to get adjusted correctly. I installed the springs myself so taking out and replacing the one bolt would have been easy. Oh well, live and learn, but also that would have taken more time and now I'm already done. Taking it to a different shop wouldn't have made a difference. I watched them making the adjustments as the computer screen showed everything being lined up correctly.

[Sublimewind]

Justin,Did you happen to get a print out of the before and after numbers??? You would have to ba WAY off on camber to get serious inside wear like that, think of a bagged Ford Ranger... It's more likely that your toe was out really bad from hitting the potholes you mentioned... That would MUCH easier for me to settle with.. Anytime you run such a low profile/lowered suspension, you run the risk of of knocking thing out easier when you hit a pothole... you have MUCH less complience in the working system.... Honestly, being that you didn't maybe know much about the grand picture of the alignment, it may have been EASY for them to hose you, even with you standing right there.. IDK, I wasn't there, i'm just throwing this out for you to chew on... The best defense aginst getting taken advantage of, is being a well informed customer...

[JustinVGT]

Yeah, I'll post the before and after numbers when I get home. It has the charts and numbers. I am pretty sure they did not hose me with this whole thing. My reason being I saw them put on the sensors on the wheels and watched them go through the whole calibration system with the computer several times. The computer tells them step by step what to do and it shows what the sensors were reading all the time. I saw the initial readings, how off everything was right after they set it up. I then watched the computer screen as they adjusted the bolts and saw how sensitive the sensors were. They eventually got everything into the correct specs, but it took quite a bit of time.I know when they first came to me with the quote, I was thinking I was getting hosed but after seeing everything in person, I do not believe it was the case.

[scherry2]

well I just went in and had new tires put on in november. I had them check the alignment and everything was still in spec. don't know what I did with the spec sheet. if I find it I'll post the numbers.the ride seems just as stiff as the day I put them on.

[Sublimewind]

Quote, originally posted by JustinVGT »Yeah, I'll post the before and after numbers when I get home. It has the charts and numbers. I am pretty sure they did not hose me with this whole thing. My reason being I saw them put on the sensors on the wheels and watched them go through the whole calibration system with the computer several times. The computer tells them step by step what to do and it shows what the sensors were reading all the time. I saw the initial readings, how off everything was right after they set it up. I then watched the computer screen as they adjusted the bolts and saw how sensitive the sensors were. They eventually got everything into the correct specs, but it took quite a bit of time.I know when they first came to me with the quote, I was thinking I was getting hosed but after seeing everything in person, I do not believe it was the case.Very cool man, that's all I wanted to hear, if you are happy, i'm happy..!!! I'd still like to see the spec sheet, I wouldn't believe you could get extreme camber that would have eaten up your tires from a stock/lowered set up... if it were coilovers, with adjustable top plates, sure... but with the factory adjustors, I wouldn't believe it.., but, i'm not up on Vibe suspension like on my subie, so I could be WAY off... cheers..

[JustinVGT]

Okay, here are the before and after results of the alignment.Before Front Camber: L: -1.1 degrees R: -1.4 degreesAfter Front Camber: L: -0.3 degrees R: -0.6 degreesMfg. Specs are -1.3 min and 0.2 max degreesBefore Front Toe: L: 1/16" R: 1/32"After Front Toe: L: 1/32" R: 0"Mfg. Specs are -1/16" to 1/16" maxFor the rear there were no changes made, so here are the actuals vs. mfg. specs.Actual Rear Camber: L: -1.4 degrees R: -1.5 degreesMfg. Specs: -2.0 min to -1.0 max degreesActual Rear Toe: 5/32" both left and right.Mfg. Specs: 0"-1/8"So, actually looking at the numbers, it does not appear the camber was really that far off the min mfg. specs. Just to note, the shop did not tell me it was way off, that's just what I was thinking. They told me the camber could not be adjusted unless camber bolts were installed and that is what increased the price so much. Can there be any other cause to bad inside edge wear of a tire?

[JustinVGT]

Another update... I'm usually very good about monitoring my tire pressure and keeping it to the correct pressure, but the past ~6 months I was procrastinating. I checked them yesterday and 3 were at 24 psi and one was at 18 psi! I put them back up to 32 psi. I know with the cold weather they lose pressure and I should have checked a while back. I did not think low pressure would cause bad wear only on the inside edge of the tire, I thought it would be both edges. Any opinions on low pressure causing only inner edge wear?

[Mavrik]

camber or toe being out can cause inner tire wear. I put the rear camber shims in on my Vibe to bring it in cause it was out after I lowered my Vibe. I never had any tire wear issues but I watched my tire pressure and my alignment all the time.Never needed camber bolts though... you must have wacked something out.

[engineertwin2]

If your camber is inwards (top of wheel leaning into the center of the car), then low pressure would cause excess wear on the inside of the tires. Vice versa for outwards camber. The tire flattens parallel to the ground so your camber will affext the location of wear.

[JustinVGT]

That makes complete sense and would explain why it suddenly happened only this past ~6 months. Low tire pressure combined with slightly off camber leading inward. Thanks for the input everyone!