tech2

then the problem is the alignment. take it back the shop and test drive with the service manager and show him/her the off-center steering wheel. A good shop will do it again if its obviously out. One or two degrees off-center(steering wheel not alignment angles), you should live with. Anything more I would want re-done if its my vehicle.

Sometimes its not the tech's fault. There is only so much an operator can control....the other factor is the equipment. Some companies do want to spend the $$ on a quality hunter aligner.


post a pic of the alignment printout.

73shark

Are they setting the steering wheel to dead center before doing the alignment?

blueinterceptor

I think the try to put it dead center but have a close enough mentality.

MDTAHOE

Technically the "2 wheel alignment" has gone away and been replaced by the front Thrust Alignment". Any decent alignment machine is going to do a Thrust alignment automatically. Someone would have to go in and deliberately set the machine to not use the rear as a reference. Any dealer is going to do a Thrust Alignment on a truck. To do a 4 wheel alignment this day in age you would actually need to adjust something in the back. If an adjustment is made to the rear of a vehicle ( with 4 wheel capability ) the the front must be reset to "match" the rear. You can never adjust rear only. When a customer gets a "2 Wheel alignment" most of the time they will get a Thrust Alignment or a "Four Wheel Alignment". After the rear camber, caster, toe are set (if adjustable) then the front camber, caster (if adjustable, many cars only have a toe set) is set. Finally the steering wheel is level/centered and the toe is set. Any mechanic can take and run the machine green =good, red = bad. However just because they are green does not mean they are good. Any good alignment technician will be able to look at it and know/ understand the numbers to see if the vehicle will pull or wear tires. If the caster (which is adjustable on most trucks) is at the bottom of the green scale on the left side and at the top of the scale on the right side (both still green) it will pull left, to make it go straight the wheel would have to be steered right to make the truck go straight. Caster does not cause tire wear. Tire size or brand has zero effect on the alignment. Also any good alignment technician can correct a crooked steering wheel (not a pull) without hooking it back up to the alignment machine. Both tie rods would be turned equal amounts to the opposite direction that the wheel is off. It usually only take an 1/8-1/2 turn. As long as they are turned equally the the toe # is still the same. A pull could also be caused by the tires. This is called a radial pull. Tire Tech Information - Diagnosing Tire Pull No amount of alignments will fix it. The caster could be set higher to compensate but the first time the tires are rotated the truck will pull ( from the caster adjustment)

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete...currentpage=12