Anyone else having issues with their alignment?

I purchased my MCS in early July 07 and by September the alignemnt was out. I had it corrected in November, the dealership paid half for me - it only cost $90 anyway However, it seems to be out again already - both times pulling slightly to the left. Is it me, is it the car or these damn PA roads?

 

Check the tire PSI first if you haven't yet. If there is still a pull try rotating the tires front to back. See if that helps with the issue.

 

Dumb question time... is that something I could just do myself with the jack? And do you mean literally switch Front Left with Rear Left and Front Right with Rear Right?

 

Yep I mean just that..front to back on the same side. If there's a tire making the car pull this should fix it. As for a jack, when I did this I used a floor jack. The car is stiff enough to lift the whole side by the rear jack point. I haven't seen the stock jack so I don't know if I would trust it. If you have a friend that is even a little DIY this should be easy as pie.

 

Mine pulls to the left as well... also took delivery in July and have about 12k miles on it. I didn't think this was normal

 

Mine was delivered on 7/10/07 and it's been driving straight.

 

Would hitting nasty pot-holes on the interstate affect alignment?

 

It certainly could.

 

I had my alignment done today.. I did feel it pulling, but realized I needed it done because my front tires were wearing unevenly on the sides. $380 later...I was told the alignment is $230 and I should also rotate my tires and BALANCE them for $150. Am I getting ripped or what?

BTW-I got my car April 2007 and have 8700 miles on it.
I don't want my tires to wear down since they're over $400+ each!
Hope I'm doing the right thing..

 

380 for alignment?? I haven't done mine yet, still straight as an arrow, but I always get my alignments at sears, 4 wheel alignment is about 60 bucks, balance and rotate 30. I was talking to my honda dealer and mentioned that I had the alignment done at sears and he said they do good work. Any tire place will do fine. Get the specs for alignment, they are posted here somewhere some place do not have them yet. You don't have to go to the mini dealer for that, not at those prices.

 

As I said at the top, I paid $90 for mine at the dealer.....but they split the cost with me, so I guess the regular price is around $180.

 

Hopefully its just a tire. A tire can get what is called radial pull which will make the car pull to one side just like it would if it was out of alignment. If you swap the tires front to back and it goes away then you have a bad tire. Tire manufactures usually will warranty a tire if it has radial pull. Radial pull comes from a manufacturing defect (5 years of putting tires on during college).

 

my car was fine as delivered ( or so I thought--no pulling--no unusual tire wear)

Last month a pothole destroyed a wheel and tire so it had to be-realigned.
Infinitely better tracking with the hand done alignment. Tracks straght and true and centers out of turns much better.

Not cheap, but insurance paid 1/2 the bill. 2 hours labor to mount and balance the tire and align car ( he did rotate the tires as part of the deal) $280.

 

I had my wheels balanced and alignment check and adjusted at a couple independent tire places. It didn't cost anything like what you guys are paying to dealers. Neither place had the R56 specs. So, I had to provide them. A dealer was kind enough to send them to me.

 

Useful info which I have filed. Thanks, Robin.