I've been friendly arguing with an acquaintance about tire changes. They're trying to tell me you should get an alignment every time you get new tires. I've never heard of this in my 45 years of existence. I've always heard if your doing modification or repair that you need to, or an accident of some sort.

What say you?

 

I've never heard of that either. I can think of no reason you'd want to unless it'd been several years since your last alignment. You might just want to get it checked. If the old tires were evenly worn there's probably no reason to. If the old tires do have uneven wear, it'd be a good idea to get an alignment even before they're due for a change.

 

It wouldn't hurt to get an alignment, but unless your tires are wearing unevenly as Btwyx mentioned, it's most likely a waste of money. Does your acquaintance work at a tire shop?

 

+1 on that. I'd add if the old tires were evenly worn but wore out more quickly than expected, that'd be another reason to get an alignment (too much toe could do that).

 

Lol, he's retired. No pun intended..

 

I'm guessing he's thinking of the wrong term. He's probably thinking of "balance" instead of alignment since that's more standard with getting new tires.

 

The Goodyear Store that I deal with always check the alignment when I buy new tires. The Mini tires aren't as expensive as the ones on my Vette or 3/4 ton Suburban, but I still get it checked. Cheap insurance.

 

I remember it being popular back in the 60-70's to get the alignment done with new tires. I think back in the day, new tires were considered a major investment, hence the alignment to maximize the life..

 

Maybe it's 'cause I grew up back in the day, but at close to $1500 for the Vette and $900 for the Suburban, I consider it a major investment. The Mini, not so bad. The last set of Eagle GT's I put on it cost less than $500. They still checked the alignment for me though. None needed.

 

My 'friend' (retired navy) used to align his own tires every time he rotated. He's very particular about getting as much out of his cars as he can.

... honestly I think he did it because if you're going 100+ miles in a car too old for airbags, you want your tires to be in the best shape they possibly can be.

 

If you live in an area with smooth roads and you notice no uneven wear on your tires before replacing them, then you could spare the cost of an alignment until you notice uneven wear on the new tires.

However most of us live in areas where the roads are poor and full of potholes which we drive over daily. We are not only in risk of damaging our suspension, wheels and tires, but also throwing the alignment out.

In several cars which I have used for autocrossing I have done alignment more than once a year to fine tune settings. Even in as little as 6 months I have noticed that alignment can be different enough that it could make a difference in street tire wear. I run Extreme Summer tires for street use so I don't really worry about wear since I replace tires often. In particular toe settings in front and to a milder degree front camber can be different right to left due to poor roads.

A small difference in alignment settings is not going to be a big problem for street driving and likely a minimal risk for tire wear. But what happens if the alignment is already starting to go bad and now you hit a road hazzard and knock it off even more?
For example OEM alignment is usually slight toe in for the front and more toe in for the rear, what if one side is already starting to toe out a little, then it starts to toe out more. You have one side toe in while the other wide toe out, handling when turning may be affected and the dragging of the tire at an angle when the car is going straight is going to cause treadwear. Unless you are watching for wear each week you may miss the early signs of mis-alignment and it could get so bad that you loose one of the tires.

I like to get really good tires and often pay $180+ per tire, I want them to last if possible, you have to see how your budget works when investing in expensive tires. If you run tires that are $75 each then thats a different situation.

When I use street tires that are all season I can usually get them to last 4 to 5 years and wear is OK when they need replacing. At that time if I have not done alignment I will often choose to do alignment before putting on the new set of tires, partly for handling and partly to get the most out of my new tires.

Honestly I find very few owners watch their tires for uneven wear often enough to catch problems at an early stage. When I was racing my MINI more often I would be changing from street to race tires once every 1-2 weeks and inspecting the tires for wear.

I do not think that the OP was confusing tire balancing (which needs to be done when mounting a new tire) with wheel alignment.

A word about alignment. I once took my MINI with coilovers to my local Goodyear shop to do an alignment. They accepted it then called me to say they could not perform an alignment to OEM specs because they lacked the tools. I shrugged my shoulders and took it to my normal performance alignment shop. Don't assume that your local garage can do a proper alignment.

If you ask a tire shop whether you should get alignment when replacing a set of tires, they will likely not turn away business and say yes we can do that for you. Check with your local brake and alignment shop and ask what their opinion is on when it is needed to get an alignment. Some shops are very practical and will tell you only align if you see uneven tire wear. Other shops may say that in your local area the roads are so bad they often see damaged rims and tires and alignments knocked out of OEM specs.

 

If his car was old enough to not have airbags then it is also possible that his alignment was subject to minor changes from driving on his local roads. Some suspensions tolerate bad roads less than other designs.

If he had checked his alignment in the past and noticed there WAS a difference in as little time as when he was to rotate tires then YES, it would be easy enough to check his own alignment and do minor changes to bring it back to his specs.

Tire rotation can be as early as every 3000-5000+ miles, it varies. More often if you want more even wear for the life of the tire.

If his alignment was more aggressive for performance driving then it would be more critical to keep the settings in the right place for better use of his performance tires. Tires used at their limit may require more negative camber so more of the tread is used more evenly from inside to outside. In addition front toe settings will be slightly toe in (for more crisp turn in response) but not too far as to affect normal street driving.

 

I agree that if you don't have some kind of uneven tire wear on an old set, a new set shouldn't require an alignment. I do recall from way back when my Dad (rest his soul) used to have an alignment done every time he put new tires on a car. My impression at the time was that he did it as a preventative measure as though something might have changed from the old tire to the new, or the slippers just fit different. But he was rather **** like that, so.... Perhaps he had a bad experience for failing to do an alignment when he should have once upon a time, long, long ago?

 

Sales tactic used by chain tire shops.

Only really needed if old tires show major (tire angle) wear. Modifications, part replacement, accident, etc.. Yes as you noted.

Balancing must be done with new tires.. (Often useful to have done every few years or so.)

Tip - most chain (if not all) tire shops adjust only front toe. Major adjustments needing shims or extra hardware are often blown off. Some shops will just mess with tire pressure until the car goes straight. It's easy to "fool" the computer to make some angles look right (such as caster.)

 

This is all kind of what I thought. He's a bit old school, and no I didn't mean balancing. Thanks for the replies!

 

It Depends....not the answer you expected ?

Suspension components wear out and for 1st Gen MINI owners they are prone to strut tower deformation...so it depends.

If you do 30 - 40K miles between tire purchases then YES have a 4 wheel alignment done by a MINI alignment specialist.

While others are driving slow in inclement weather you'll be tracking straight thru the puddles, lakes and rivers in the road and between lanes during the snow plowing season.

 

I do typically do a 4 wheel alignment everytime I get 4 new tires. But my guys will check it for free and if nothing needs changes no charge. But they also give me the printout, that way you can keep it with the tire warranty. If you ever have to make a warranty claim on the tires they can't say your alignment was the cause.

 

I've heard this all the time. But several of my friends are mechanics and many of the times I heard it was when they were trying to sell it to innocent customers.

Due to the nature of my driving I get one at least every tire change. And my tires don't last long.

 

Tire Shop Employees are Titled "Driveway Salesmen" allignments are one of the things they sell to customers who don't know enough about tires to look and see if the old ones wore in a way that would indicate a need for it. Remember when they would check it free with a tire change then charge You for it only if they found a problem.
THEY ALWAYS FOUND A PROBLEM!

 

All depends on who you are dealing with I guess. I've been using the same tire shop for the last 16 years, and as far as the six vehicles they have serviced, they always checked the alignment at no charge. And the majority of the times they didn't require an alignment. As I stated in an earlier post, if I'm paying $900-$1500 (not for the MINI obviously) for a set of tires I consider an alignment cheap insurance.

 

I picked up a pyrometer. A Longacre 50370. With it you can dial in the perfect tire pressure. You can check alignments, and be aware of falling suspension parts, see if camber is correct. Long before your tires start to show wear. All this without ever getting an alignment.

 

I think you mean a Temperature Compensated Tire Pressure Gauge




a pyrometer is simply a temperature gauge but in "engine applications" is typically used to monitor exhaust gas temps ....

Function
A pyrometer measures the temperature of the engine through its exhaust fumes. A probe is placed within the flow of exhaust air to receive the best gauge of how hot the engine fumes are becoming. Normal operating ranges are from 300 degrees to 1200 degrees. Any fluctuations from this range can damage the engine.



http://www.autozone.com/autozone/acc...Gauge/_/N-26aw

in my ship days with 16 cylinder 3500 HP diesels (similar to those used in dies' electric locomotives) there was a guage on the exhaust port of every cylinder and the temps were monitored constantly. A cyl' temp sliding out of range was a warning of bad things happening . . .

 

It takes 12 tire temps and stores them. Front pass out/mid/inner then rear pass, rear driver and driver front. It displays all the tire temperatures, also can tell you what your tire temp is at 80 degrees no matter what temp the tire really is. It's a great tool and picks up on problems real quick. That and it's just fun to use. So yes it's a pyrometer and an air gauge that makes it a temperature compensating air gauge.

 

i am a mechanic and work at a shop that sells tires and performs alignments. it is recommended and good practice to have an alignment done every year or atleast checked to make sure you are getting the most even wear on the tires. a simple pot hole hit can cause an alignment to be out, and with tires costing $400-$1000 for a set of 4 i think $75 (avg alignment price) is cheap insurance

 

ya gotta luv it

people will pay for oil changes every 3000 miles despite experts telling them this just is not necessary anymore: "I'm protecting my investment"


but an alignment check when putting on new tires or perhaps annually .. "waste of money"

yep, ya gotta luv it.

where I take my car for oil changes they do an alignment check for free - the oil change runs me 20 for dino 40 for synthetic. they have not seen a need for an actual alignment in 2 years ... but I got the read outs from the machine ... and can see changes if/when they DO occur . . .

yep - cheap insurance

but rock your boat as you wish .... that's what I do . . .