If I am replacing all 4 tires (w/ F1 GS-D3s ) but my car tracks straight and doesn't appear to have any particular wear issues, do I need a 4 wheel alignment? This morning at the dealer (car in for 35K service) they recommended it without even looking at the tires but my local MINI friends said I don't need it :smile: . I don't want to shell out the money if I don't need to do so.

 

Sorry I don't know the answer. But if it helps, dealers ALWAYS try to sell alignments. I personally wouldn't do it unless I noticed it during driving.

 

No, you don't necessarily need an alignment.

 

Hi Mike: If you haven't seen any wear problems on your old tires, no reason to get alignment just because your putting on new rubber. I assume the "dealer" you refer to is the Mini dealer and not the tire dealer. Regardless, I wouldn't let the "dealer" in question mount my tires as he is looking to rip you off

 

When my wife took her car into service a few years ago for an oil change, the clerk there insisted that my wife get her car aligned and get all 4 tires re-balanced to make sure she doesn't waste good money on tires..
even though the car was tracking fine, tires wearing flat, no issues
with alignment or balance.

Wife called me before she signed anything... I spoke to the clerk
(Honda) directly about this and had him apologize to my wife for trying to
sell her BS.

 

If you run your hand over the tread of all 4 tires, and the tread is very choppy or worn alot on one side of a tire vs the other side, you probably could use an alignment. Ideally the tread would be smooth and level.

If the tread is worn unevenly down the middle you probably have incorrect air pressure in that tire.

 

Not only do you probably not need an alignment, but apart from front toe - there are NO provisions to adjust any suspension alignment parameters on a stock MINI. ....not that the dealer wants you to know that

 

Assuming you have stock suspension (have been staying away potholes and other natural disasters) and your previous tires were wearing evenly-
Then no you don't have to get an alignment.

For the MINI in stock form you can only change toe settings for the front and rear. If your ride quality after changing your tires is smooth, you're fine.

I normally will take the extra step to routinely do alignment (on my other cars) because my tires last 2 or 3+ years and chances are the toe settings have been knocked out of perfect from road conditions and wear. I do this to assure that my tire wear and ride quality are optimized for the next 2 or 3 years.