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tigger19687

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 10, 2015
Messages
559
Location
MA
So I am here at my local guys who work on my big pig truck.
Brought in the 'i' for it's first lifetime alignment like I have for my truck.
The 'i' has such tiny tires that they have to take apart the bracket for the machine just to make it fit.
Hope it works.

How often do you all get your 'i' aligned ?
 
My "i" just happens to be at Mitsubishi dealer right now for a wheel alignment. Probably the first one it's had since new with only 3500 miles on it. What happened is I took it in to have the air bag light loooked at and I asked them to check the steering since it feels loose to me on the freeway. It's kind of like I had a loose tie rod end. I checked them visually myself while someone turned the wheel but they looked fine as far as I could tell. Mitsubishi looked at it and said the steering is fine (it always seems fine at low city speeds) but said the alignment was "a little off". I'll see if this alignment helps with that.

Btw: They had to replace the front air bag sensor so everything is fine with that.
 
tigger19687 said:
...How often do you all get your 'i' aligned ?
Say wot? :roll: I assiduously avoid potholes (easy to do with our nimble car, much to the consternation of cars behind) and occasionally check the tires for scrubbing, but so far have not taken any of the i-MiEVs into a shop. My past alignment experiences with other cars have not been good and I tend to avoid the whole issue unless the car pulls to one side or the tires show a problem.
 
$180 for a Lifetime alignment at Sullivan Tire.
I have it for my F-350 and it has paid for itself long ago.

Here in New England we have not to great roads, and with just last Winter alone taking out most of the roads, I figure it is worth it.

And the shortest cut thru to work is a bumpy road
 
ed5000 said:
My "i" just happens to be at Mitsubishi dealer right now for a wheel alignment. Probably the first one it's had since new with only 3500 miles on it. What happened is I took it in to have the air bag light loooked at and I asked them to check the steering since it feels loose to me on the freeway. It's kind of like I had a loose tie rod end. I checked them visually myself while someone turned the wheel but they looked fine as far as I could tell. Mitsubishi looked at it and said the steering is fine (it always seems fine at low city speeds) but said the alignment was "a little off". I'll see if this alignment helps with that.

Btw: They had to replace the front air bag sensor so everything is fine with that.
The results are in. The alignment seems to have worked! No more looseness on the freeway. I'm not sure what they did. Does the electric steering have any adjustments?
 
My alignment has also been a problem. I went to local tire dealer, who said they do not stock the imiev tires, but would bring them in to Hawaii if I needed them, but it would take a week. I asked for an alignment check, and they said the front could not be properly aligned, with no adjustments for the problem available (a built in bad alignment from factory!). I went to local dealer, and they said their test showed it was within the specs, so no problem, just keep buying new tires! (I now have 55k miles on my 2012 model).
The latest development is the loud noise coming from my left front, that the same tire dealer said that the problem was the wheel bearing, not the tires. I took it in to dealer, and they have determined that the wheel hub must be removed and the bearing changed, as it is a safety issue now, but that it was a warranty item, and they were sending for the bearings ASAP. More will be revealed! They will have my vehicle for at least a week to get the parts flown in, etc. They had been blaming my tires for way too long, so I am happy to get to the real problem, at last.
Aloha!
 
After putting on a set of front Continentals, I had some serious pull to the right. Had the dealer do an alignment when they installed the rear Dunlop tires. Turns out from the factory, both front tires were pointing right (left toed-in, right toed way out). I haven't figured out yet how that car went in a straight line before :lol: . My range improved slightly afterwards, too.

Caster, for the most part, is not adjustable on most vehicles. I don't see how camber would cause wheel bearing problems. That would mostly affect inner/outer tire wear, I would think. Toe would probably cause the most wheel bearing problems, with the wheel constantly trying to pull away from the car or push into the car, depending if it's toe-in or toe-out.

I thought I was having a wheel bearing issue as well. It turns out that the noise I was hearing is sidewall flex on the Continental front tires. I swapped the front tires between cars (Koorz has Yokohama, Bear has Continental), and the noise followed the tires. Bear drove silently for that week, but Koorz was making the noise because it was wearing the Continentals. It was more of a scrunch noise than a drone noise.
 
tigger19687 said:
How often do you all get your 'i' aligned ?
I get car alignments "as needed" - That is to say when I see a tire which is not wearing as it should

Like Joe, I drive my cars pretty hard but I avoid potholes and never run off the edge of the pavement, so alignments are rarely needed. How rarely? I have a 1994 Miata in the garage that I've driven the snot out of for many years and it still has the factory alignment on it - I've never taken it in for an alignment and even considering the way I drive it, the tires wear evenly and they last a looooong time

Our first iMiEV bought new in May of 2012 has 28,000 miles on it and looking at the tires, they have at least another 10 to 15K left in them. I don't see it going in for an alignment any time soon

Don
 
I get my truck aligned about once a year, maybe 14 months. It always needs it.

The 'i' really needed it was off, I think it was 0.75 and they reset it to 0.10
 
This makes for a few cars that were misaligned from the factory, or got tweaked prior to delivery.... Only thing I can think of besides a loose nut on the assembly crew would be if our front ends are a mite underbuilt, given that they were originally designed for the lighter gasoline i. My first i had serious toe-in from the factory and feathered front tires within 5000 miles. Wear evened out after that and I traded it in with original tires in need of replacement after 21k miles.

MR BEAN has always been good on tire wear, and since I've picked up two sets of salvaged tires already on rims, he's only been to a tire shop for TPMS synchronization. Probly oughtta do that alignment when I put on the winter wheels- he'll have nearly 50k miles by then, and I'll want to synch up the TPMS when wearing showshoes! I've been running the thin original tires with unsync'd sensors during this dry summer, but will switch to a set of low mileage tires on steelies once the rain begins, and have studless snows in case things get too slushy. Having to go to the dealer for TPMS synchronization is my only complaint, as local tire dealers couldn't read the i-MiEV TPMS.
 
Phximiev said:
What does it say on the repair summary?
It said "customer requests wheel alignment" and the final receipt says "wheel alignment" and $99. Not too much info there. I tried to get the service manager to tell me some more but there were 2 more customers he was helping. Overall I'm very happy with the results.

I do agree with the "if it ain't broke don't fix it"crowd here. I have a 2007 Prius with 152k miles since new and have had no wheel alignments yet and the tires still wear evenly. I also steer around pot holes and such.
 
tigger19687 said:
I get my truck aligned about once a year, maybe 14 months. It always needs it.
That's pretty unusual IMO - ANY well designed vehicle should hold a good alignment for 100K or more, unless you hit something

A vehicle which needs a yearly alignment would have me shopping for either a better made truck . . . . or a much better alignment shop.

It is possible to leave an adjustment or two a bit loose, or lets say night as tight as they really should be . . . . sells lots of folks on expensive 'lifetime' alignment plans. Once they've got your money, tighten everything up (like it should have been done in the first place) and you never need to mess with it again . . . . unless you're the type who frequently gets a tire off the edge of the road

Don
 
Don said:
tigger19687 said:
I get my truck aligned about once a year, maybe 14 months. It always needs it.
That's pretty unusual IMO - ANY well designed vehicle should hold a good alignment for 100K or more, unless you hit something

A vehicle which needs a yearly alignment would have me shopping for either a better made truck . . . . or a much better alignment shop.

It is possible to leave an adjustment or two a bit loose, or lets say night as tight as they really should be . . . . sells lots of folks on expensive 'lifetime' alignment plans. Once they've got your money, tighten everything up (like it should have been done in the first place) and you never need to mess with it again . . . . unless you're the type who frequently gets a tire off the edge of the road

Don

I live in Boston and have a Ford (haha) 2006 4x4 f-350, Winter, pot holes, bumpy roads. It is worth the $180 price I paid to have Lifetime Alignment for this truck as I will have it till it dies. It has already paid for it self over and over.
I know I am not getting ripped off, it is just what you do for a large truck here. I know most do it every 2-4 years. I think a lot depends on the car itself, roads, driving...
I may never need another alignment on the 'i'. But since I just got it and they usually cost anywhere from $70 to 100 for a one time alignment, it is just a good price since I plan on keeping the car forever.
 
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