New Tires and Alignment

[LandShark]

For the first time in my life, I bought a set of tires from a car dealer. Local Ram dealer gave a price that was about the same as Costco or Discount Tire. I had some very slight uneven tire wear, so I also had an alignment done. Total price with alignment and taxes was $1166 for Michelin Defender 275/70R18's. The OEM Firestone tires had 44,000 miles on them.

I'll attach a copy of the alignment and would like any comments about the results from those of you that have any idea of what the significance of the numbers are. I was told that the bad castor cannot be adjusted.

Alignment Sep 2018

• LandShark
• Sep 20, 2018

 

[gsbrockman]

Caster is indeed adjustable.

 

[jhenderson]

Caster is adjustable. But not independently side to side. When the caster is adjusted by a competent tech the right side will still be higher than the left. Example : bring the left down to 5 degrees the right will be 5.5 That slight variation is normal.

 

[EDankievitch]

Caster is adjustable. Most of our trucks have way too much and as a result will follow the crown of the road. In other words drive in right lane the truck will pull to the right drive in left lane truck will pull to the left. More Caster will increase the amount of the "pull". Camber adjustment is not adjustable unless you install adjustable ball joints. Toe in is the one setting that will drastically effect tire wear and I've found the dreaded "Death Wobble" . Every truck I have checked has had too much Toe in. I'm old school and check the toe in the way the shop manual back in 1989 said to. Measuring from the inside of the wheel beads (left to right wheel) as high up on both wheels as can be measured with out the suspension stuff getting in the way. The measurement should be between 1/16" to 1/8" No greater than 1/8". If it is you'll really tear up the outside edge of your tires. I had a truck come in that had the "death wobble" so bad it was Un drivable. I found the dealer that had just replaced the steering linkage under warranty and aligned the truck had the toe in set at way over 3/8". Once I reset it the truck never drove as straight or as smooth. and tires gave almost 75,000 miles of service. Computer alignment tools are great if you take the time to set them up correctly. I've yet to see anyone do it right. At least based on the trucks I've had roll through my shop.

 

[Cummins12V98]

Both my Dually's were set to 1/64-1/32 and still tracked great! Outside stepping of the tires was eliminated also.

Kinda funny some can mention fractions when it comes to alignment and others get chastised.

 

[LandShark]

I didn't have any complaint about how the truck drove either prior to or after the alignment. Old tires were slightly more worn on outside edges, which is why I requested the alignment. Mostly curious about why dealer service would not correct caster when their machine shows it to be out of spec.

 

[gsbrockman]

View attachment 108941

Both my Dually's were set to 1/64-1/32 and still tracked great! Outside stepping of the tires was eliminated also.

Kinda funny some can mention fractions when it comes to alignment and others get chastised.