With no recommendations for regular wheel alignment intervals in the owners or service manual (with the exception of a toe in check when installing/removing a snow plow) what do you guys use as the base line for this maintenance check? Or do you only do it for cause such as noticed wear or steering pull?

 

I like 0° toe for max economy and tire wear, and the same for camber.

For caster, on the high side is good, somewhere around 4.5 to 5.0°. If you are fighting the steering wheel all the time, you can add a little caster to the appropriate side to counteract the road crown.

--Eric

 

Thanks for the feedback on the actual alignment but I am asking more about when and why.

On the first car I owned I took it in every 10K to get the alignment done and it still ate the tires up. Since then I have had a few small cars (Honda's) that never saw the alignment rack and the tires never wore badly. I am now pushing 50K on the truck and it has normal tire wear and no pull. I see no reason to do an alignment yet but when I replace the tires in the next 2 or 3 months I figure it is something that should be checked but is it really?

 

I can go 10K miles and not need an alignment.

Or I can go a week...in that case, just after I had it aligned, the girl curbed the wheels bad parallel parking right after I got it aligned; scuffed sidewalls got her to admit to it.

 

Go by tire wear and handling. If she dont wear tires and handles good I would not touch the alignment just for new tires. Too many alignment people dont know what affect the different settings do.

 

Our '07 is the only vehicle I've had that needed an alignment, other than minor toe adjust. I think that's because it eats hard parts faster than tires. Or at least it used to, before I got it "properly" lifted. Time will tell...

 

Ding ding ding!! We have a winner! I recommend the same thing bluepp has stated.