My AWESOME alignment experience at PepBoys...So far...

Truck (could just as well be the maverick) pulling to the left. I knew I had tires that were getting bad, and guy at pepboys checks alignment, says, "two bad tires, and tow is a little off". So I buy $1400 worth of Michelin LTX-MS2 tires Top of the line. It is now pulling the other way ("Yeah, now that you have good tires on, it will react the opposite way."), so I call pepboys, make an appointment for 2pm the next day, take a half day off of work, and when I get there, "The alignment machine is broken". I tell her there is a car on it right now. "Oh, your right. We will check out your truck in a minute."

2nd visit two days later, Guy says it is straight, have a good day. I drive off, still pulling. So on my way to work the next morning, I call back and make an appointment for today, 3pm, and another half day off of work. I get in, the biatch says "The machine is still broken." I told her she said that last time. "It is broken for real this time."

OK, so I tell her give me my money back, I will spend it somewhere else. "I can't do that. Just call me every couple of days until the machine is fixed and we will get you back on the rack."

Then I went to the next Pep Boys next town over, and he says "probably not out of alignment, but you bought crappy tires. Michelin is just a fancy name, the tires aren't any good. Most likely just a bad radial making it have 'radial push', not really a 'pull'." His guy swaps the front tires around, and says all is fine, so I drive home, still pulling.

I just got off the phone with corporate offices, they are sending me a check to reimburse me, I will take it somewhere where they are not complete idiots.

I think I will pull out tape and string and do it myself in the garage.

What is so difficult about aligning a truck? They have all those lasers and computers, it pretty much does it for them!!!

 

What truck?

Lots to go wrong depending on what you've got up front. Twin-Traction Beam trucks are incredibly annoying to get the alignment right on. I know some guys who get their TTB trucks aligned after every 5k miles.

Have you considered changing to an internal bead balancing on it? I've seen some talk that it completely eliminates some of the effects of bad tires on driveability.

 

can you post the alignment specs from the print out they gave you?
when i worked a pepboys a long time ago the policy was that every thing got printed out and the customer got a copy. i doubt that has changed.
looking at the print out should show where the pull is.

also did they try rotating the tires?
i would suggest rotating the fronts and rears to see if that effects the pull.
is your truck all wheel drive, 4 wheel drive or 2 wheel drive?

its not a toe issue causing the pull. that is about all you could adjust at home.

 

I pulled over onto a flat country road, lined the steering wheel up, and came to a slow stop. Got out, and eyeballed the edges of the tires. If I lined my eye up to the driver side tire from the front so that the two sidewalls became one, and compared it to the rear tire, on the driver side, they lined right up.

On the passenger side, I lined the wheelwells up on the front, and saw 2" of the rear tire. So, just by eyeballing it, something isn't right.

The girl told me the alignment machine was broken, then put my truck on and said it was lined up straight.

Something's fishy.

I have a printout, which shows it all dead nuts straight. And yet it pulls to the right when I drive.

Swapped the front tires around, and still pulls to the right.

2004 Dodge Ram 1500, 5.7 hemi. 20" rims, which apparently is the problem.

 

Looks like a regular truck suspension, from what I see. Nothing special.

 

I used to be able to make the printouts look good if I wanted to..
You seen 2" of tire on one side but if you split it it's 1". The split may show green by manipulating the position of the steering wheel. Some vehicles will show some side wall (evenly) (-toe) based on specs. As you travel down the road the wheels tend to pull out. May not be so today with the much better steering and suspensions we have now. And I am talking so little it's almost unnoticeable by the untrained eye.
I wouldn't hold my breath on the check.. Might come but it may also get lost in the mail or some other lame excuse. Pep Boys sucks.. I worked there way too long and gaind squat financially. Most service writers think they are managers and managers think they run your life.
Wish I was a fly on the wall to watch the guy working the alignment machine..

 

You saw 2" of the rear tire past the front of the front or the rear of the front tire? Was the front tire pointing out or in?

 

what were the camber and caster readings?

 

Your new alignment machines make it so easy that it takes someone real special to screw one up.


Id be curious to see the camber and caster specs

 

im wondering if there is a problem with the power steering. if there is something causing it push against the steering. ive encountered this with the type of power assist systems that are on mavericks but never with internal power steering boxes or rack and pinions. but i suppose it could be possible.

 

Right tire pointing out. Left tire straight. I can clearly see it pointing out a bit. I will pull it straight into the driveway and pull the right side tow in just a touch, and get it closer to even . Maybe even pull out the string and tape and make some measurements.

I am pretty sure it isn't anything with the steering or suspension. With the bad tires on, it pulled the other way. When I put on the new tires (the crappy Michelin LTX-MS2s), the pull went away. To the other side.

This is a VERY slight pull. I can go 1/8th mile before crawling out of my lane on a flat road if I let go of the steering wheel. But I notice that the top of my steering wheel is always aimed at 11:00 or 11:30, which it never did until I got the new tires and new alignment. If I put the wheel straight up at 12:00, it will go out of the lane pretty damned quickly.

 

I"ve never had good luck trying to get a car aligned at one of the national chains like Meineke or Pep boys. Anymore, if I don't have time to do it, I take it to a local guy that has an old school alignment pit. He doesn't use lasers, just an old school toe gauge and caster/camber gauge. He charges $60 and the car is always right when I get it back. I now have this equipment to setup up drag cars but sometimes it's worth $60 to just let him do it.

 

I had good luck in the town i used to live in smalltown guy, but he is 80 miles away. Only other good guy actually was a young kid working at a goodyear store. He was the best. But he is about 50 miles away.

I got to find someone close...

 

The guy that aligned mine put a little bias (with camber?) in to allow for road crown. Works well for me. But your toe OUT sounds awful.

 

The best algnment I ever got was done with a roofing square, 1"x2"x6' wooden stake and a string. The guy also shaved the tires and spin-balanced them on the car. Those tires ended up dry rotting before they wore out.