"Get an alignment any time you do suspension work"

I see it here, and hear it all over the place... but why? Is it a myth?

If you do a good job, and you mark your alignment bolts... why do you need an alignment after you swap shocks/struts/etc?

Someone please educate me. I've done many shock/strut/spring swaps, and my father has as well, and we never got alignments after. Where does this attitude come from?

 

Because if you're changing the geometry of the suspension it doesn't all just stay the same...…. if you don't change those things and replacing with stock parts it will most likely be close but not exact.

 

As long as your toe is good after, camber/castor wont really wear tires. Being more specific, bushings settle in different ways, the truck could sit a half inch higher or lower, which in turn effects all of the alignment specs. I personally havent had an alignment done on my truck, and I just measure everything with a tape measure and a digital level.

 

This.

Its not worth it to not do the alignment after suspension changes. Tires arent cheap.

 

You only need an alignment if you're changing geometry. If you're just swapping a stock part for a stock part you should be fine.

 

I never do unless there was a noticable lift.

New, identical springs resulted in the truck sitting a bit higher, so I got an alignment.

Shock swaps I have never got an alignment.

You do need to watch the techs.

More often than not, our cam bolts will be frozen. You can't adjust the alignment cometly with those bolts sized. Often the alignment will result in a reading that is within spec. If it's close, the tech will not mention the bad bolts and claim your alignment is done. Make to ask if the cam bolts are froze. If you are told yes, you are paying for a half assed alignment job.

 

Awesome discussion, thanks for the feedback guys (and gals?)!

 

Sorry about the typos and missing words. Talk to text is still learning my speaking patterns.

 

No the tech just doesn’t get paid to fuck around with your seized bolts . That costs extra . If it is in spec and doesn’t cause a pull there’s no need to change it .

 

You took my post the wrong way.

You need to make sure if you have sized bolts or not. They won't tell you if you don't ask and the truck falls in the spec range...which can be pretty wide.

 

If you move the adjusters even putting them back on the same marks may change the alignment. I have found on most vehicles there is enough slop that when adjusted from one “side” or the other it will end up in different places. Tightening them down with the weight of the truck on them or not can also change the ride height, which can change the alignment

if the adjusters are not moved I don’t much bother. Technically changing a thing like a ball joint should require an alignment but frankly, anymore those parts have better tolerances then the minimum wage alignment tech can achieve.

changing parts that affect toe is a little different, but toe is the easiest thing to do yourself.

anything that changes ride height should automatically get an alignment. The suspension arms and pivots are not equal and any change to their resting angle changes the orientation of the tire.

 

Just going to quickly chime in my own thoughts here. But after paying thousands for new suspension and tires/wheels, why not just spend the extra $100 for an alignment?

 

Tires are way more expensive than a 130$ alignment.

I rarely see a vehicle in spec when I check alignments. Usually its just toe-in, but that can melt tires if its out of spec.

Also a good shop will check the suspension prior to alignment to ensure the vehicle is roadworthy.

 

I thought I was good after a 1 inch lift in the front til a month later I noticed the tires cupping on the outer edge.

 

You definitely have to stand over the shoulder of the guy doing your alignment or any work on your truck, I just sit in the back seat when I get work done on mine.

 

Or don’t get an alignment and report back here when you get new tires? It’s an experiment, I’m genuinely interested in if you experience any issues.

could also do the alignment yourself! Both save $100

 

Even markings can be off by a degree, easily even with good thin chalk pencils.

Camber and castor DOES effect tire wear if it gets off by a bit, especially with lifts, more negative caster causes less stability in a straight line (but easier turn in) which can be bad on crowned highways during inclement weather and if the camber goes positive well you get the same effect. This can lead having to turn ahead down crowned roads.

The reason why is because it's good insurance that you have everything set up afterwards. Think of it like using calibrated torque wrenches, you are making sure your measurements are accurate.

 

That being said there can be exceptions to this rule, if you are doing strut/spring swaps on a car that was aligned right when new, and you don't need to break apart anything cam bolts tie rods, etc. You might be able to get away with it. A good example is swaybar swaps, CV axles on some MacPherson or trailing arm set ups, strut swaps on leaf springs and some trailing arms, and some multilink systems using an independent spring and strut.

Some torsion bar systems can get away with it to, but the only time I've seen that is on the 944 rear carriage, where if you drill holes into the rear quarter, you can index and hotswap torsion bars without touching anything but the caps. Other's may (and I suspect the VW bug and 911 can since the 944 "borrows" it's trailing arm design from them and some parts) but I can't confirm that from experience.

 

As you probably discovered already, there's some slop in the frame's cam tabs. The front alignment cam bolts are almost in line with the steering rack, so every millimeter shift in position has a similar effect as a millimeter of tie rod adjustment. So simply loosening the cam bolts to do suspension work, keeping to paint marks to the best of your ability, and tightening them back up again, can throw off toe by half a degree, enough for the truck to pull slightly to one side on the highway.

 

I had installed the TRD OEM lift kit and had the 'Taco aligned by a local dealer. I recently removed my lower cam bushing sleeves and bolts to grease them, because I neglected to do that during the lift install. I had marked my cam plates and reinstalled everything exactly as indicated. I've notice no change in driveability or abnormal tire wear.