WHEEL ALLIGNMENT - 2004 156 JTS

[ForzaSab]

A few months ago i hit an unavoidable pothole and it mustve put my wheel allignment out as the front right tyre had worn on the inside shoulder.
I got this tyre replaced last week with one of equal tread depth and similar tread pattern and then got the wheel allignment done at a Bridgestone Centre at Geebung.

Just yesterday i noticed that the steering wheel was off centre to the left when driving straight and when i positioned the wheel straight the car would now steer to the right. When i bought the car in April it was never like this and i have been in this position before with my Fiat.

The guys at Bridgestone said that "this is a very complex car" and this was the best they could do.
After being screwed around by them last week for nigh on 4 hours and today for an hour i was pretty peeved and just wanted to get the hell out of there.

So here i am with a car that isnt how i would like it to be so i want to know if they are right in what they are saying, if not then where can i go to get the job done right.

The last thing i want to do is go back to Bridgestone.

[BBRT]

G'day,

Take it to Rick's Wheelworks in Albion. They seem to know what they are doing.

[shiny_car]

that's a lame excuse. the steering rods on each side can be adjusted (easily) to 'straighten' things up.

wanna do it yourself? it's not hard, and you are extremely unlikely to put the rest of the geometry out-of-whack as a result.

[Doug Gould]

The steering wheel is out because the tie rods have not been set to equal lengths as has been said previously. Based on the Bridgestone response, those guys just failed the intelligence test.

The bigger issue however, is that the toe-in being incorrect (adjusted by tie rods) will wear both tyres evenly. If the inside edge of only one tyre has worn, then this is indicating another problem (eg too much negative camber). This probably means something is bent and requires replacement.

Find someone good to look at it.

Doug

[ForzaSab]

Yeah well i finally got it sorted at Bob Jane Capalaba.
These guys knew exactly what to do and said exactly what some of you guys have said about Bridgy's staff i.e intelligence!
And what impressed me even more is that even though did the job again they only charged me $20 this i will remember for a long time.
So if any of you want good "honest" service go see the guys at Bob Jane Capalaba.

[Thmpar]

Being a worker in the realm of tyrepower, I agree the bridgestone dealer has idiots that work there,i have had to fix many aligns that have a crooked steering wheel especally form other dealers,i drive all cars before and after and if the customer won't let me i won't do it,i will not put my name on something that may not be right.If The steering wheel is crooked it doesn't mean the align isn't right. I will not let a car leave with a crooked steering wheel.
There is a few factors to take into with tyre wear, Camber will wear tyres but not like aome people think.
If its worn on the outer lh shoulder and inner rh shoulder it's pull wear most likely not enough castor some cars cannot be adjusted in this area so keep rotating the tyre front to rear,to help prevent this happening.
most tyre wear is due to castor issues,toe in and toe out not correct and people changing weight loads like a farmer putting hay in their utes, or tradies putting their trailer on 5 days a week then taking it off etc etc.