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Do I need an alignment?

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Old 09-28-2010, 05:31 PM
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Default Do I need an alignment?

So I took my truck in to get the tires balanced, rotated, and aligned. I told the guy that it was pulling to the right. He said no problem and would look into it. Multiple hours later I get a call saying my truck is ready. I get there only to find out they "didnt have time" to do my alignment. I said ok fine, give me my truck back and Ill bring it in later. Im paranoid about shops because of all the stories you hear so I made sure my tires and wheels and been balanced and rotated. I made sure i hadnt washed my truck in a while before doing this. Sure enough the wheels that had break dust were now in the rear, and I could see where the old weights used to be (because there was a clean spot on the rim) so was content. I got back in my truck and drove off only to discover my truck is now pulling to the left at the same degree it was to the right. Is this because of wear in my tires? Do I need an Alignment? Did they balance it wrong? Im not a guru when it comes to alignment and tires so help me out before I go spend 70 bucks to get it aligned. Thanks.
Old 09-28-2010, 05:33 PM
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Oh, its been about 15k miles since its last alignment when I put a leveling kit on.
Old 09-28-2010, 06:21 PM
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Could be you just need an alignment or there are issues with the suspension parts. You can not tell until an inspection is done.
Old 09-28-2010, 06:39 PM
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are all of your tires identical? or at least the front tires identical and the rear tires identical... I have an odd tire and it pulls and causes noticeable road noise
Old 09-28-2010, 06:43 PM
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Try measuring the tread depth on all four tires and making sure they're all wearing evenly.
Old 09-29-2010, 02:39 PM
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Originally Posted by GATORB8
Try measuring the tread depth on all four tires and making sure they're all wearing evenly.
ill do this. I was afraid that was happening which is why I took it in in the first place. Ive done a few visual inspections and they look about the same but Ill actually measure it next time Im home.

Yes, all 4 tires are identical. They are the stock tires.
Old 09-29-2010, 03:18 PM
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I just got my tires balance and rotated. Truck would pull to the right before. Still did it afterwards so I assumed it was my alignment. Just got my alignment done, and I SWEAR it feels like it 'wants' to pull to the left... guess I'll be pressing my ball joints out the LCA this weekend and getting it re-aligned.
Old 09-30-2010, 08:14 PM
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How often do you rotate your tires? It sounds like they are not wearing evenly...I say this because I had this happen on my Ford Ranger....I was always to busy to check the air pressure snd rotate them....Learn my lesson after having to buy new tires....Another thing...I like to watch them work on my truck if it's not going to take long...I wanna make sure they ARE doing what I asked for.Most of the time it's young kids(God I'm old) doing it....not that I don't trust them....just want the peace of mind....just my .002
Old 09-30-2010, 08:28 PM
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.02, I've never seen someone give their two tenths of a cent
Old 10-03-2010, 10:07 AM
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This is the 2nd time now. Ive done it around 15k both times. Im going to check the air pressure today because I noticed one tire looked a little low. Im afraid they didnt wear evenly.


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