Wheel alignment

[Earle Jones]

2001 Outback wagon.

Pulls slightly to the right. Do I just need a front-wheel
alignment? Are the rear wheels on this vehicle adjustable in
alignment also?

What is the going rate for wheel alignment? The tires are fairly
new.

Thanks,

earle
*

 

[Bonehenge]

2001 Outback wagon.

Pulls slightly to the right. Do I just need a front-wheel
alignment? Are the rear wheels on this vehicle adjustable in
alignment also?

What is the going rate for wheel alignment? The tires are fairly
new.

Thanks,

earle
*

Check your air pressure before buying an alignment.

Barry

 

[H]

Check air pressure, though alignment can cure many woes. Usually a camber
adjustment will cure pulling problems. 4wheel alignment in western Canada -
$70.00 + tax. I do it every 12-18 months at a time when I am having
winter/summer tires swapped.

 

[hippo]

2001 Outback wagon.

<<Pulls slightly to the right. Do I just need a front-wheel alignment?
Are the rear wheels on this vehicle adjustable in alignment also?>>

Yes they are. I believe you should only do four wheel alignment on AWD
Subies.

<<What is the going rate for wheel alignment? The tires are fairly new.

Thanks,

earle>>

$55AUD - but I suspect that's not much use to you! Check tyre pressures
when cold only and suggest you run higher than the tyre card. My 2000 OB
is 36psi all round and seems to benefit from it. How new is fairly new?
Prob good to rotate front to rear (same side only) every 5-10K miles or
8-15K Kms. IMO - alignment with new set of tyres can be good insurance.
Cheers

 

[y_p_w]

2001 Outback wagon.

Pulls slightly to the right. Do I just need a front-wheel
alignment? Are the rear wheels on this vehicle adjustable in
alignment also?

What is the going rate for wheel alignment? The tires are fairly
new.

I paid $159.99 at a Firestone Service Center, for a four-wheel
alignment with lifetime check and realignments.

I had this on my last car ($139.99 then) and I brought it back
maybe four or five times. They only pointed out stuff that needed
to be serviced once, but never pressured me to have it done there.
The one thing was when my tires were on the treadwear indicator
bars.

 

[Danny Russell]

2001 Outback wagon.

Pulls slightly to the right. Do I just need a front-wheel
alignment? Are the rear wheels on this vehicle adjustable in
alignment also?

What is the going rate for wheel alignment? The tires are fairly
new.

Thanks,

earle

Earle, sets of radials can pull one way or the other occasionally because of a mismatch in some
particular cord parameter between the left front and right front. If you swap the fronts left to
right and the problem switches sides, then it's a tire issue.

The first tire distributor that develops a method for matching tires in a way that effectively deals
with this problem will be at the forefront of a new revolution. Until then, we'll all just pretend
this phenomenon doesn't exist.

I've had more than one set of tires suffer from this anomaly, but because I was fortunate to have a
knowledgable tire person explain this to me once, I no longer wonder why. I only wonder why nothing
is done to address it.

 

[Earle Jones]

2001 Outback wagon.

Pulls slightly to the right. Do I just need a front-wheel
alignment? Are the rear wheels on this vehicle adjustable in
alignment also?

What is the going rate for wheel alignment? The tires are fairly
new.

Thanks,

earle
*

*
Many thanks to all of you who responded. After checking my tire
pressures, I took the car to a Firestone wheel shop in Redwood City,
CA. They use the 'Hunter' computerized wheel alignment system.

Sure enough, my front wheels were out of alignment, but by only a
little bit. The toe-in was out of specs for both the front and rear
wheels.

Total cost was US$70.

Thanks again,

earle
*