[porsche959]

Got an alignment 3 months ago (after m3 control arms).

Tires have 16k miles on them, 3k miles after alignment.

Thankful I didn’t Fukin die on my 1200 mile round trip from nyc to Quebec. Symptoms included a wild shaking at 60mph+. And strange tramlining.

Check your tires people.

[nsjames]

welcome to the club.

same happened to me. Had alignment, drove from ohio to california, got to california, noticed belts poking out of the tires on the inside edges.

firestone told me to get fucked.

[roadkillrob]

Firestone is the worst, had them do some snow tires, took in the wheels no tires on them, they mount balance, throw them in the trunk and drive 3 miles home, take them out of the trunk and the weights fall off 2 of them, WTF, they didn't even bother to try to clean the spot they stuck the weights on. Had to drive back and have 2 rebalanced, then one leaked at the new valve stem and had to go back. They are basically a tire shop with a tire brand name on the building and are completely incompetent at doing basic tire change work - no chance they can do something more complicated which is basically everything else, will never go to a firestone franchise again.

[ryan stewart]

You guys actually take your cars to places that employ teens to work on your car?

[slowcar]

Originally Posted by ryan stewart

You guys actually take your cars to places that employ teens to work on your car?

to be fair, most firestones in nyc/jersey employ regular aged people

[Leucosticte]

Firestone literally said "oh your car is German? We don't do that here, but we'll charge you 50 dollars to see if we can"... Not about to spend 50 dollars just to see if they have a CHANCE to align my tires.

[ryan stewart]

Originally Posted by slowcar

to be fair, most firestones in nyc/jersey employ regular aged people

I guess. But no car I've had in the past 23 year has even been in the parking lot of a "lube n tune" like place. Too many legit independents for the things you can't do at home.

[zomski101]

Sucks I had the same thing happen after I took my car to the dealership. Worst 225 dollars I've spent, just for a one time alignment.
Did they give you a printout of the before and after specs?
I have a lifetime alignment with firestone, after talking to the guy at the front desk I go to the alignment guy and tell him the specs I want and watch. Never had a problem.

[Jesda]

Originally Posted by kakapo

Firestone literally said "oh your car is German? We don't do that here, but we'll charge you 50 dollars to see if we can"... Not about to spend 50 dollars just to see if they have a CHANCE to align my tires.

Same for me.

"We do not touch BMWs."

[Tambohamilton]

Got a printout of the alignment, op?

Geo is such a simple thing, but it's very sensitive and there are so many ways to get it wrong. It's well worth finding a shop that's very good at it, and paying whatever they charge. You'll save money on tyres, and your car will drive loads better!

[TunafishE93]

Shady work... but why drive 3k with the symptoms you describe? Not sure if you drove 1200 miles trip first than another 1800 miles or 1800 miles than a 1200 miles trip. At some point it is owners responsibly to know something is wrong with car and not drive it. You are putting yourself and more importantly everyone else on the road way in danger knowing you had issues and driving this way for 3000 miles! You should of went back to shop at first sigh of trouble. This ended in a flame fest but could of ended much worst. You have to take responsibility of the car you choose to drive.

[Tambohamilton]

Originally Posted by TunafishE93

Shady work... but why drive 3k with the symptoms you describe? Not sure if you drove 1200 miles trip first than another 1800 miles or 1800 miles than a 1200 miles trip. At some point it is owners responsibly to know something is wrong with car and not drive it. You are putting yourself and more importantly everyone else on the road way in danger knowing you had issues and driving this way for 3000 miles! You should of went back to shop at first sigh of trouble. This ended in a flame fest but could of ended much worst. You have to take responsibility of the car you choose to drive.

Well said. If you think there's a problem, you should behave like there is a problem and get it fixed (or at least inspected).

[oVeRdOsE.]

E90 are not corolla, alignment is not as per 'normal' car.

I learn it the hard way.
Went to a well known independent shop for wheel aligment. The guy Couldn't get the car straight, and he diagnosis a bent frame.,

I couldn't believe it. went to a VW/BMW indy specialist. he told me those car need a 3D alignment. You need to centre square both sub frame, then do a regular alignment.

Its more expensive since its a 2 hours job.

[porsche959]

Originally Posted by oVeRdOsE.

E90 are not corolla, alignment is not as per 'normal' car.

I learn it the hard way.
Went to a well known independent shop for wheel aligment. The guy Couldn't get the car straight, and he diagnosis a bent frame.,

I couldn't believe it. went to a VW/BMW indy specialist. he told me those car need a 3D alignment. You need to centre square both sub frame, then do a regular alignment.

Its more expensive since its a 2 hours job.

As much as I want to sit on my high horse, it’s all the same shit.

[porsche959]

Originally Posted by TunafishE93

Shady work... but why drive 3k with the symptoms you describe? Not sure if you drove 1200 miles trip first than another 1800 miles or 1800 miles than a 1200 miles trip. At some point it is owners responsibly to know something is wrong with car and not drive it. You are putting yourself and more importantly everyone else on the road way in danger knowing you had issues and driving this way for 3000 miles! You should of went back to shop at first sigh of trouble. This ended in a flame fest but could of ended much worst. You have to take responsibility of the car you choose to drive.

Symptoms showed up last 200 miles or so. While returning from road trip. Like hmm, strange my steering wheel is wobbling this much.

[porsche959]

Originally Posted by Tambohamilton

Got a printout of the alignment, op?

Geo is such a simple thing, but it's very sensitive and there are so many ways to get it wrong. It's well worth finding a shop that's very good at it, and paying whatever they charge. You'll save money on tyres, and your car will drive loads better!

Here it is. I am told the toe was really bad.

[TunafishE93]

Those pictures look like the front tires only. You state that the issue only came up after 2800 miles where driven. It seem like you might of had a hardware malfunction which more than likely was the just installed control arms...

[Tambohamilton]

Hang about, the tyres did 13k miles with about 2deg of toe out at the front, and now you're blaming Firestone for the state they're in??

No I know alignment printouts can be fudged to make the numbers look right (space the alignment jig rather than adjust the car, etc), but honestly the wear on the tyres looks spot on for the use they've seen.

If you don't trust Firestone (I don't blame you), then get new tyres and take it to a shop with an excellent reputation for alignments specifically. Often shops which have some involvement in racing will be good at geometry, since they have to get it right to get results on the track.

[porsche959]

Originally Posted by TunafishE93

Those pictures look like the front tires only. You state that the issue only came up after 2800 miles where driven. It seem like you might of had a hardware malfunction which more than likely was the just installed control arms...

Yes front tires only.

Got an alignment one year ago (after suspension refresh). Tires were fine.

Got an alignment 6 months ago (after m3 control arm install). Drove 1.5k miles city, then 1.5k mile road trip. Came back and it looked like this.

Not sure where the hardware malfunction would be.

[porsche959]

Originally Posted by Tambohamilton

Hang about, the tyres did 13k miles with about 2deg of toe out at the front, and now you're blaming Firestone for the state they're in??

No I know alignment printouts can be fudged to make the numbers look right (space the alignment jig rather than adjust the car, etc), but honestly the wear on the tyres looks spot on for the use they've seen.

If you don't trust Firestone (I don't blame you), then get new tyres and take it to a shop with an excellent reputation for alignments specifically. Often shops which have some involvement in racing will be good at geometry, since they have to get it right to get results on the track.

3k miles since last alignment. Tires were fine until then. I get an alignment every 6 months. Mainly cause suspension mods.

Yes I blame firestone, they are the ones that fucked up my alignment.

[marvinstockman]

In general, as long as you check your tires and they are wearing fine, there is no reason to get an alignment. Been there, done that!

[porsche959]

Originally Posted by TunafishE93

Those pictures look like the front tires only. You state that the issue only came up after 2800 miles where driven. It seem like you might of had a hardware malfunction which more than likely was the just installed control arms...

Could you expand on hardware malfunction? The parts are still on the car, so it could potentially be a manufacturer defect part?