Rear wheel alignment (DIY solution)

[sunbeam]

Hello all,

Have noted in prior posts a whistling sound, went in for my post winter brake service, turns out that the rear alignment is severely off and out of spec, as others have noted.

Did not consider a warranty claim because as others have noted, there is a 90-100% risk of rear axle misalignment from the factory for these mirages.

Posting this video of a possible solution to the rear wheel alignment problem.

Before:



After:



Video:

[Johnny Mullet]

I thought this was only an issue with the 2014/2015 models, but I might be wrong. I rotate my tires every oil change so I suppose I would not notice wear issues?

[Basic]

Did not consider a warranty claim because as others have noted, there is a 90-100% risk of rear axle misalignment from the factory for these mirages.

That is precisely why you do the warranty claim... I don't understand what you are saying.

[sunbeam]

That is precisely why you do the warranty claim... I don't understand what you are saying.

There was a past post in the forum saying that none are in spec, so initiating a warranty claim to be replaced with the same defective part did not seem worth it.

[sunbeam]

I thought this was only an issue with the 2014/2015 models, but I might be wrong. I rotate my tires every oil change so I suppose I would not notice wear issues?

Tires are frequently rotated. You may have got one more in spec by luck? I may have got one more out of spec by luck.

According to the forum guide this is an issue that is not known to be fixed.

[Basic]

There was a past post in the forum saying that none are in spec, so initiating a warranty claim to be replaced with the same defective part did not seem worth it.

I don't recall that. Many of us (myself included) had the axles replaced (bent most of us believe during original shipping) with new ones under warranty and everything was spot on.

[7milesout]

My rear axle identifies as properly aligned.

[Eggman]

Hello all,

Have noted in prior posts a whistling sound, went in for my post winter brake service, turns out that the rear alignment is severely off and out of spec, as others have noted.

Did not consider a warranty claim because as others have noted, there is a 90-100% risk of rear axle misalignment from the factory for these mirages.

Posting this video of a possible solution to the rear wheel alignment problem.

I think it’s a potential solution especially for cars that are out of warranty. Thanks for the video.

For owners who are still covered by warranty, please check with your dealer first. There is a fairly long and detailed thread about this problem. My rear axle was replaced at no cost.

Not all dealers are scumbag scammers - my dealer took care of business.

[Top_Fuel]

There was a past post in the forum saying that none are in spec...

Nobody bloviated on this forum about rear axle issues more than me. There were a fair number of 2014-2015s with a rear alignment issue. Just pulling a number out of thin air, maybe that number could have been as high as 20% for 2014-2015s?!? My own 2015 was OK from the factory (on the rear axle...but the factory f'd up my front end alignment...LOL).

There was a technician who worked at a Mitsubishi dealer (3dplane...anyone remember him?) and his own personal Mirage was out of spec on the rear alignment. He said at one point he was checking nearly every Mirage his dealer sold...and he said he never saw one that had a rear axle alignment that was correct. Again...this was back in the 2015-2016 timeframe. That's the worst case scenario.

Yes...early on some people got replacement rear axle assemblies and the replacement was also bad. But those accounts were few and far between. And some dealers did try to deny/delay their way out of the repair. But I think most who needed a new rear axle (under warranty) and got one...it fixed their problem. If I had a Mirage (under warranty) and the rear axle was out of whack, I'd let the dealer give me a new one before I did anything else.

If this dude's method works for someone who is out of warranty, that's great. Remember Mitsubishi used to tell the dealers to re-torque the axle assembly mount bolts in an attempt to "fix" the alignment if it was out of spec. Yeah...whatever. I don't think that worked for anybody. But I can see this guy's method working depending on which way the axle is out of spec.

I don't think any year Mirage is completely out of the woods when it comes to having potential rear axle alignment issues. But it sure seems to be a lot more unusual with the newer cars. If I bought a new Mirage, my first stop would probably still be at an alignment shop.

Think how far we have come. The old-timers will remember guys posting threads like... "Why is my left rear tire bald at 8,000 miles?" or "I'm on my third set of tires at 30k miles". Thankfully we don't hear crazy stuff like that anymore.


Tossing in these rear axle related photos for old times' sake and a good laugh...


This was a rear Enasave someone posted on this forum...




And this was common at Carmax back in the 2014-206 timeframe...

[Grumpy Bear]

Ingenious.