2021 mirage alignment specs

[Marklovski]

My steering wheel was off for about two years but had gotten progressively worse. There was no tire wear at all. Tire wear started happening in 2023 when I added a 1inch lift, but lowered it back to stock. Steering was off and didn't feel right on the right wheel. Hit a pothole last week and steering was way off.

I noticed my rear is out of spec but never had any issues before. The front toe was causing all my problems. Steering is now perfect and wheels feel better

[Eggman]

Steering is now perfect and wheels feel better

Good to hear you were able to get things straightened out. Now go get your valve lash adjusted and take it to the track to set some records.

[7milesout]

My steering wheel does not sit perfectly "upright," either. I have some recollection that this isn't and uncommon situation. It doesn't mean your wheels are out of alignment, though. The steering wheel mounts to the steering column via a splined coupling. Whenever they put the wheel on at the factory, they may end up accidentally mounting the wheel one notch of the spline to the left or right, so it looks a couple of degrees off of perfectly level. That doesn't mean the actual steering system is crooked, though - it's literally just your steering wheel.

PityOnU - That's good thinking, but I would have to guess that the factory rarely if EVER gets the steering wheel off by even 1 spline. I don't know that. But having been in a factory for years, steering wheel assembly is a developed process that even an orangutan couldn't screw up. Course I've been wrong a time or two. I will also mention, that if the steering wheel was off by even 1 spline, it's going to be WAY MORE than a couple of degrees. Let's say there's 32 splines (I'd say there are less), if it is off by 1 spline it would be 11.25° off. Which would be very noticeable.

I've had my Scamp's steering wheel off a few times. I did put it back on one time 1 spline off. It was WAY WAY off, and annoying as could be. I doubt there are more splines on modern cars than on my Scamp. The number of steering wheel splines is unimportant (in auto engineering world), so the number would probably be based on what is least expensive / least complex to machine, or what is the least difficult to assemble.

[7milesout]

Christopher - Something to think about. I just recently put 4 new (expensive) Michelin tires on my Lexus LS 460L. I want that thing to ride like on a cloud. I got the new tires at Discount Tires, they don't do alignment. So then I took it to another shop for the alignment.

After new tires and alignment, it had a slight pull to the right and felt sort of like I was riding on light gravel. Took it back to both places, rebalancing and realignment. Still felt the same ever after redoing both. Took it back a 3rd time (including the tire replacement time) and they finally got both resolved.

The point I am making here is, the alignment shop always gives me a before and after. At the initial alignment, the "before" condition looked kind of garbagie, the after looked great. Yet it pulled and felt gravely.

When I took it back in the 2nd time, I expected the before alignment numbers to look like the after numbers from the previous time. However, it had NO resemblance. I wanted to raise hell, how could that be? I refrained. When I took it back the 3rd time, it was the same thing, the before numbers looked nothing like the after numbers from the previous alignment. Before I said anything about it, I sat and thought about it, what it would be like to do the alignment ... in real life. Not just in my head (my head assumes perfection because things are easy, which is generally always wrong).

This is my theory, again, I don't know this for a fact. Never having done this process, I speculate about this. But ... The car is driven up on the machine and placed and set up in some manner / process. Those alignment "heads" get attached to the wheels. I speculate that my car remained out of alignment based on the person doing the alignment. I speculate that the 3rd guy doing it was just plain better at doing an alignment than the first two. And that the "before" alignments were always off the previous alignment numbers (and garbagie) because that particular guy just wasn't good at that job. With those heads being monitored by laser light some 10 to 25 feet away, there has to be some real effort on the part of the tech, to be very careful to set things up accurately.

In your case, I would imagine this is coming into play. I don't know that for a fact. Finding different results each time you bring it it could be a tech-by-tech or shop-by-shop issue. Perhaps that shop's techs weren't properly trained on how to use the Hunter equipment. I've been to the Hunter headquarters and out in their development shops. Those devices are L-E-G-I-T. It takes a skilled tech to use that stuff right. That's my take on at least a portion of the problems you're running into.

I went to that place (I don't think it was called Hunter, I'd have to look it up, I think they procured Hunter or Hunter procured them) for a job interview. It was a spectacular place. Great leadership, great engineering staff. And I would have accepted that job but ... Arkansas. It looked like a fabulous town, it was just way too far from any other family the wife and I have. What a shame. Gonna look up now what that place was...

Correction: It was Snap-On. It's been over 10 years. I don't remember exactly. However, from my memory, I think what they were telling me was that the alignment stuff they were selling was re-branded Hunter, liscensed from Hunter, as I recall. Either way, I wanted to work for Snap-On, and they made me a good offer. I just couldn't overcome the isolation from family.

[Grumpy Bear]

My steering wheel was off for about two years but had gotten progressively worse. There was no tire wear at all. Tire wear started happening in 2023 when I added a 1inch lift, but lowered it back to stock. Steering was off and didn't feel right on the right wheel. Hit a pothole last week and steering was way off.

I noticed my rear is out of spec but never had any issues before. The front toe was causing all my problems. Steering is now perfect and wheels feel better

Is this car lowered? Is there a reason they did not correct the camber? This alignment is not even "In Spec' much less "On Spec".

[Marklovski]

Is this car lowered? Is there a reason they did not correct the camber? This alignment is not even "In Spec' much less "On Spec".

They are the coilovers. I could try to adjust the camber but I didn't notice tire wear on smaller tires, but wider tires like my old 195/60/r15 and lowered at 1 3/4" was causing tire wear on the inside. Then again I didn't do alignment on those. But my other tires never had tire wear until the last few months.

[Marklovski]

The point I am making here is, the alignment shop always gives me a before and after. At the initial alignment, the "before" condition looked kind of garbagie, the after looked great. Yet it pulled and felt gravely.

I think a good method would be to bring your old sheet and show it to them. Then match it right in front after they do the alignment to hold them accountable immediately and then get a 2nd try right away without paying.

[7milesout]

I considered that. But ultimately I don't think it would do any good. As it is technician dependent. It might also piss them off to have you crawling up their ass with that level of detail. I think in that detail a lot ... unnecessary detail most of the time probably.

I think the better tactic is to try in some way to probe them to see who the office staff thinks is the better technician at least on the alignment machine. Then tactfully request that technician to do your alignment.

[Grumpy Bear]

They are the coilovers. I could try to adjust the camber but I didn't notice tire wear on smaller tires, but wider tires like my old 195/60/r15 and lowered at 1 3/4" was causing tire wear on the inside. Then again I didn't do alignment on those. But my other tires never had tire wear until the last few months.

My steering wheel was off for about two years but had gotten progressively worse. There was no tire wear at all. Tire wear started happening in 2023 when I added a 1inch lift, but lowered it back to stock. Steering was off and didn't feel right on the right wheel. Hit a pothole last week and steering was way off.

I noticed my rear is out of spec but never had any issues before. The front toe was causing all my problems. Steering is now perfect and wheels feel better

What is the thinking behind the left rear being the only wheel in spec? Cross camber running out of spec?
What advantage do you find in so much (double) negative camber?

[Marklovski]

What is the thinking behind the left rear being the only wheel in spec? Cross camber running out of spec?
What advantage do you find in so much (double) negative camber?

Considering rear is unadjustable, the thinking is to match the front to the rear. -1.2 degrees of camber won't do anything. What was killing me is the toe is off, causing a lot more issues then the camber. Again, I had even more degrees of camber when I was lowered and no noticable tire wear on 175-185 wide tires.