7th alignment

[Mirageman38]

Looks like I am going to need my 7th+ alignment in almost two years. I complained to the dealer last week that it's been out of alignment since about a week after the last alignment, and that was the 5th alignment in two years. They did another alignment for free. Took one trip to Philly and back on major highways and it's already out of alignment. I'm not going to lie and say the road there is bump/pot hole free, but I shouldn't have problems traveling on major interstate highways. Really erked with how many alignments this has gone through, it's obviously only the front that has problems, back with no adjustment never has a problem. Never had any problems like this before with other vehicles. Dealer doesn't really even know what to do (beyond more alignments) since they say no parts are damaged.

I've had alignments where it comes back out of alignment the next day.

Additionally even with perfect alignment, and the tires pumped up (the kumho solus), max MPG I am getting these days is about 35. Could this be CVT related? I used to get 45+ doing similar speeds, I can't imagine these tires alone cause a 10mpg hit....

[Basic]

What goes out of alignment? Front or Rear?

[Mirageman38]

Front

[Christopher_B]

Curious about this. My front toe was out since new. Had it adjusted by a good friend at his shop and was perfect for about a week or so. Now the steering wheel seems a bit off opposite of what it was before.

[Basic]

I had a Mitsu dealer tech who liked to talk a lot tell me he couldn't count how many alignments he did on Mirages that were due to the struts being slightly bent.

[Fummins]

Weird. I haven't had many Mirages aligned in the last 7 years. I took one in about 6 years ago cause the rear looked wonky. It was out a tiny bit in the front. That was the one and only alignment it got in 475,000km. The other Mirages I sent out for alignments had ran into curbs doing 40mph or other hit random stuff or pot holes requiring control arms or entire knee assembly's replaced. My own car drives straight and doesn't have odd wear at 290something k kms(180k miles). I'm pretty sure the entire suspension is stock.

[mohammad]

have you considered you may have a bent rim? that's my best guess.

Are you using aftermarket alignment bolts to adjust front camber?

[Mirageman38]

I have had multiple tire rotations so I doubt it has anything to do with the rim. Last week the steering wheel was off to the left, now it's off to the right. The last shop I had it aligned at before the dealer added aftermarket alignment bolts.

I've even had it where its off to the left, I hit a smallish pothole on a bridge and then it switched so it was off to the right. It feels terrible loosey goosey with the alignment... my old grand cherokee was a battleship. 205k miles on it and it never needed to be aligned once and that's with some real off roading, a few major moon craters, and the occasional curb.

[CROSSBOLT]

Mirageman, how do you KNOW it is out of alignment? I am guessing from your posts that the steering wheel is off-center left, your genius dealer tech "aligns it" and then it is off center right, right? Answer yes/ no

Does the car drive straight, hands off, sready speed on a straight road/highway for a hundred or more feet? Answer yes/no

Does the car require a steady steer input by you to drive straight on the same road above? Answer yes/no

Lemme tell you something about MOST techs since 1950 and alignment machines: they generally think that if they get the indicator needles "in the green" they have it right. Not so on most settings as they should be in the green and generally matching values left and right. They care not where the steer wheel is if they get the toe set properly. Most of these guys don't even know how to "unload" the front wheels after they make adjustments that change the position of the contact patch. Some machines are built to do this but some are not. Most modern 4-wheel alignment machines do this.

Give answers and let's see what is going on.

[klroger]

I also wonder how many alignment Techs can figure out how to use Caster to compensate for Road Crown...I know none here don't... As the Crown changes, so will the feel of your car...