Alignment off after rim change?

[DJ]Tomski · Post by **[DJ]Tomski** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 4:55 pm

so i switched from my stock 15s to my 17" flik artics yesterday since it's starting to get nice out, but my alignment seems to have gone out of wack. the car pulls to the right now. it was fine with the stockers on. is it possible that different wheels can play a role in my car's alignment? 4 months ago i had my lca bushing replaced so i had an alignment done with my stock rims on. i also installed a srt4 rear sway bar yesterday but i don't think that has anything to do with that (correct me if i'm wrong). i'm gonna get an alignment done soon so it's not that big of a deal, but does anyone have any ideas why this happened? i don't want to have to get an alignment every time i swap rims.

edit: i did check tire pressure also and all four sit at around 32-33psi.

-Devil- · Post by **-Devil-** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 5:30 pm

if the offset is different then stock ... or the tire width or rim width ... can change the suspension geomerty ...

SRT-Wannabe · Post by **SRT-Wannabe** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 10:00 am

what can be done to correct it? I'm planning on using 18s/19s after i get a custom wide body kit.

[DJ]Tomski · Post by **[DJ]Tomski** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 3:10 pm

i'm not sure on the offset but the wheel size is 17x7 and tire size is 215/45/17. it'll suck to get an alignment twice a year, damn.

hansken_yo · Post by **hansken_yo** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 3:12 pm

I have to ask.

Did you put the wheels on in their appropriate location that they were pulled off from? Tire wear, if not put back on correctly, could cause abnormal alignment issues.

-Devil- · Post by **-Devil-** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 3:19 pm

if he had the alignment done with one set of wheels and tires .. then changed out to a second set ... tire wear wouldn't affect it in that way i beleive ...

you might check around and see if you can find one of the places that offers an 'alignment service' ... that you can carry in a few times a year and have it realigned for free ... for an annual fee ...

the only thing you can do to correct it ... is once you have your suspension setup how you want it .. and have the wheels / tires / spacers on ... then get the alignment ...

only so much can be corrected with the stock setup ... much more and it will require custom suspension ...

[DJ]Tomski · Post by **[DJ]Tomski** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 3:34 pm

yea, i had the alignment done with my stock rims and now switched to my 17s. the tires are all pretty new but i did check em out before putting the rims on the car and they looked good to me. no abnormal tire wear or anything like that. they're directional tires but i made sure to put em on the correct way.
hansken, if what you say is true, then if i were to rotate my tires down the road, i might have to get an alignment then too?

hansken_yo · Post by **hansken_yo** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 3:54 pm

[DJ]Tomski wrote:yea, i had the alignment done with my stock rims and now switched to my 17s. the tires are all pretty new but i did check em out before putting the rims on the car and they looked good to me. no abnormal tire wear or anything like that. they're directional tires but i made sure to put em on the correct way.
hansken, if what you say is true, then if i were to rotate my tires down the road, i might have to get an alignment then too?

didn't know they were directional. That makes it way easy and hard to make a mistake in putting them on correctly. Just thought I'd check. When I was on stock tires and doing a rotation according to the manual I started getting weird vibrations and movement from the tires. Then I changed them to just go front to back and back straight to front and it solved the problem.... This is why I brought up my question.

ewetho · Post by **ewetho** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 12:09 am

Well changing tire won't really change the alignment but can change requirements of the alignment. If it does not pull with one set of tires and does afterwards it is in the tires.

If you find inner or outer edge wear after changing the rims and tires you then need to have toe altered to compensate for change in scrub radius.

Adionik · Post by **Adionik** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 12:52 am

You shouldn't have to change your alignment after new tires or sway bars.

Did they balance the tires correctly?

titansxt · Post by **titansxt** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 2:21 am

X2 on the balancing. If you have a Sears tire center near by, they check your alignment for free. Then if it is off by a lot you can get it done or do nothing about it. Mine was $69.95 with a six month warranty.

TheNumberOneD · Post by **TheNumberOneD** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 1:17 pm

i say radial pull...

but thats just me.

Rotate front to back, and see if that fixes it.

if it does then one of your rear tires is foo-barred.

Usually its the tire on the side that your car is pulling too, but sometimes 1 out of 5 or so times its the opposite tire causing a push.

tire balance has nothing to do with the alignment of a car.

i'm also, just assuming you got a tire/wheel combo that had <.5" diameter difference than your stock set up.

and if all else fails, add 10 psi of air pressure to the side that it is drifting too, and see if you can counter act it, until you get your new rims and tires./