[nycbr]

I just put on new tires all around. I know it is a good idea to get an alignment after new tires so they wear properly. But the car drives fine and I did not have any wear issues with the old tires. Should I get an alignment anyway as part of routine maintenance or "dont fix what aint broke"?

[Torobimmer]

its almost $100 for that service. unless my car is swinging across then its not needed.

if buying a new set of tires i still wait for few days before deciding if an alignment necessary. after the resulting test miles decide then.

[Shahdog]

Originally Posted by nycbr

I just put on new tires all around. I know it is a good idea to get an alignment after new tires so they wear properly. But the car drives fine and I did not have any wear issues with the old tires. Should I get an alignment anyway as part of routine maintenance or "dont fix what aint broke"?

I say get it with new tires

[Efthreeoh]

I have over 170,000 miles on my car. I've yet to get an alignment. The tires wear just fine on my car and I get over 35,000 per set of high performance all-seasons. I'm running Pirelli PZero Nero all season right now. I do rotate them every 5,000 to 8,000 miles.

[nycbr]

just a bump for more feedback. TIA

[NBK]

as needed. no reason to align with new tires unless you driving drunk hitting curbs

[R608]

NBK, please... You don't have to be drunk and hitting curbs to knock your alignment out. We have lots of roads in my part of the country that are in disrepair and in some cases you either may not be able to see a pothole or deeply sunken manhole cover in time, or you may see it but have no room to avoid it.

My car never felt like the alignment was off (no apparent pulling at all), but looking at how poorly my last set of summer tires wore, it clearly was. Going forward I'm inclined to have the alignment at least checked once a year to be on the safe side. I'd rather pay $100 (I think it was only $70 last time, actually) for that than potentially be ruining both my summer and winter tires as well as possibly putting undue strain on suspension components due to the alignment being off. If I lived somewhere with better roads, I probably wouldn't worry about it so much unless I knew I had hit something or was starting to see uneven tire wear.

nycbr, all that being said, in your case if the old tires wore fine, that might be proof enough that an alignment is not warranted unless something just happened relatively recently.

[BlackedOutBimmer]

does your car pull to either side while driving? if not, why get an alignment? i mean, seriously, if the car is tracking correctly, then why bother? if it pulls to either side, then yes. put the new tires on, drive a few days and see if the car tracks straight.

[Surly73]

Originally Posted by AllBlackBimmer

does your car pull to either side while driving? if not, why get an alignment? i mean, seriously, if the car is tracking correctly, then why bother? if it pulls to either side, then yes. put the new tires on, drive a few days and see if the car tracks straight.

There's more to "tracking" than whether it pulls or not.

Alignments are maintenance. There's all kinds of ways things can get bumped out of proper position. Unless you're involved in a major incident that instantly changes things, these things wiggle themselves out of proper spec gradually, so you don't always notice the car not being as "right" as it was before. Until you get an alignment and suddenly the rear tracks tighter, or some annoying something-or-other is now gone.

[Blue Streak]

I get an alignment at least once a year and when I replace tires. I bought a lifetime free alignment deal a few years ago. Even this last time, last month, although it wasn't pulling, it did feel kind of squirrelly on the highway at speeds over 60. They said it was off and asked if I had hit something. Only potholes on surface streets during my work commute.

So I think it's a good preventative maintenance for your car and also to help prolong the tread life of your tires.