[Mark R]

I had my car aligned 350 miles ago, and now the steering wheel is a few degrees off center. I have over 9000 miles on my ZL-1, and I must have had it aligned 6 times now.

Thankfully, I have lifetime alignment at Firestone, but still, this seems excessive. The car does not seem to have bad handling characteristics as a result, but the off-center wheel is annoying.

Thank goodness I don't have one of those colored stripes at 12 o'clock on the wheel, or it would be a constant reminder of this, driving my OCD into the red zone.

I'm not sure anything can be done about this, but I did want to rant a little about it.

Mark R.
Albuquerque, NM

[Kerry]

swap front wheels side to side and see if it now is the other way. Could be tires.

[Zl1+911]

did you change the TTY bolts when you did the alignment? In my experience the rear toe gets out pretty easily in the car (which may cause the steering to be misaligned), when i replaced the bolts and stood on my techs head to ensure the right torque was used it worked better...

[Mark R]

Originally Posted by Zl1+911

did you change the TTY bolts when you did the alignment? In my experience the rear toe gets out pretty easily in the car (which may cause the steering to be misaligned), when i replaced the bolts and stood on my techs head to ensure the right torque was used it worked better...

I don't actually do my alignment, but I had BMR toe rods installed 350 miles ago, so that bug is gone.

I'll have Firestone align it this Saturday.

[TRZ06]

Originally Posted by Zl1+911

did you change the TTY bolts when you did the alignment? In my experience the rear toe gets out pretty easily in the car (which may cause the steering to be misaligned), when i replaced the bolts and stood on my techs head to ensure the right torque was used it worked better...

I believe the TTY bolts are only in the rear, not the front.

I suspect that maybe they are not doing a good job of tightening things back down.

I just had my alignment done 2 days ago from a stupid ass tow truck driver knocking them out (with similar steering wheel off-center issue, which is a Toe issue, BTW) and my front adjustments were so tight that the guy actually moved my car a bit on the rack trying to get it loose and had to reposition the car and start over.

OP: You may want to bypass the Firestone place and go to a performance race shop.

[Zl1+911]

Originally Posted by Mark R

I don't actually do my alignment, but I had BMR toe rods installed 350 miles ago, so that bug is gone.

I'll have Firestone align it this Saturday.

thats wired, please report back on what exactly was the cause of the issue. I thought with the BMR components the rear should not get out of alignment....

[Swift016]

I had the track alignment done at a Chevy dealer and used new rear bolts. During my first track day the rear of my car got progressively unstable at high speed.. I believe the rear bolts were not properly torqued to the tty specs. My car felt like it went to toe-out in the rear. I’ll know for sure when I realign it 🙁

[Mark R]

I just got the car back from alignment. Unfortunately, their printer ran out of ink, so I could not see the before and after specs, but the technician said the rear toe was out, steering wheel was off center, and it definitely needed an alignment.

400 miles after.the previous alignment. Like I posted before, I'm glad I have lifetime alignment.

[TRZ06]

Originally Posted by Mark R

I just got the car back from alignment. Unfortunately, their printer ran out of ink, so I could not see the before and after specs, but the technician said the rear toe was out, steering wheel was off center, and it definitely needed an alignment.

400 miles after.the previous alignment. Like I posted before, I'm glad I have lifetime alignment.

Seriously man, if your alignment is getting that far off, that often, I would be looking for another shop.

I got the track alignment on my car done at 1,500 miles and it held all the way thru 20K miles, until a stupid tow truck driver knocked it out.

You should not need an alignment as often as you do.

[Mark R]

I understand. But the dealer did the last alignment 400 miles ago when they installed the toe rods, and this time it was Firestone. I'll keep an eye on it for sure.

[Zl1+911]

Did u ask the tech why the alignment may have been off? Was everything tight? I am curious since the BMR toe rod is supposed to be a fix to the otherwise prevalent issue of rear toe getting out.

[Pupilbone]

Originally Posted by TRZ06

Seriously man, if your alignment is getting that far off, that often, I would be looking for another shop.

I got the track alignment on my car done at 1,500 miles and it held all the way thru 20K miles, until a stupid tow truck driver knocked it out.

You should not need an alignment as after as you do.

This ^ !

No offence, but the definition of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly, but expecting a different result. There’s no way any car in good working order would need to be aligned that often. Take her to a different and reputable shop for a diagnostic. Either the car has an issue and your regular place doesn’t have the expertise to see it or... no wait that’s it!

[Apexslayer]

If you track the car and use curbs, you will need frequent realignments. Not sure why, but it seems the alignment is easily knocked out.