Hello everyone , I have a 2011 Carry LE inline 4cyl that I've just purchased new tires for. Before having the new tires installed the car would always have a slight pull to the right no matter the left/right gradient or crown in the road this was with a set of Michelin Primacy 215's. New tires are Michelin Xtour a/s t+h 225's. Rightfully Assuming that it needed alignment after the new tires I went immediately to Firestone to have the car alignment done. I waited for them to complete the service, paid $87.xx , and left only to notice the car is pulling to the right as much if not slightly more than before. I am extremely frustrated being that the car is well taken care of and most certainly doesn't have and damaged/bent wheels,upper/lower control arms, spindles,ball joints,bearings etc... I have the printouts available I'm posting along with this if someone could look them over... I'm a top rate motorcycle master tech but wheel alignments aren't exactly in my field of expertise. All help greatly appreciated!

 

Did the car pull to the right since you owned it?

 

Thanks for the quick reply! No it was purchased brand new and never has had any issues. Only noticed the slight drift right upon 3/4 life use from the old tires. I figured when I had the new tires done and alignment after this would solve things. Unfortunately not. I'm hoping someone who is very very familiar with the alignment process and the 2011 LE 4cyl camry can take a look at these sheets and tell me what they see in the numbers. I'm also wondering if someone knows the exact spec parameters for the different adjustments so that I may understand the numbers better myself . I'm very curious to know because the gentleman took about 5-10 minutes max to do whatever adjustments that were made.

 

From the printouts, the shop used the correct year, model, engine, etc. for your cars specs.

Once programmed with the correct spec's. The alignment machine checks for out of tolerance specs and highlights these.

The front suspension design only allows for toe-in adjustment. Camber and caster require installing special parts (commonly available) to allow this. The rear allows for toe-in and camber adjustment.

This could be why it took only 5-10 minutes for the job. The shop needed to only make one adjustment.

Don't have the specs but assume they are something like below:

Front camber +/- 0.75 degree with 0.72 preferred Tow-in +/- 0.08 in. Caster +/- 0.75 degree.

Rear camber same, -1.27 deg preferred. Tow-in 0.016 in +/- 0.08. Camber not listed.

A few thoughts.

Camry has had complaints of the car pulling to one side or the other. The fix can be as simple as low tire pressure or illusive and take time.

Suggest you review the thread at the link below to get a better understanding of the Camry situation. Its for an older car, however the Camry used almost the same suspension design for years and years.

Camry still pulls to the left! - Page 2 - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

The fix could be more then just having a local chain repair shop do a typical alignment. Firestone may not be the best place to take care of a pulling issue. The reason is because the fix could take more time (and with this money) to investigate and remedy then they (or the cars owner) wants to spend.

Its possible the car has a dragging brake, bad wheel bearing, sagging strut spring, torsion bar issue, etc. Check tire pressures cold all around and make sure their equal.

A band aid fix is to try raising tire pressure slightly on the side that pulls and lowering it slightly on the other side. Or rotating the tires.

The best advice is to find a shop that does frame repair or custom work. A shop that for a price, will take the time to check all issues.

Then if an alignment issue, install aftermarket suspension parts to get the alignment where the car drives straight. Which may not be exactly what Toyota spec's state it should be.

 

Thanks for your reply! I have made certain that none of the above issues are the problem. But let me ask this, if the toe on the front are not set to the exact same degree would that not technically be misaligned? At the front L&R tires he has TOE( -0.03 and -0.07), and Rear L&R tires he has TOE( 0.18 and 0.11) ... That seems to me as being abnormal... Rear tires have a positive toe degree, and the front have a negative degree... And not one wheel set is aligned true..... So my front wheels are essentially pointing pigeon toe'd / \ and the rear are pointing like they are \ /

can you explain how it should look bc this is making me more sure that this is way off alignment the more I think about it...

 

A positive thrust angle tends to have the car pull to the left, a negative to the right. A zero thrust angle should have the car go straight. The thrust angle here is +0.04.

The cars thrust angle was lowered during alignment, however you state the car pulls to the right even more. Which is opposite of what is expected based on how thrust angle is supposed to work.

A negative toe number has the tires aligned as: \...../ Currently the front is: L = -0.03 R = -0.07

Positive Toe number: /.....\ Rear L = +0.18 R = +0.11

Ideally the L and R alignment settings would be the same and the difference zero.

Did the Firestone place inspect the car and provide and list of suggested repairs?

The best advice is to find a shop that does frame repair or custom work.