Wheel Alignment

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Sep 23, 2018 | 07:17 PM

mak8504

Thread Starter

Driver

Joined: Feb 2018

Posts: 55

Likes: 7

From: Virginia

Wheel Alignment

When I got my '17 300 F-sport AWD, I also purchased a 3 year wheel alignment package with a large service chain. I took my car in last weekend and they performed the alignment and printed out the final specifications (all green). They used the 2016 IS350 AWD specifications. The past week, I noticed that my steering wheel was slightly off-centered to the left and when I centered it, the car would track right. I called the shop and they offered to take a look at it. Two hours at the shop later, they told me that they couldn't fix it and that I had to go to another location that had the 2017 model year specifications. Are the F-sport alignment values different than the non F-sport? Does a 2016 vs 2017 matter?

Sep 24, 2018 | 10:18 AM

E46CT

Lexus Test Driver

Joined: Mar 2016

Posts: 9,543

Likes: 2,597

Doubt it's different but either way your steering wheel needs to be straight. I've aligned cars personally using high tech racks. Like I personally used to do the alignments (for fun) So I know the subject well.

Basically what happened was the tech was lazy and didn't center the steering wheel perfectly when locking the tie rod nuts down.

When I get alignments done I always request to sit inside the car so I can hold the steering wheel and personally sign off on what I think is centered. That way there's never any dispute. Better believe I'm white knuckling that thing as the tech below is locking the tie rod jam nuts down! You also get the added benefit of weight ballasting--another topic for another day.