lexus114

How often do you guy`s get you alignment done? I usually do once a year.

mikey00

I keep a close eye on tire wear. If anything looks out of the ordinary, I get a alignment. If tire wear looks good, I don't want to take a chance of some alignment tech making a change and causing a tire wear problem. I don't see what is to be gained getting an alignment if you alraedy have perfect tire wear. Of course there are always the obvious reasons such as pulling, vibration, etc.
So I guess my answer to your question is "never".

code58

You're a wise man MiKey. That is the way I deal with it, and I did alignments in the course of the work that I did! How many of you that get it done every year know that what you are getting is a very expensive toe-in check? There is no caster or camber adjustment on the front of an RX, not unless they have added one in recent years, and I doubt it. The only way you can have a camber adjustment is to add an aftermarket kit (eccentric bolt). There is no way to adjust the caster. I don't know about the rear, I'll check my DIL's RX the next time I do some maintenance on it. I'm a very strong believer in preventative maintenance and am meticulous about anything I work on, but this is one time I say, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it". I doubt that the front end guys are very often honest enough to tell you that. No abnormal tire wear? Keep em cross switched and leave em alone!

lexus114

Code,I think they can also drill out/oblong the bolt holes for camber. Crude but it works.

code58

That's true Lexus- And it doesn't take much. I hesitate to say I have done it a couple or three times when the occasion called for it (on older cars) and it doesn't take much, maybe a 1/16-3/32 of an inch to achieve results because the upper and lower bolt are only maybe 2 1/2" apart. And the bolts that hold the spindle to the Mcpherson are massive. I didn't personally like the looks of the eccentric bolts because it looks like you lose a lot of the meat of those massive OE bolts. I would prefer to drill if it were my own car and it needed camber (+). What I did was take the top bolt out and leave the bottom pretty tight, with the gauges on, yank the top out to proper camber and use the die grinder to hog the hole so that the bolt would JUST go through (you were taking the metal out of the strut flanges and not the spindle), bolt back in and you were done.

degeja

Never done and have 124,000 miles. Do what others do--keep an eye on wear.

thomas1

3rds I just got one for the first time at 138k...Steering wheel was off (hit a curb) been good since then and at 160k now..

code58

Thomas- I know you're a wise man and wouldn't have had it simply aligned if you had hit the curb very hard. I have not ever seen much problem with rack and pinion but with recirculating ball gear boxes I have seen plenty of them twist the sector shaft, usually visible in the splines (twist) below the seal. I have also seen way to many simply align them when sent to an alignment shop and not even look to see that the shaft was twisted. I did a Ford PU that was hit sideways in the front wheel and the steering wheel was off quite a bit- but no twisting in the splines! I pulled the sector shaft out and it was almost twisted in two! You are probably OK but keep in mind, in those cases where the wheel is off by quite a bit, IT HAD TO BEND SOMETHING! There is no adjustment on the front end of a Lexus except toe-in.

thomas1

thanks Code58, it was off just a little bit, Hopefully I do not have what you saw. Car seems fine, It is rack and pinion, I will take a look at my neighbors car (Highlander) since the engine is out and see all what is envolved on that rack... On a side note I am troubleshooting a vibration noise at around 50 to 65 and particularily when it is on one road. My other vehicles dont experience it. but it is like a drone sound with a light vibration. I posted before, but no solutions. When you put the tranny in nuetral and coast the drone and vibration are still there. I may have a drive line problem, my car is AWD andhas 160k miles. I was wondering about the two drive shaft supports going to the back of the car. Oh man I am babbling... Good morning everyone.

lexus114

"Good morning everyone" Hey,how are you doing this morning Thomas?

salimshah

I need a bit of education ...

There is an adjustment for steering straight when the wheels are straight and I think it not just how the steering is attached to the steering shaft.

Salim

code58

Salim- I'm not certain i understand exactly what you're asking. but i'll give it a try. The adjustment on all cars is the tie rod adjustment. It is the tie rod on a rack and pinion (virtually all vehicles now) and on the older generation, front engine-rear drive it is the tie rod sleeve. It does the same thing, just that the tie rod isn't able to turn on that type of steering so the tie rod threaded sleeve is the adjustable link between the tie rod and the steering linkage. On almost all cars today (because they have rack and pinion) there is a lock nut on the tie rod. The steering wheel is locked STRAIGHT forward with a device that sits between the seat and the bottom of the steering wheel. Then the lock nut on the tie rod is loosened and the tie rod is turned either in or out to adjust that wheel straight forward. The same is done on the opposite side. All cars have a toe-in or toe-out setting. In the case of front wheel drive they are normally set at zero or a slight toe-out because the torque of the driven wheels tends to pull them to straight ahead, just the opposite of rear wheel drive cars. These are generalizations and there are specs. for each manufacturers model and it may even change in a given model when they detect a need for fine tuning. Has nothing to do with how the steering is attached to the steering shaft. Hope I haven't thoroughly confused you Salim- toe is actually quite simple.

code58

Thomas- I wouldn't be concerned if it were only off a little. As I said I have not seen hardly any problem with the rack and pinion being vulnerable to side hits on the front wheels like the steering boxes were. The steering arm on the knuckle will bend sometimes to cause your wheel to be off a little. Not likely a minor amount off would be a cause for concern on either type of steering. I designed and still have a tool to measure the bend in the strut and the steering arm on the knuckle when it is minor and not visible, tough to do anything but throw parts at it otherwise when it won't align.
Thomas- I wouldn't suggest this to very many people but I think the best bet to run down the vibration and drone unless it is something peculiar to that stretch of highway would be to set the car SECURELY on 4 heavy duty jack stands and if you're not the faint of heart, go underneath with a mechanics stethoscope and VERY CAREFULLY check all of the bearing areas. I rely heavily on one for rotating noise analysis. Have you cross switched your tires lately? I know the tires (all weather) on the RX's tend to drone some when they get some miles on them- depending on brand.

thomas1

Funny that is exactly what I was planning on doing, There are two center bearings for the drive shaft, and off course the wheel bearings....

LA4Mead

I'm going to order struts, strut mounts, for Tire Pros to install on my '99 2WD, and I'm assuming I'll need an alignment. It hasn't been checked in 120,000 miles or so. Tire wear has been even, although 255 65 H 16's seem to wear evenly but rather quickly.

I've not been a fan of the RX's benign but lazy top-heavy handling, hence the wider tires (and hubcentric rear spacers) which helped. I'd like to benefit from better cornering - knowing the RX will never be a canyon carver, but I've experienced a big difference in the "interpretation" of the alignment specs in my other cars.

I was told that the manufacturer's alignment specs have a little room... within a certain range. I'm not looking for a change that affects tire wear, if I can help it, but within reason, what should I ask for that will make the best of the suspension?

Would there be an advantage to an adjustable bolt kit? Can I ask for a slight bias toward negative camber (for example, I don't know if it should be negative or camber adjustment)?

I'm looking for suggestions (other than buying a different car!).

Thanks for all the helpful information.