Alignment with bad tires

[GarageMahal]

So we all know that a bad alignment will wear out tires but my question is can a good alignment be done with bad tires on the wheels?

I am about to get new summer tires and plan to have the alignment redone. Last time I had the alignment done with my winter rims on so I didn't have to worry about damage to the shiny rims. My concern now is that my snow tires are shot but I am not planning to get new ones as I no longer drive the MM in the winter.

So, is it fine to have the alignment done with bad tires on or will it goof things up?

Thanks for your input,
jta

P.S. Long time no see everyone :wave:

[MM2004]

For years, my alignment guy told me that new tires were essential for an accurate alignment.

Technology may have changed that as this was years ago??

How have you been man?

Good seeing you post again!

:beer:

Mike.

[Bradley G]

They can align with poor tires, the measurement is taken from the wheels.

[fastblackmerc]

They can align with poor tires, the measurement is taken from the wheels.

Correct............

[Egon Spengler]

What ^^^they^^^ said

[burt ragio]

AS mentioned alignment is taken from the wheels.
Is your winter car your Eldorado with the top down heat on & snows in all four corners?

[Egon Spengler]

I had tires that I caught wearing bad due to my MM being aligned to the wrong spec and went back and had the carfixer spec done to then and they wore evenly after that.

[GarageMahal]

Is your winter car your Eldorado with the top down heat on & snows in all four corners?

Front wheel drive would get me through everything but the wind chill is too much to handle :)

----

Thanks for the replies everyone, I thought it would be ok but wanted to get some informed opinions. Another good use for snow tires :beer:

jta

[Got_1]

like everyone else has said, you can get an alignment with bald tires BUT depending on how the old tires wore you could have a tire pull and the tech may adjust camber/caster to counter the pull and then when you put your new tires on it'll end up pulling the opposite way.

^^ from experience.

why don't you just wait to get your new tires installed and then have the alignment done then?

[GarageMahal]

why don't you just wait to get your new tires installed and then have the alignment done then?

I don't trust them to keep the factory rims undamaged and am not going to get new tires on the winter steelies that I would use for the alignment.

If you are saying that I would notice a tire pull problem on the bad tires I'm not worried about it as I will have the factory rims with new tires installed before any road test.

Make sense?

jta

[gohogs]

I agree...the steelies with snow tires go on before I allow a shop to touch my MM. Are we paranoid or what?

Also, when I have tires installed, I take the wheels in off the car, 'cause I don't trust them to hand torque the lugnuts properly.

[fastblackmerc]

I agree...the steelies with snow tires go on before I allow a shop to touch my MM. Are we paranoid or what?

Also, when I have tires installed, I take the wheels in off the car, 'cause I don't trust them to hand torque the lugnuts properly.

The guy at the shop I use is anal about any car he works on.

He has the proper equipment to change tires and do alignments.

He always asks me what torque to use.

BTW... you should always retorque the lugnuts after a week or two of use.

[FF1077]

Right after I got my Marauder in October I hit a monster pot hole and blew a tire. I didnt realize the alignment was off until I noticed the inside of the driver’s side tire was wearing real bad. So take it in and have CarFixers alignment done to the car and go on about my merry way.
Two weeks ago I parked the car with the wheels turned all the way one direction. I notice my previously badly wearing tire is now down past the cords on the inside! So I take it to different alignment shop and the tech comes back and tells me everything is fine, its right where the specs say it should be. He says get a new tire and bring it back and he will check it again. So I have a new tire Fedex’ed over night to me and go back the next day. With the new tire everything is still the same specs and the tech said its most likely that once the tire started wearing like that it was too late. I check the tire every other day to just to be sure it doesn’t start wearing oddly.