alignment & front tire cupping...

[blovatt]

Ok - so I finally got this all sorted out (although it remains to be proven that my tire wear is better over the next 12k miles).

I took the car in Tuesday for an alignment -- I explained that I wanted .04' toe on the front and exactly the spec value on the back.

When I picked up the car, they gave me the alignment report, showing that the rear tires were actually toe-out (i.e. negative toe) and the fronts were too far in. The ride-height seemed a little suspect cuz they were all a little different... but within reason I guess.

I drove away and noticed immediately that the steering wheel was off center by about 2 or 3 degrees -- AAHHHHH! I was late for a meeting, and could not get back there until today.

Today I actually rode in the car with the tech who did the alignment -- he agreed that the wheel was off center and said that he must have bumped the little bracket that's supposed to hold the wheel still while the car is on the rack.

Anyway 45 minutes later, we drove the car again and everything was fine.

I wanted to post my alignment report, but I can't for the life of me figure out where I put it -- suffice it to say that the numbers are all pretty close to the "target" value at this point, and I'm hoping that the tire wear will be ok.

Thanks to everyone for your help/advice -- and good luck to those of you who are having the same issues...