Hi. Yesterday I took my Prius for it's second year service. Whilst doing the service they also replaced one front tyre. On driving home I found that the steering wheel alignment is out, when the car is driving straight the wheel angles off to the left. Initially I thought this might be because of incorrect tyre pressure on the new tyre as 2 weeks previously they had fitted a tyre on the other side and it's pressure was way out. So this morning I checked tyre pressure and everything was fine so decided to phone the garage. They say that nothing they did will have affected alignment and that I will have to pay £44. They also say that the machine that checks alignment is broken and won't be back until Friday, surely when putting on new tyres they use this machine to check everything is OK. Does this mean they didn't do the job properly. Also I refuse to pay £44 for something that was fine before the service. Any advice is much appreciated.
A new tire will not affect alignment. I suspect they 'tweaked' your alignment when they put on the new tire. Take it back when there machine comes back in and push the issue. I've seen dealers do this before.
i would demand that the dealer fix your problem. from what you said, it's rather obvious that it's NOT your fault.
There's no reason for front wheel alignment to change when a tire is replaced. If the alignment changed, perhaps this was because someone hit a pothole, which threw off the front suspension? I am wondering why you are buying tires one at a time, rather than replacing them in pairs (or else 4 at a time).
Patrick initially I only got one new tyre as I got a flat and had to replace it straight away but the garage only had 1 tyre and I had to wait 2 weeks for a second one. EZW1 and Genoz thanks for your comments, I have phoned the garage a further 2 times arguing but all that they'll do is knock £10 off the charge. I'll see what happens on Friday. Oh and Richard thanks for your constructive comment why even bother.
Is the car pulling to one side and you have to turn the wheel to keep it straight or the wheel is off center to one side for the car to go straight with your hands off? If it the first, the new tires have a problem assuming the alignment is not altered by any means. If it is the second the alignment is off.
I have one tire I have to keep on the back or I'll get tire pull which I first became aware of after a tire change/rotation. At first I thought the garage had thrown off my alignment but since I've come to believe it is a bad wheel from the factory.
