Eureka! The Secret to Buying New Cars for Mere Pennies on the Dollar!

I think I have as good a sense of humor as the next car seller. Hopefully it shows in this blog. But people! … enough with the ridiculous offers! Especially when you don’t think you’re being funny, just a good shopper. You’re not.

Low-ball offers really gained momentum when that Midwestern Dodge dealer hit the national news last year with his Two for the Price of One deal. “Wow,” shrieked the media. “New cars for half price!!!!!” … jumping to the conclusion that if you buy two vehicles and only pay for one, they must be equivalent. (By the way, I never use multiple exclamation points. That’s the media talking there.) Of course it was actually smoke and mirrors.

The way the twofer deal really worked was you had to buy a new, loaded high-dollar pickup truck … the kind you could probably negotiate about $10,000 off sticker after rebates … for full sticker price and then they’d give you another vehicle for free. The fine print shows the other vehicle to be an inexpensive fleet car that had just come out of rental or demo service … not an equivalent second fancy truck. Oh sure, it was the same model year as the truck that you were paying for. But the retail value of this used ”freebie” was probably around $10k and the dealer was probably in it for about 6. So, who was the real winner here? Obviously the dealer for creating a great illusion and getting free national exposure as a bonus.

But the fallout has been that everyone who can stumble onto a website and push the “send me a quote” link now thinks that not only is half price actually do-able, but that’s it’s just a jumping off point for further negotiations.

I recently received an offer for a new, unused leftover 2008 GMC Yukon Denali I have, and have had on my lot since last Spring.

“I will give $22000 out dor” (sic).  (I don’t actually know what “sic” means, but the editor at Car and Driver magazine has been using it to make fun of misspellings in Letters to the Ed. for years, so I thought I’d give it a whirl.)

Oh really?  22k, huh?  Now, this is a vehicle that stickers for over $57,000. That’s more than $62,000 with tax and license … which I will gladly discount to 50k and some change, cash on the barrell head. (Attention shoppers.  As of this writing, it’s still available.) My slightly intrigued reply…

“Thank you for your offer. Do I understand correctly that you want to purchase a new Denali with a sticker price of $57,270 for $22,000 including tax and license? In other words, you want a $40,000 discount. Is that right?”

“yes”

The response didn’t make me laugh. Its ridiculousness made me smile … sorta. But since the inquirer seemed perfectly serious, I distinctly remember not laughing.

Unfortunately, this is not an isolated or particularly extreme example for me or most other dealers. And therein lies some of the problem for the current state of the auto industry.  An alarmingly growing number of people seem to think that since industries like electronics have a history of slashing prices and other industries, like retail clothing seem to have the unlimited ability to mark things down, that the same characteristics should apply to the auto industry. They don’t.

New vehicles cost more and more for dealers to buy from manufacturers and don’t even have as much markup, percentage-wise as they did five years ago. Honest. My hand to Heaven and hope to kiss a duck. They don’t. Not like for example, the garment industry, where something selling for a mere double the cost of its manufacture is considered by shoppers to be a bargain and most regular rack prices are several times cost.

So how did my email buddy decide he should get 65% off? I have an idea. Let’s call it “The Sponge Bob Gets Soaked Theory.”  It works like this.  A Sponge Bob Square pants t-shirt goes for ten bucks in most stores.  But Hank, Peggy and Bobby Hill can find it in the closeout rack at Mega-Lo-Mart for $4.88. That’s about half off.  However, once Peggy washes it a few times, it’s no longer worth as much … say about two bucks now. So, if Hank and Peggy were to pay $3.50 for Sponge Bob after washing … now remember, Bobby hasn’t worn or used the shirt in any way.  Peggy’s just washed it … that’s 65% off. And since it’s only worth $2, that means Mega-Lo-Mart still made a handy buck fifty profit … probably more, since the giant big box retailer bought 5,000 gross of the nasty, undersized little poly-cotton rags direct from the Bangladesh factory for 89.3 cents each.

Stay with me now. My $57,000 brand new 2008 Denali has been on our lot for about a year.  It’s been washed at least once a week. Let’s say 70 times total … we try to keep our inventory clean. That means it’s no longer worth the $50-51,000 we’ll owe the factory once it’s sold.  Maybe, if like Sponge Bob, we’d never washed it, former GM Chairman “Uncle Rick” Wagoner would have taken pity and allowed us to sell it for half off. Could happen, right?  But nooooo … we stupidly washed it and it lost about 1 percent of its value every time its gleaming Onyx Black flanks were insulted by the “pucketa-pucketa” power sprayer mounted in the bed of our ‘92 Sonoma lot truck. OK, so that’s a $35,000 discount. Now subtract the $6,000 in factory rebates and, voila! There ya go! $41,000 off. Mr. Can’t-Spell-for-Diddly has his $40,000 discount and we still made a tidy$1,000 on one of those sinful, gas-guzzling monuments to vehicular overindulgence that righteous, greenie consumers have completely turned their backs on … unless it’s a “good deal.”

Halelujah! Mystery solved! God bless capitalism! Move over Obama and Geitner! I’ve solved it! The recession is over!!  (Oops … extra “!”  My bad.)

Where the Rubber Meets the Road … or, How Come Trojan Doesn’t Make Tires?

If they did, I’d buy them. Whether it’s tires for your car or … well, you know … freshness counts. Prophylactics have a “use by” date. Tires should too. Fortunately, there is a way to know if the rubber that you’re trusting with your life is going to hold together and not fail at an inopportune moment. Hey! Snap out of it! What are you, a Delta house pledge? I’m referring to your car’s tires. 

When I buy tires for a car I intend to keep, I don’t want the cheapest tires.  There’s a reason they’re so cheap and it usually doesn’t match up with the concept of long-term satisfaction.  Instead, I try to get the best tires for the job at the lowest price, always checking to be sure they’re not past their freshness date.  So, to paraphrase Steve Martin in Father of the Bride, fasten your condoms … uh, seat belts.  Here are the three things you need to know about buying tires.

1.  The DOT (Department of Transportation) stamping on every tire sort of tells you what you need to know about freshness.  Among other things, it tells you when the tire was made. Unfortunately there is no definite guideline for how old a tire can be before it is no longer roadworthy. But consider this, would you put more trust in a tire that was manufactured this year or one that sat on a shelf for six or eight years? Hint: tire rubber has little in common with fine wine. Tires are best when fresh and spend the rest of their lives trying to biodegrade - in spite of what environmentalists tell you.

The DOT code is printed on the sidewall of every tire. Sometimes it’s only on the inner sidewall. It’s not supposed to be that way, but sometimes it is.  In other words, you can’t always see it once the tire is mounted on a vehicle without hoisting or crawling underneath. So, check it out before you purchase the tires. And be sure the ones you approve are the ones that actually get mounted on your vehicle. The first several digits are to identify what factory manufactured the tire and for batch tracking in case of recall.  The last four digits at the end of the DOT code spell out the date. The first two of the four are the week of the year and the second two are the last two digits of the year the tire was made. For example, a DOT code ending in 0609 would mean the tire was manufactured the sixth week of 2009 … sometime in February. If you ever find one with only three digits, keep your distance and don’t get any of that soon-to-be-disintegrating rubber on you. It was made in the 1990’s. It’s now old enough to be dangerous. And in case you’re an incurable bargain shopper, remember – lower price does not make up for an aged tire that’s far more likely to fail with very ugly consequences.

2.  You also want to be sure you’re getting the right size tire for your vehicle.  Best rule of thumb is to stick with the size that’s currently on the vehicle, especially if it still has its original tires.  These are tires that you can be sure will not come in contact with fenders or foul up your speedometer calibration.  They were also chosen by the manufacturer to best match the character of your vehicle.  Note that it’s not necessary or perhaps even desirable to keep the same brand or model if you want to change that character a little.  The tire you should choose depends on whether your needs run towards economy, performance, ride or foul weather safety. 

Tire size is expressed as a series of numbers and letters.  Take the example of P225/60 R18 93S.  The P means this tire is P-metric and is designed for passenger car use.  Other letters you might see instead of P  include LT for light truck and T for temporary spare.  The 225 is the width of the tire in millimeters at it’s widest point.  On most tires, this is roughly equivalent to tread width.  60 is the aspect ratio of sidewall to tread.  In this case, the sidewall (wheel rim to tread surface distance)  is 60 percent of 225 millimeters.  R indicates a tire carcass that has the now almost universal radial cord structure.  And 18 is the diameter of the wheel this tire fits. 

 You might also see the M+S designation for mud and snow suitability in front of the entire string of letters and numbers if the tire is so designed.   The digits conclude with the ”Service Description” which includes two or three numbers that identify the load rating and a letter indicating the speed rating.  The load rating can range from 71, equating to 761 pounds, up to 125, equating to 3690 pounds.  The speed ratings range from Q, meaning the tire is good for use up to 100 mph, progressing up to W, for up to 168 mph.  There is also a Z rating that stands for ”over” 149 mph.  The “93S” in our example above means this tire can handle 1433 pounds at up to 112 mpg when properly inflated.  Again, the service description appears after the wheel diameter. 

Note that the string of numbers and letters like our example of P225/60 R18 93S may appear without the service rating as “advertising” along with the manufacturer’s name and tire model name.  But you should be able to find the entire sequence, probably in smaller print, somewhere on the sidewall.  Quite a nice litlle alphabet soup, eh?  But wait, there’s more!

When swapping out wheels to obtain higher performance, there is a formula your tire store will apply to find the correct overall diameter involving increasing the tread width and decreasing the aspect ratio to match wheels that are wider and of a greater diameter.  It’s called Plus Sizing.  If you’re not changing wheels, the only thing you need to know regarding changing  tire sizes is:  To maintain the same outside diamter of wheel/tire assembly, you need to decrease the aspect ratio by 5 percent for every 10 millimeters increase in width.  In other words, a P215/60 R16 tire has the same overall diamter (will turn the same number of revolutions per mile) as one that is size P195/70 R16.  Twenty millimeters wider requires ten points lower aspect ratio to get a tire that’s the same overall diameter and is generally about as much wider as you’re going to want go without getting wider wheels.  Got all that? 

3.  Finally, the UTQG, or “uniform tire quality gradings” are on the side of the tire and give you an idea of how that tire compares to a theoretical base tire.  These are the three T’s of tire life – treadwear, traction and temperature.  The number is the treadwear or relative mileage life of a tire compared to any other tire – higher number means it’ll last more miles.  It also probably means less sticky and therefore, not the best choice for high performance cornering or braking.  The next letter or letters signify traction.  A or AA is best, B not as good and C, I think means Connestoga wagon wheel.  Traction is accomplished by a combination of stickiness and tread design.  Summer, or non-mud and snow tires have less space between the blocks of tread rubber.  They have good dry weather traction, sometimes at the expense of tread life or foul weather safety.  But in good weather, they stick like glue compared to a winter/foul weather or off-road tire.   The final letter is temperature, or how hot the tire gets.  As with batteries, heat is a passenger car tire’s enemy.   Note that I say passenger car.  Because race cars that run on “gumballs” like to run hot.  Heat makes them stickier – up to a point.  Generally, a tire that runs hot will break down sooner - sometimes with catastophic results.  Look for a tire with a temperature rating of A … or at minimum, B. 

Now, how do you put all this knowledge to use when selecting a tire for your car?  Every situation is different.  But here’s an example with the reasoning for the selection I made.  A few years back I re-shod a Chevy Metro with Michelin X’s – probably about the most expensive tire available for this economical demi-car … retail price almost $100 per tire. I upgraded from the car’s stock 155/80R13’s to 175/70R13, which the car’s owners manual confirmed was the correct optional size. (20 millimeters wider, 10% lower aspect ratio, right?)  I bought them at Costco and during a sale – $20 off per tire – which is a big discount on a small-size tire. The tire had UTQG ratings of 580AB, had a M+S rating and came with an 80k mile tread-life guarantee. High performance in any terms other than fuel economy is a stranger to this little econo-car, so I wanted tires that would give the car a little more stability, and would last forever.  That’s why I chose a wider size and was mainly concerned with the treadwear number.   Service description (weight capacity and maximum speed) ratings were not a factor because even the the lightest rated tires would handle twice the weight of this car and the little 1.0 liter three-cylinder engine is maxed at 85 mph … flat out … downhill … with a tailwind… bless its little heart.  Because Costco is a volume store, the tires were fresh … less than six months old. Again, this is important. I’ve seen tires in stores with DOT codes showing they were over six years old. That’s not acceptable for a tire. That’s an age at which you ought to consider replacing a tire, not buying it.  My total cost for those four Michelins with mounting and balance was about $200.

Now, I could have gotten cheaper stock-size tires for as little as $120 at another chain. But based on their lower UTQG statistics and narrower size, they would have worn out in half the time and not performed as well.  In other words, they weren’t worth the lower initial price … not if I plan on keeping the car.  And the upgrade in quality and contact area – where the rubber meets the road (see how everything ties in?) - absolutely transformed that little Metro into something much more stable and comfortable to drive. That was the best money I ever spent on a car.  The best money I ever spent for use in a car was for a box of Trojans and a bottle of Boone’s Farm Strawberry Hill.  But that’s another story.

Radical Surgery

Can the U.S. automakers fail? No. Too expensive socially, economically and environmentally to allow. Your government agrees and is in the process of bestowing so-called bailout money on GM and Chrysler. So, what must the big three accomplish next to survive? Technological leadership, retail consolidation and the scariest prospect of all … regaining consumer confidence. Let’s for now, look just at the belt-tightening that might be accomplished by consolidation and the resulting economies of scale. A corporate stomach stapling, if you will.

If there is no remaining brand name goodwill, then GM might as well blow off all of its division names and just continue as “GM”. Ford should thusly eliminate Mercury and Lincoln. And Chrysler should give Dodge and Jeep the “Plymouth” treatment. But apparently some of those anciliary nameplates still carry at least a little cache. Here are some suggestions.

Saturn was always more of a concept than a product.  With nothing but badge engineered borrowings from elsewhere after the first couple of years, the concept seems to have failed. Personally, I love the idea of non-negotiable pricing. The sale of common retail items like cars shouldn’t be quite so much like haggling in a Calcutta bazaar. But GM seems to have already acknowledged that “no-haggle” pricing isn’t what America wants and says they’ll turn off Saturn’s lights in two or three years.

Since performance without a “green” edge is currently out of favor, Pontiac needs to be a boutique division concentrating on Solstice and G8-like products as its current bread and butter models are Chevy duplicates. All of the GXP series as well as the unique G6 convertible and sadly euthanized G8 “El Camino-like” Sport Truck fit this vision. GM is currently working to consolidate all Buick, Pontiac and GMC dealers into combos, so other than focusing only on exciting cars for the excitement division, little more needs to be done there.

Hummer is a niche product that is currently out of favor. We’ll all be sorry if no buyer is found for the currently-for-sale division should that type of product come back into favor. But what are the chances of a Rambo revival in the near future?

Saab? Would it still be around if GM hadn’t bought it? If the answer is no, then cut it loose now. Good cars, but an ignition switch mounted on the floor alone is nothing mass-marketable enough to justify its continuation.

Cadillac does indeed have an identity, a great product and a following. As long as they continue with enough volume to make separate sales and marketing worthwhile, God bless them.

Buick – great cars. China loves them. And they are different from the newly-revived Cadillac division. They just don’t seem to have a market in America. Like Oldsmobile, their traditional clientelle is fading away and they aren’t doing enough to attract a new one. What to do with Buick? What to do?

Chevrolet? Ah, Chevy – everything to everybody – so why continue Buick, Pontiac, and GMC at all? For one thing, to avoid the expense of buying back and closing all those BPG franchises. Failing that, GM needs to put an end to badge engineering. Either GMC sells trucks – which is the only thing they do – or Chevy sells trucks. Not both. GM is having enough trouble competing with actual different models from Ford, Toyota, Honda et al to continue competing with itself with identical-under-the-skin products. To avoid hosting a courtroom full of angry BPG franchisees come dissolution time, products need to be unique. Granted, the days of division proprietary engines, transmissions, CPU’s, stability control systems and so on are over. But is it asking too much to at least not see rows of virtually identical Chevy Traverses and GMC Acadias staring at each other across the streets of every local auto mall?

Which brings us to Mercury. Useless. Nothing unique here. A pure duplication of Ford’s resources. Mercury’s hey-day ended a half century ago in the early 1950’s – longer ago than any other American auto division. Make Mercury different or let Lincoln stand alone (if it can) and concentrate on what it does best.

Chrysler division as it relates to Dodge? See Chevy vs. BPG and Ford vs. Mercury.

Jeep is unique enough to stay a separate make. Whether there is enough sales volume to allow stores to stand separately from Chrysler may be another story.

The caveat to all of these suggestions is, can the corporations and the public - to the extent that taxpayers are footing the bill – afford these changes? For the answer to that question, ask the business owners who’ll have to shutter or consolidate franchises. Ask the UAW and stock and bond holders. Ask the private health insurance system whose costs have spiraled far beyond H&R projections and created an untenable overhead for the Big 3. Better yet, ask consumers if they’re willing to stop exporting their loyalties and their standard of living to foreign-based manufacturers whose once-real but now only perceived superiority is based more on misty marketing notions and tales from your Uncle Bob than actual statistics.  Because, like it or not, the survival of America’s auto industry and the new form it will take affects every one of us.

Neither Sammy Hagar nor I can drive 55

Whenever the issue of the need to conserve fossil fuels comes to the forefront as it has during the recent run-up of gasoline prices, lawmakers, conservationists and even those concerned about national security hoist the national 55 mph speed limit flag to see who might salute.  Not me, brother.

As green as I may like to be, a nationally imposed 55 mph speed limit is a bad idea.  Of course it’s well intentioned, because it would save fuel.  There isn’t a vehicle on the road that wouldn’t be at least fractionally more fuel-efficient at 55 instead of 65 or 70 … some more than others.  But it’s a bad idea just the same.  It didn’t work last time and it won’t work this time.  The problem is twofold and unrelated to fuel economy. 

The last time a national 55 mph limit was instituted it created a generation of scofflaws that before long made all freeway speed limits unenforceable.  Mass disregard for any law will do that.  Songs were written.  Even the California Highway Patrol came out and said they wouldn’t enforce it.  (Broderick Crawford would be so ashamed.)  Ever since the genie got out of the bottle about thirty years ago, you can still almost always get away with 10-15 over, even though limits are back to 65 or 70. 

Secondly, and partly because of now-ingrained speed limit disregard, a 55 mph speed limit would create a greater speed differential between vehicles and even less lane discipline (if you can believe that) than we now experience.  Some well-meaning souls will obey the law and drive 55.  The majority will not and will continue to drive 70-80, or faster, feeling that they are being delayed by the 55ers.  Some of those 55ers, as happened last time, will feel the need to deputize themselves by becoming vigilante traffic cops … or left lane bandits, depending on your point of view … thus exacerbating the situation with speeders performing more frequent and more dangerous lane changes.  A cup of “road rage” anyone?  German Autobahns already beat U.S. freeways for fewer accidents per mile driven primarily because of better lane discipline.  So we’re going to make things worse here?  Any traffic engineer or insurance actuary will tell you that a limited access highway with everyone driving 65 to 70 is safer than one with some driving 55 and some driving 75. 

Let’s be honest, conserving resources is nice, but safety should always be the first concern when it comes to traffic laws and highway design.  Other than that, keep your car in top condition.  Replace it with a more efficient model when the time comes … or sooner, if you’re so inclined.  Use public transit.  Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em.  But don’t allow another nationally mandated 55 mph speed limit.  It was dumb once.  It’ll be Jim Carey and Jeff Daniels this time.

How Your Next Vehicle Purchase Will Affect This Country’s Future

Toyota and the rest may have factories here and employ people who live in the U.S.. but the corporate profits go elsewhere. GM and Ford build equal or better quality (according to JD Powers) vehicles that get equal or better fuel economy (according to the EPA) than foreign makes. Those who scold “Detroit” show a lack of knowledge about currently available models and how they spec against comparable “imports”. Are we too full of self-loathing to admit that American companies might make excellent or even better vehicles than the foreign competition? Quit mortgaging the future of your family and your country for a perceived foreign car advantage that disappeared years ago!

Buy American or continue to suffer the consequences of trade-deficit-devalued dollars … the most obvious of which is everyone’s favorite topic of conversation, the high price of gas. If the dollar weren’t such a weakling on the world market right now, our pump prices would be $3.00 instead of $4.00. Allowing the G.W.Bush-whackers to go hat-in-hand to beg the Saudis to increase production/lower their prices “because we’re your pals” isn’t just naive, it’s assinine. Would you lower prices if you were them? Don’t we already do enough to embarrass ourselves with foreign policy?

Make no mistake, we ARE in crisis. And the solution will have to come on many fronts.  But the root of it might not be what you think. Have you looked in the mirror lately?  Seriously, if everything was someone else’s fault then nothing would be anyone’s fault.

For those of us for whom money does not grow on trees or in hedge funds, let “America, Love It or Leave It” be our economic guiding principle. Let trade-induced inflation be someone else’s problem. We do not live in a completely global economy … especially those of us who work for a living.  Quit exporting this country’s wealth and your quality of life!

Have Your Cake and Eat It Too

Says Road and Track magazine online, “You can have good fuel economy and performance.”

“The familiar headlines blare about the pain at the pump, but before putting on a hair shirt and ordering up an anemic econobox as atonement, a look through our road test data confirms what we’ve intuitively felt all along — high performance does not necessarily come at the expense of poor fuel economy.” 

Check out Road and Track’s article, “The Fast and the Frugal” featuring Pontiac Solstice GXP.

Cheapest Gas and How to Find It

I’ve seen several TV news features lately on gas price updates.  The point is usually how unreliable gas price websites are.  Well, that’s usually a function of how accurately prices are reported to the sites that disseminate the info … In other words, “garbage in, garbage out.”  Several sources credit GasBuddy.com with being the most reliable source of fuel price info.  I agree … so much so that I’ve included their real-time Orange County price map and price tracking chart on the front page of my website .  It seems volunteer spotters are the most reliable source of pricing info.  Wherever you are, it’s likely you’ll find price variations of 10 to 20 cents within just a few miles.  GasBuddy.com just recently added a mobile link so you can check prices on the go.

My Review of Pontiac G8

Originally submitted at Autoweek.com Vehicles

Pontiac brings real-wheel-drive muscle to its portfolio in 2008, again courtesy of Holden.. AutoWeek is always quick to tell you what we think about cars like the Pontiac G8. Drop in and tell us what you think about this Pontiac product. AutoWeek is the only weekly magazine for car enthusiasts. Aut…

Pontiac G8

Meet the Future of the American Sedan

By Cappy from Orange County, CA on 4/19/2008

 

5out of 5

Auto Interior: Spacious Cabin, Comfortable Seating, Attractive Look

Pros: Great Sound System, Attractive Styling, Large Storage Capacity, Handles Well, Adequate Power

Best Uses: Commuting, Long Trips, Performance Driving

Describe Yourself: Auto Enthusiast

So what if it’s made in Austrailia? It’s an American company and they’re finally back to making a great rear-drive sedan. Besides, enough demand will change that and put a U.S. factory or two back to work. The balance and refinement of this car are every bit a match for BMW’s 5 series for tens of thousands less. The LS3/six-speed manual GXP version next year will be an excellent alternative to the snobbish M5 with its ridiculous I-drive and late un-lamented sequential shifter. The 2009 El Camino-style G8 sport truck and potential sport wagon will round out and re-establish Pontiac as the General’s performance division. If folks can adjust to $4 gas without knee-jerking their way into another 70’s-style deification of 50 horsepower crackerboxes, they can live large without paying German prices.

(legalese)

My Review of Pontiac Solstice coupe to become production reality

Originally submitted at Autoweek.com

When Pontiac showed the Solstice roadster and coupe concepts at the 2002 Detroit auto show, the roadster received the green light and hit the market for the 2006 model year. In contrast, it has taken the production Solstice coupe six years to emerge, finally, at the New York auto show.The 2009 coup…

Pontiac Solstice coupe to become production reality

Can you say E-type?

By Cappy from Orange County, CA on 4/19/2008

 

5out of 5

Pros: Informative

The Solstice is a beautifully balanced chassis with an appropriate amount of power from the GXP engine. Far more flingable than MX5. If the Coupe allows enough headroom for six-footers and decent cargo space under the hatch compared to the silly demi-trunk in the Solstice convertible, this could finally be the replacement for the ‘78 Datsun 280Z I retired a few years ago. Now, smooth out the shifter and improve the gauge cluster sight lines through the steering wheel and this car will actually deserve five helmets.

(legalese)

Alignment and Balance for Dummies … or, How to Be Smarter Than the Average Behr (alignment franchise) Customer

Alignment and wheel balance – misunderstood subjects that can cost you unnecessarily. 

 

 

 

  Alignment and Balancing are not do-it-yourself jobs.  Even if you’re comfortable doing your own brake jobs, these items require a professional.  To be done on anything more than a trial and error basis, correcting alignment and balance problems require expensive, frequently calibrated equipment.  But a little knowledge about the basics of alignment and balance will help you converse with qualified technicians about any issues your vehicle may have.  Oh, and since neither is considered a normal maintenance item, remember, if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it!  That said, here’s the minimum everyone needs to know.

 

Alignment is basically the angle of the wheels in relation to the pavement and the vehicle as well as how parallel they are to each other.  The three measures of wheel alignment are:

• “Toe” (as in pigeon toe)
• “Camber” (the centerline slant of the wheel and tire in relation to the road)
•  “Caster” (the centerline slant of axle to wheel mounting points in relation to the road).

   

A vehicle whose wheels are not properly aligned may wander or pull to one side of the road or the other.  Its tires will wear unevenly and need premature replacement. The particular uneven wear pattern is a big clue for the alignment technician as to exactly what is out of adjustment and which direction to change it.  If severe enough, misalignment can also stress suspension parts and cut fuel economy slightly.  Usually, misalignment happens when parts are knocked out of place or bent by hard contact with a curb, deep pothole, or if the vehicle is in an accident.  Other causes include:

- tires not precisely the same circumference due to under or over-inflation

- different size tires on the same axle … a big no-no

- tire manufacturing variations (rare)

- aging of suspension parts …especially rubber bushings

- replacement of suspension parts

- substitution of non-stock parts. 

 

During its normal lifetime, a vehicle that never experiences any of these circumstances should not need to be re-aligned.  It’s not something you do just because it’s been a particular length of time or number of miles since it was last done, if ever. 

 

Whenever custom suspension modifications are made, re-alignment is a must.  Rear wheel drive vehicles with solid axles … including Sierra and Savana … only need to have front wheels aligned.  Any vehicle with four wheel independent suspension will generally need all four wheels adjusted if out of alignment.  Note that a steering wheel that doesn’t perfectly center when the vehicle is pointed straight ahead can and should be corrected in the front end alignment process.  Brand new vehicles and (especially) vehicles that have just had suspension modifications may change their alignment as the new parts “settle”.  Take notice of any apparent changes in alignment on such vehicles after 1-2,000 miles.  Most reputable suspension modification shops will offer a free adjustment after a couple thousand miles, if needed. 

 

Expect to pay $60 to 100 for a quality alignment.  Some vehicles may cost more.  Make sure whoever does your alignment has their equipment calibrated frequently. A vehicle that is properly aligned does not need a re-alignment when having a new set of tires the same size installed. 

 

  

Balance is the even distribution of weight at the circumference of the tire/wheel assembly.  An out of balance tire and wheel will tend to bounce and prematurely wear out the tire, shock absorber and other suspension parts for that corner of the vehicle.  You’ll feel it primarily through the steering wheel if it’s one of the front tires.  If you just had your tires rotated and suddenly feel a vibration in the steering wheel, you can be sure it’s one of the tire/wheel assemblies that’s just been moved from the back to the front that needs re-balancing.  On the tire, visual signs of wheel imbalance are cupping or bald spots on the tread at various places around the circumference.  You may have noticed a beater driving next to you on the freeway with a grossly out of balance wheel bouncing up and down as much as a couple of inches.  It’s rare for even the best, most expensive tires and wheels to be perfectly balanced without a little adjustment.

 

 

Every new tire needs to be balanced when installed.  This involves clamping small weights to the inner, outer or both edges of the wheel rim.  On new so-called rimless wheels, adhesive weights are attached midway between rim edges.  A tire can become out of balance if it’s removed from the wheel to, for example, patch a flat and is not re-installed in exactly the same position on the wheel, if mud or ice becomes stuck to one spot on the inside of the wheel, if a heavy unbalanced wheel cover is attached after the uncovered wheel and tire are balanced or even from a balancing weight or tire that has shifted a little on its rim.  I once found a dead mouse under a wheel cover which caused a slight imbalance vibration in that wheel until I removed the carcass.  A tire that refuses to maintain proper balance may have a separated belt due to manufacturing defect or puncture that has damaged the tire and caused a belt separation.  Look for odd bulges or depressions in the sidewall as additional evidence of structural failure. 

 

Expect to pay $10 to 15 per wheel for balancing.  Note that some tire stores include the cost of balancing in the price of their new tires.  And again … although the need for re-balancing is a little more likely than the need for re-alignment … if your car drives straight and true with no wheel vibrations and your tires aren’t wearing unevenly, there’s nothing to fix.  Save your money.