I'm not trying to take over your question. I'm just following along in hopes of learning the solution to the original problem, but it has turned to one of my specialty areas.
The first thing to do is analyze the tire wear patterns. This article may be of help:
https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-car-tires-work
The next thing is a little trickier, but I have a hint. That is to check for excessive dog-tracking. Someone following you on the highway might be able to see that, but it can be misleading unless you're on a motorcycle so you can switch from side to side to compare them. A quick clue can be found, assuming the steering wheel is centered now when you're driving straight ahead. Stop, then turn the steering wheel as far as possible each way. Compare the position of the steering wheel at each limit. If you can rotate the wheel, let's say, two revolutions to the left, but only one and a half revolutions to the right, the steering gear is off-center when the steering wheel is straight. That's an indication the rear wheels are steering to one side excessively. This is where the thrust alignment or a four-wheel alignment would have compensated for that and left it with a straight wheel. This can also be caused by nothing more than a bent steering arm or linkage. That can make the steering wheel off-center, which was the clue, but it can usually be adjusted out during the alignment. To say that a different way, the steering gear can be off-center due to frame damage or simply due to a bent steering system part.
The next thing is the alignment. Be sure to ask for a printout of the results. I always made a copy to keep, and one that I put on the passenger seat, with the items I changed or adjusted highlighted. All alignment computers can make printouts but most mechanics don't bother because they know the average driver won't understand it. The most common page to print shows the three main alignment angles for the front wheels and the two angles for the rear wheels. I'd rather see the more detailed and comprehensive report. It will include the "Before" and "After' readings with a long list of items. One of them is "Steering Axis Inclination", or "SAI". This is a real good indicator of frame damage in the front, or of very careful and accurate crash repair.
There's a lot of misinformation when it comes to CarFax reports. First, it only covers major things, and only from businesses that report these things. It will include anything that involved a police report, but there's a real lot that never gets reported. I have a friend with a body shop where he specializes in rebuilding smashed one and two-year-old Dodge trucks.
There's always a half dozen in his yard waiting until he has time to work on them. Some have frame damage that he handles himself. Part of that repair involves using special measuring equipment indexed off the holes underneath in the frame rails or unibody sheet metal. That can show if the frame is bent, diamond-shaped, or straight. With even a little damage that you or I would never see, doors, fenders, and hood would not fit right. The gaps between panels will be wrong, and sometimes bolt holes don't line up. It actually takes less work to pull a frame straight than it takes to cobble the parts bolted to it to make them fit.
My friend does insurance work, so those vehicles usually had some type of police report. A lot of what he does involves the farmers in his area. They tear up driveshafts and transfer cases, back into them with their tractors, and get them stuck on tree stumps. CarFax won't show that type of damage, but you aren't likely to get involved with a vehicle like that. They typically keep those vehicles running until the wheels won't stay on.
Don't blame the dealership for hidden or unknown damage. They often buy cars from dealer-only auto auctions, and they never know the vehicle's history other than it might have been a turn-in from a rental agency or was previously a police car or taxi.
For another example, my mother chased down a light pole a few years ago in the Walmart parking lot. Unfortunately, she caught it. Basically just needed a new bumper cover and radiator, but it still came to $2500.00. My friend did the repairs. No police report, no insurance company involvement, and nothing on CarFax about it. The only way an expert would know something was repaired would be by the sticker on the radiator.
My 2014 Ram is another example. It was a rebuilder. I definitely do not have the talent for body work, but I do know how to spot some repairs. The only thing anyone can see is a little yellow paint from the used door hinge peeking out where the new paint didn't get to. That door came from his sister's truck after she crashed it. Before that, it was a rebuilder that he repaired for her, so my door is on its third truck.
The point of this sad story is I am no longer afraid of crash-repaired vehicles because I know from helping my friend what to look for. Beefing up damaged areas can be just as bad as not repairing them properly because you may lose the designed-in crumple areas that absorb forces in a crash. There's a lot of liability issues involved with these repairs, so most shops are very careful to do a proper job.
If you do have an alignment performed, post a photo of the printout. I can explain what each item is and if any of them are pointing to a potential problem. When they list "Before" and "After" values, those refer to what the vehicle came in with before anything was adjusted, and after the alignment was finished, what the final values were when the test-drive was performed.
Sunday, July 30th, 2023 AT 7:54 PM
