Just a heads up, had my new wheels installed and my mechanic has top of the line Hunter machines
(lets put it this way, all the dealers and body shops in town
have open accounts with him, because his equipment is
the best there is for custom wheel install mounting/balancing/aligments)

anyway, from the factory my aligment was off spec and out
of aligment on camber, caster, and toe before making any wheel changes or adjustments!

So if you have vibration or drift issues you should go find a shop with a Hunter road force and see what they find...

 

That's a shame to find out on a new vehicle!

 

And alignment alone will not fix any vibration issues! Vibration issues, however, can be cause by bad alignments. But by that time, damage already is done and other repairs will need to be made BEFORE correcting the alignment! Just a FYI!

 

theres many possibilities but odds are if youre having vibration or other similar issues on a brand new/fairly new vehicle thats stock its a great logical starting point...
but point being the shop and tools/equipment are the most
important pieces when looking at alignment/wheel balance
as potential causes. Definitely not the dealer in many/most
cases who depending on which, just dont have the equipment or expertise in this area

 

It's actually the worst starting point for vibration correction and one of the most common auto repair myths I've ever heard as an auto tech!. A wheel alignment does nothing more than change the rolling angle of each wheel. An alignment is the ENDING point in any vibration repair. And dealers typically have some of the best equipment for the vehicles they service. As far as expertise, well, this will vary depending on where you go. There's stupid techs everywhere you go, whether dealer or franchise!

 

actually from the start i was referring to a balancing + wheel alignment, more specifically the hunter road force balancer for the vibration issues - and recommend those getting this done also check their aligment because mine was off from the factory or from . not an alignment alone

and if youre really telling me those cant or dont potentially play a part in wheel vibration, and that you'd first look at more complex and costly components
before doing a quality balance+alignment, u may wanna stick with
dJ'ing

:-) (haha)

my steering wheel vibrated like it was possessed by the devil on
my last 3 cars, and each time it was a hunter road force wheel balance + alignment that fixed it and each time the dealer (and once a body shop) couldnt fix it, and each time my wheel and tire specialist did. balance + alignment, case closed.

and as for the dealer / body shops having "best equipment" ...
my last 4 cars (nissan, honda, dodge, Chevy) have either subbed out my cars to a wheel specialist because their machines couldnt handle 22's...or couldnt
fix my issues (even with 18" to 20's factory wheels or not) and i ended up bringing the car to my tire shop and in all cases my problems went away...

 

Reading is fundamental they say!

And BTW, I'm ASE certified in suspension and have over 7 years experience as a technician. So I know what I'm talking about. I've done this every day for many many years using the very machines you are recommending in this thread, as well as trained other techs on using them. My original comment was to add to the thread, not to start a debate.

As far as your dealers, well, it sounds like you just went to some ****ty places. And like I said, there are stupid techs everywhere. Many of them think you need to have your factory wheels and suspension on in order to do a proper alignment, which is completely false because the alignment sensor will read the same angle no matter the wheel diameter. Some older machines do have sensors that only fit up to a 17" wheel, but being that 18" and larger wheels are the norm these days, most dealers should have more up to date equipment to accomodate these vehicles they sale. Whether they have competent enough staff on hand to operate the equipment properly is another topic. Some small time dealers may not be equipped. Either way, in my comment, I said dealers typically have the best equipment for the cars they service. Key word typically. I didn't say all dealers. I worked at a BMW dealership and we had all the up to date hunter equipement that worked for the product BMW makes. And the Infiniti dealers I take my G37 to also have the right equipment for their cars. And so did the Hyundai dealerships I went to when I had my Elantra! So, again, typically!

 

I seem to have a vibration issue ...sometimes
At times I am rolling along and everything is fine, the on some roads i get a very minor vibration. My mechanic has the latest and greatest hunter wheel balancer and he has balanced tires to a tee.
He also has a Great Hunter alignment machine,
Maybe its time to get that checked....THOUGHTS?
When I attended Hunter school back in the 90's there was some talk about vibrations that are caused by suspension parts moving binding as speeds increased. As Vehicles speed up the tires spread out causing negative toe and I believe they taught us that the suspension actually has a snapping effect as wheels try to maintain going straight.
I have added 9" wide rims with different offset than factory so if the toe wasnt set exactly correct from the beginning, with the wider stance it could be toeing out more than usual when hitting certain speeds
STEVE

 

I am in Nj so if someone wants to recommend another shop I will drive anywhere to get rid of even this minor vibration
STEVE

 

FYI for at least the 2013 models, there are diff alignment specs for the R/T vs other models.