Alignment info

[azerik]

Time for an alignment for me. I havn't talked to the dealer yet but Discount told me there are camera alignments that need to happen with these so they wont touch it other than to read the current alignment.
Does the dealer normally have post alignment calibrations?
What's the reasonable 4 wheel alignment price for an AWD MME?

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[Teslaeata]

£50 for me!!

Have full 4-wheel alignment done a couple of times a year though only RWD ER, still amounts to same job.

Shouldn’t need to re-calibrate ADAS if all you’re doing is re-aligning steering & suspension unless you disturbed any ADAS sensors or cameras because they’re already set to good wheel alignment settings so realigning wheels just puts that back to where it was is my logical view.

 

[markboris]

That's interesting Erik. I've had my car aligned at least 10 times or more over the past 2 years. Constantly messing with the suspension changing springs, wheels, tires, installed full air suspension at one point, necessitates me doing this. Both Les Schwab and Big O Tires have no issues performing an alignment. I've also had it done at a small local tire shop when the other two were too busy and I needed it done sooner. We don't have a Discount Tire or America's Tire in my town (or anywhere within an hour from me) so can't comment on them.

There are 4 alignment adjustments that can be made on the Mach-E. Front and rear camber and front and rear toe. The only one of those four that require a camera alignment check is the rear toe adjustment. This is from the Ford repair manual for the Mach-E rear toe adjustment: NOTE: If equipped with Lane Departure Warning (LDW) System, camera alignment is required for the lane keeping alert and lane keeping aid to function correctly.

About 6 months ago, I had the left rear half shaft boot replaced at my local Ford dealer and at that time, had them also check the alignment. They said it was within spec and didn't need any adjustments. I don't know what is required or what it takes before camera alignment needs to be performed but I don't think it's ever been done. I don't use any of the Lane Warning features or even Blue Cruise so not sure any of these camera adjustments pertain to me anyway.

One thing wanted to add is with all the alignments I've had, my local Les Schwab has been great. The guys there will set my alignment to the specs I WANT even if they are out of range for the Mach-E.

 

[azerik]

Guess what I got? Toes out!

very interesting on the the rear toe and lane keeping as I’ve wandered out of my lane with no warnings and lane keep turned on. Might explain that.
Thanks for the info/insight.

 

[GrumblesTheDog]

Bumping to the top ... I ended up DIYing a set of KW coilovers, and went to the dealer to try and get it aligned, but they said they didn't have the tools to do it?? There is just a bit too much toe out, and I can feel it being a little jittery on the road. I thought this would be a pretty typical adjustment?

 

[markboris]

Bumping to the top ... I ended up DIYing a set of KW coilovers, and went to the dealer to try and get it aligned, but they said they didn't have the tools to do it?? There is just a bit too much toe out, and I can feel it being a little jittery on the road. I thought this would be a pretty typical adjustment?

I would think it should be and I know a couple of members here that installed the KW setup did not have issues getting it aligned. I would take it to a tire shop. I use Les Schwab in my town and I change out all kinds of suspension parts and they have no issues getting it back into spec.

 

[azerik]

Bumping to the top ... I ended up DIYing a set of KW coilovers, and went to the dealer to try and get it aligned, but they said they didn't have the tools to do it?? There is just a bit too much toe out, and I can feel it being a little jittery on the road. I thought this would be a pretty typical adjustment?

Rear toe is just a cam bolt at the rear, front toe is tie rods. Nothing special there, just a dealer being a dealer about touching someone else's hardware (which they arn't)
Rear camber is a push/pull set up which Discount wouldn't adjust and looking at my previous Ford adjustment they didn't touch. But since I've put on Eibach drop springs my rear camber is nearly -3 degrees so I have to get that adjusted.

 

[GrumblesTheDog]

Rear toe is just a cam bolt at the rear, front toe is tie rods. Nothing special there, just a dealer being a dealer about touching someone else's hardware (which they arn't)
Rear camber is a push/pull set up which Discount wouldn't adjust and looking at my previous Ford adjustment they didn't touch. But since I've put on Eibach drop springs my rear camber is nearly -3 degrees so I have to get that adjusted.

I figured it would be easy to adjust - I try to give them the benefit of the doubt but they consistently do the bare minimum possible every time I've had to go for service. Does that sound reckless to just empirically adjust the tie rods myself a few mm to improve the feel?

 

[azerik]

That's a little sketchy really (I for some reason can't attach images currently, looks like a Brave browser issue with a recent build)
But if you can eyeball it here ya go (Be aware supposedly Lane keep gets messed with from adjusting toe)

 

[GrumblesTheDog]

That's a little sketchy really (I for some reason can't attach images currently, looks like a Brave browser issue with a recent build)

Sketchy, point taken. Oh well. Time to schedule with a new shop.

 

[azerik]

Finally got uploads kinda working. Adjustment points and tq specs above (that's really the only sketchy part, and Lane keep might over correct, but I'd expect the alignment would need to be terribly out of spec to be an issue, like from steering center)
Oh also if you have CarScanner you can click through the prebuilt dashboards to find the steering angle gauge to center the steering wheel.

 

[GrumblesTheDog]

Finally got uploads kinda working. Adjustment points and tq specs above (that's really the only sketchy part, and Lane keep might over correct, but I'd expect the alignment would need to be terribly out of spec to be an issue, like from steering center)
Oh also if you have CarScanner you can click through the prebuilt dashboards to find the steering angle gauge to center the steering wheel.

Thanks, that's helpful. I got a tire shop willing to do the alignment for me; if I need to, I'll get a short term FDRS license to do the IPMA alignment myself.

 

[azerik]

Mark B and I agree the IPMA seems to auto recalibrate. I've had my alignment done 3 times, once by Ford but I haven't seen any errors or warnings from anything. I just looked at my rear tires and after putting about 1000 miles on them at ~ -3 degrees camber they're starting to wear the inner. Good reminder to actually get this done.

 

[Beewize2]

Are alignments and new tires only done at the dealer? Are non-dealer shops able to lift and align properly?

 

[markboris]

Are alignments and new tires only done at the dealer? Are non-dealer shops able to lift and align properly?

Any decent tire shop should be able to perform an alignment. Over the past three years, I have had Les Schwab Tires, Big O Tires and America's Tire all do alignments on the car. They all use a similar alignment rack and I got the same type of printout from all of them.

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