Who knew? EVs Need A Wheel Alignment Every Year

[MellowJohnny]

TL;DR
Of course they don't, but that didn't stop a sketch Hyundai service department from telling my friend's sister that she did...

My friend is a car guy - he loves EVs but does not own one yet. Has a deposit on an Rivian R2 and his sister has a MY22 Ioniq 5 though, so once in a while has EV questions for me on her behalf.

He sent me a text yesterday saying "I have an EV question for you. Have you ever had a wheel alignment on the Mach-E?"

OK, now I'm curious...what did the dealer tell your sister about her Ioniq 5?

Sooo.... on top of charging her $800 for a "brake cleaning", they also insisted she needed a wheel alignment as part of her 24,000 KM EV service. Not only that, her car will need one every year...because it's an EV.

This is where I loose it at bullshit dealers who take any opportunity to fleece their "customers" who don't know any better.

Her best defence is of course to pull up the manual, go to the section on recommended service for each interval and say "You sir, are full of shit. Have a nice day."

Now she knows, and although I'm not sure if she was in the mood to go back and confront the dealer (I sure would have) she has said she'll be looking for a new dealer.

I guess the EV community is not immune from old school shady service department games.

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[tuminatr]

You are correct, lots of shady practices out there. Many shops offer a alignment check for free though

There are some things that are new and real, like changing your brake fluid. Cabin air filters should be changed, but it's easy, and you should do it yourself.

 

[BMT1071]

An annual wheel alignment has been a recommendation for decades. It has nothing to do with the car being an EV or ICE.

 

[IgorKl]

i do alignment every tire rotation (5K or 10K miles).

 

[Teslaeata]

Irrespective of any recommendation for wheel alignment or the absence of such a thing, it does make sense to have FULL four wheel alignment checked periodically.

It’s a must if you clip or bump up and down kerbs etc.

My experience is wheel alignment can be out of true straight from the factory.

When covering 30,000 a year I’d have mine done a couple of times a year.

Helped minimise tyre wear so also reduce rolling resistance, enhancing range.

Helps car drive better, too.

Not essential but a desirable measure.

 

[AnimalChin]

New cars are notorious for being aligned improperly straight out of the factory. I'm pretty sure mine was F'd from the factory. But its not that bad so I just live with it. But seriously, you should have it aligned, its probably not right.

 

[ack154]

It’s a must if you clip or bump up and down kerbs etc.

This right here.

There is really no reason to get "regular" alignments unless you have uneven tire wear or you feel something else might be wrong based on an impact or curb or whatever. If the car doesn't drive straight or something like that, it would be one of the first things to check.

But an annual alignment? At every tire rotation? Absolutely ZERO reason to do that unless something above applies.

The one "regular" alignment I could understand is possibly if you have new tires installed - but even that is only every few years or so depending on your driving or tire selection. Again, uneven wear or vibrations or something like that could be another trigger.

Crazy to me that it would be considered "normal" to do more than that.

We made it almost 100k miles on my wife's Forester with never getting an alignment (just recently traded it in). And that's on basically one (two*) set of tires for the life of the car (* while also running snow tires for the coldest months). I FINALLY replaced the original tires earlier this year at probably 85k. And I'd say that 50k+ of that were on the all-seasons.

I'm not saying that other people never need an alignment - but it's one of those things you shouldn't ever actually need unless there's a problem or something has changed. Anything beyond that is 100% waste.

 

[MellowJohnny]

This right here.

There is really no reason to get "regular" alignments unless you have uneven tire wear or you feel something else might be wrong based on an impact or curb or whatever. If the car doesn't drive straight or something like that, it would be one of the first things to check.

But an annual alignment? At every tire rotation? Absolutely ZERO reason to do that unless something above applies.

The one "regular" alignment I could understand is possibly if you have new tires installed - but even that is only every few years or so depending on your driving or tire selection. Again, uneven wear or vibrations or something like that could be another trigger.

Crazy to me that it would be considered "normal" to do more than that.

We made it almost 100k miles on my wife's Forester with never getting an alignment (just recently traded it in). And that's on basically one (two*) set of tires for the life of the car (* while also running snow tires for the coldest months). I FINALLY replaced the original tires earlier this year at probably 85k. And I'd say that 50k+ of that were on the all-seasons.

I'm not saying that other people never need an alignment - but it's one of those things you shouldn't ever actually need unless there's a problem or something has changed. Anything beyond that is 100% waste.

That was essentially the answer I gave my friend - did she hit something? Did she have some suspension work done? It just seemed a bit shady that they framed it as "an EV thing". And it most certainly is not an item in the 24,000 KM schedule.

Maybe they should have been a bit more clear about it, but suggesting an annual alignment in the absence of evidence suggesting it needs to be done is suspect.

 

[ack154]

Maybe they should have been a bit more clear about it, but suggesting an annual alignment in the absence of evidence suggesting it needs to be done is suspect.

Definitely agree. Sounds like "we know we're not going to get any other service from you because this is an EV so we'll still try to convince you to give us money on a regular basis".

 

[AtomicInternet]

i do alignment every tire rotation (5K or 10K miles).

Do you have the numbers from how out of alignment they are when you re-align?

 

[larrytrom]

I’ve an F 150 with 165,000 on it, with about a third of that pulling an Airstream. Never been aligned. Tire wear is even all round.

 

[WallyS56]

An annual wheel alignment has been a recommendation for decades. It has nothing to do with the car being an EV or ICE.

Huh? I’m 68, have owned over 90 vehicles, a former mechanic, and NEVER heard of a mandatory or recommended wheel alignment every year. Maybe on some high-end fiddly exotic, but seriously?

 

[stoopid]

Dealers be dealin'.

An alignment check is one thing, but there's rarely anything off enough to justify a full alignment that can't be in some way noticed while driving the vehicle. So in most cases the alignment check really isn't necessary, either.

Now, for the average vehicle owner, that "notice in some way" may need to be severe shaking or pulling before they would think something might be awry. It unfortunately becomes a complacency, laziness, or stupidity tax on people who don't want to learn the basics about how cars work and get fleeced as a result. But at least the EV owner here was asking questions/cared enough. [but only after the potential hit to their wallet motivated them]

 

[Adventureboy]

3.5 years on mine and zero alignments needed so far. Tires are wearing perfectly normally, but it is just about due to have a check.

Alignment is only needed if there is an incident (running into a curb, pot hole or hit something on the road) or something starts to wear out and needs replacing - Tie rod ends, ball joints, suspension bushings etc. From what I've seen, the MME is pretty sturdy.

An alignment check after, say the first 40k miles is a good way to verify wear parts, and maybe every 20k or so after that to keep a watchful eye. Every 5-10k is a bit overkill, but you'll know early if something is amiss. A bit more frequent checks might be prudent for the lead footers

 

[T1328]

No question that stating this is a standard thing for EVs is BS. As others have said, if you hit a curb or a large pothole, or notice the typical symptoms associated with poor wheel alignment, I.e. vehicle pulling to one side, crooked or off-center steering wheel, or uneven tire wear, it’s worth doing at that time.

The problems with EVs purchased from companies whose majority of sales come from ICE vehicles, are:

1. For ICE vehicles, sales margins are already very slim, and they make most of their money from services and volume sales bonuses.
2. EVs already require far less service work than non EVs..
3. With EVs, that is compounded by the fact that manufacturers other than Tesla, and others that started as EV only companies. not only have slimmer margins on sales, but in most cases. are losing money on every EV they sell, and sell them as an investment into the future. Some push dealers to make up for that by insisting on servicing EVs for traditional ICE services even if they don’t need it.
4. No surprise then that shady dealers will insist that a service that is part of an ICE vehicle schedule (which in this case it isn’t), are also required for their EVs.

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