I have a 99 corolla with 107k miles, that I bought to fix up for a young friend that just doesn't have much money, and can't afford to risk buying a junk car.
Overall the car is running great, I have done a ton of preventative maintenance, along with inner and outer tie rods, Rotors, pads, and turned the rear drums. The car is braking wonderfully smooth with no vibrations now.
It drives down the road straight as an arrow, but with the steering wheel just a few degrees to the right. I want this car in good running order, and to last a long time, but I also don't want to spend money unless it is necessary, especially considering I am paying for most of it myself, and giving her a crazy good deal on the car. She will likely only be driving maybe 6k miles a year just around our small town.
I know it is recommended to get an alignment after tie rods, but the mechanic that did the tie rods was very careful to set the new ones as close as possible to where the old ones were set, and it seems like he did a good job.
Being as the car is driving great, steering wheel is close to straight, and the tires on this car is cheap, is it still worth me getting an alignment?
Thanks so much!
Absolutely YES. No matter how careful the guy was who did the tie rods, they will never return to their original position. At the very least, I would recommend getting the toe in set correctly and centering the steering wheel.
New tie rods = new alignment. Every time, no matter how good the mechanic was. You'd be surprised how off things can get.
Ah, I missed that new tie rods were installed - definitely needs an alignment.
Alignment is pretty cheap. I usually pay around $70 CAD (it's been a while so it could be a bit more now)
To me, I'd rather pay that then have to replace hundreds of dollars of tires sooner.
In your case, if it drives straight, it's not the end of the world. It's a 22yo car.
If the car tracks straight and tires are not worn funny I wouldn't worry much about it. My steering wheel has been a bit off for the last 10 years but there are no other issues so I just live with it. (Actually my steering wheel is not keyed to the shaft so it could be straightened pretty simply but I don't want to mess with the airbag.) Still, an alignment couldn't hurt if you have a competent mechanic to do it that won't make matters worse.
Okay, thanks everybody, I appreciate it!