Switching winter to summer tires: Alignment Necessary ?
 

So its about time to switch back to summer tires.. YAY :) !!! Question is do i need to get an alignment done as well?? I would prefer not to if i dont have to. I believe they arent that expensive anyway from what i heard. 20 bucks ?? In toronto, at least.

Thanks :cool:

If the summer tires are mounted on their own rims then no. I have made the winter / summer change six times and never needed to get an alignment. If however your removing the winter tires and mounting the summer's on the same rims I would get one.

Yea theyre on their own rims :). I have different set of rims with different tires on each one. One set for summer and one set for winter :) thanks !!!

Edit: but i never got one when i first put my new winter tire/rims on. This was my first winter with my 8 and after i got the winter tires mounted./balanced on the rims. i just put them on. I never got an alignment then. I probably shouldve right? Oh well :(

Have you done anything to the car since your last alignment (suspension,new wheels, or damage)?
How does the tire ware look?

If all is good and no major changes then don't worry bout it
Pretty much common sense

Ive had the car for roughly a month now. So not too sure when the last alignment was done. Nothing has been done to suspension. Only thing is before winter i put brand new tires on rims and got those mounted and balanced. I didnt get an alignment when i put the new winter tires on. My mechanic never said anything about getting one so i didnt bother.

Well if the car drives straight and true, and there isn't any visible uneven tread ware then i wouldn't waste the money.


End Thread............................

Yup it does. I let go of the steering wheel and it stays straight.

thanks pico


End thread !!! Good night everyone :sadwavey:

I've got 108K miles on my 04 rx8 and it has never had or needed an alignment.

Well it actually depends, is the total diameter of one wheel+tire different than the other? In theory if there is a significant difference in height (im talking like 1+ inches) then you should get an alignment after swapping each time to adjust the camber/caster. If we are talking a minute change in total wheel diameter, then no.

^^Think the OP will be alright

By the sounds of it, he's running the oem wheels with OE spec tires. If he ran a wider side wall winter tire then he could have done an alignment for the winter, but going back to the OE setup summer tire, it would be pointless to spend the money on an alignment if the car was handling and the tires were waring well last year.

Also , it sounds like he was switching the summer/winter tires from his OE 18" wheels so diameter shouldn't be an issue in this case.

good point thou

If its only like $20 , I would do just to be on the safe side .

Yup pico is absolutely right !!! Both my winter and summer tires and rims are exact same specs. 225/45/18 and 18x8. Only difference is my winter rims have an offset of +30 but i dont think that affects alignment so yea. Thanks for the help guys.

Just got back from mazda for an oil change :) ;)!!!