I had a wheel alignment done about a year ago when I put in my KYB AGX and Eibach Pro-kit in. One of my rear struts has started to leak oil. I knoticed this when I put my rims/tires on a couple days ago. Ill do the replacement myself but I was wondering if I need an alignment afterwards. I dont see why I would b/c on the rear of the car has no adjustments. Only the bottom bolt and the top three nuts. I have been in contact with KYB and a replacement is on it's way.
Any advise would be appriciated.
Regards,
The correct answer is yes you need an aligmnet, front end alignment is always based off the rear, any little difference in the rear throws off the front. And the rear is adjustable with shims.
Real world answer (my opinion)... don't waste your time or money, replace it and forget about it. I do wheel alignments at work so I do my own car for free whenever I feel like it, I just replaced a rear strut mount and even with it being free its not worth the time hahah. And good luck finding ANY place thats willing to shim the rear.
Sooooooooooooooo what your saying is. It wont through out the wheel alignment. I thought that there wasnt any adjustment in the rear. When I watched the guy do my other wheel alignments he never touched the rear. Even though I had a 4 wheel alignment done. He only did adjustments to the front wheels and underneith on the steering rack.
Any one else?
I agree with Darkstars. It technically could change your alignment, but practically speaking it probably isn't even work checking. Also, the rear suspension is non-adjustable from a practical standpoint. Shimming is possible but almost never needed, save for something like adjusting for collision damage. I doubt any alignment shop would voluntarily do so during a routine alignment, so paying for a 4-wheel alignment (like I did
) is just a cash grab.
Shop Manuals, Brochures:
www.kenmcgeeautobooks.com
umm... NO you don't need an alignment the strut does nothing to affect alignment in the rear of our cars. Replacing the fronts you "might want to. But in my experience unless your lowering or lifting its pointless.
SO, if your just replacing a rear don't bother with it.
-Chris
Darkstars wrote:And good luck finding ANY place thats willing to shim the rear.
Really? I have places around me that are always willing to shim. I guess it is because they jack you with labor charges on removal of the drum and stuff. Anyways, I always heard that the shims aren't that great since they are made of plastic and will squish under the pressure.
http://www.specprod.com/
These guys sell shims for the rear of our cars. I'm getting an alignment today and a printout for the rear. I'll be shiming it with there plates.
part #71400 are the expensive $60.00 (i'm assuming metal shims).
they also sell cheaper hard plastic ones that are $15.75 a set but I wouldn't trust them for consistency.
Any shop will shim the rear of the car but your gonna pay for it thru the nose.
-Chris
