On my two door sport I upgraded my stock 255/70/r17 SRA's to nitto trail grappler 295/70r17. I am running the new tires on ATX Artillery wheels with 4.5 back spacing. On my sport I upgraded the stock suspension to rubicon take off springs and shocks. The springs were 18/59 and got me about 1.5 inches of lift.

With the new tires should I get an alignment done to make sure they wear correctly? The jeep drives straight and does not have any noticeable pull to the left or right. I just don't want the tire shop to f up my front end.

 

I believe that it is customary with any new tire purchase to check alignement. Just a little added insurrance for the new shoes!

 

You can do a quick alignment check to make sure everything is good to go... doesn't take too long and the write up is awesome!

http://project-jk.com/jeep-jk-write-...-end-alignment

 

That is an excelent write-up. And I will use it in the future after I do my lift. But I dont think that this method can achieve the accuracy of an alignment machine.

 

That write-up is a good place to start.

Unless you swap to adjustable trackbars and adjustable control arms and adjustable balljoints, the only things an alignment shop will be able to do is re-center the steering wheel and check the toe-in/out. They can NOT adjust the caster. And they can NOT adjust the camber and they can NOT center the axles.

Use the write-up and check the toe and centering yourself before you throw away $80, or whatever your shop charges.

 

you should get it aligned, only costs about $60 and you won't know if its off until your tires are already wearing poorly. Mine drove straight and tracked good after my lift but it was out of alignment when i took it in.

 

Now I'm really confused. So what do they adjust when you take your vehicle in for alingement?

X2

 

They can center the steering wheel and adjust the toe in/out.

In the OP's case, he put taller coils on, which he says added 1.5" of lift. Both axles will be slightly offset. Since he has stock trackbars and no relo brackets, there is nothing the shop can do to center the axles. His caster will be lower than stock, causing slightly flightier handling. He has stock control arms, so there is nothing the shop can do to correct it. (unless he lets them talk him in to installing cam bolts. In this case, he should do a quick search on them to get some opinions...). With the solid axles these JK's have, camber is not adjustable. If it is out of spec, he's got a bent housing or bent C or maybe bad bj's. Nothing an alignment is going to fix. His swaybars will be angled down a bit. This has been known to cause issues when flexing, nothing an alignment will fix. His steering wheel is probably not centered. This is an easy 5 minute fix that he can do himself. His taller coils did not affect the toe setting, but some people will adjust this depending on previous damage to steering components, new tire size, or their particular needs. This is what he will be paying for, and it probably isn't even be needed! If you feel like you have to have a shop take your money for two items you can easily check yourself, go for it. Just saying that you might be better off checking yourself first and only paying if you find a problem.

That said, some shops offer free alignment checks without doing a full alignment, which I think is a great idea. It should point out any issues, and let you know right up front whether it is something that they can do anything at all about.

 

Thank you for taking the time to explain this.

 

Had a good friend get new tires and drove like 6 hours to his parents house.... Well let's just say his tires were so bad he couldn't drive home on them