alignment specs

[Thomas Mackin]

I had put new quick struts on the back of my 02 XLT 4/4 and now put new Firestone Destination LE tires on. The tire dealer recommended doing an alignment? Is there a broad range of specs or have you guys come up with the best specs? It was aligned about 1.5 years ago.

 

[p71]

Toe spec is .10 degrees +/-.25, camber -0.5 degrees +/-0.8, caster 5.1 degrees on left +/- 1, 5.3 degrees on right +/- 1. Then there are total/split specs of 0.2, 0.0 and -0.2 degrees respectively. There are ways to do it yourself with strings, straight edges, plumb bobs and rulers, but it's going to take a great deal of effort to measure such small angles and make adjustments if you find it's not already to specs. Typically, the shop's alignment equipment will be computerized and list specs for each vehicle year/make/model.

Since you have new tires, it's probably worth the cost of the alignment to maximize the life of the tires. If you had not done work on the suspension just prior, I would advise the alignment only if the old tire wear was uneven.