4 Wheel Alignment?

I am getting alot of wear on the inside of my rear tires. I have 19" wheels and H&R sport springs. I mentioned this to the dealer today during my 10k service and they said a front wheel alignment is $99 and a 4 wheel is $199. I know that past VW's I've owned that the rears were not adjustable. Anyone here know for sure that the dealer can fix this issue before I hand over my hard earned cash?

I would push for them to measure the alignment under warranty.

You get one free alignment at the free 6K "check up" afater that you caused the damage by hittin a curb or something.

Same thine if the steering wheel is off center.

But the car is modified with lowering springs. I am sure the wear is due to that..

You aren't going to get any warranty work done if you've fitted aftermarket springs, but it does sound like you need to take some camber out of the rears.

Yours
Vern

It is normal for these cars to where out the inside edges of the tires first. And with the big wheels, they'll wear out even faster. Get used to it.

VernK said:

You aren't going to get any warranty work done if you've fitted aftermarket springs, but it does sound like you need to take some camber out of the rears.

Yours
Vern

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^That. Lowering springs increase camber, period. No warranty available as you caused the issue with a mod.

Also:

oilhammer said:

It is normal for these cars to where out the inside edges of the tires first. And with the big wheels, they'll wear out even faster. Get used to it.

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^That, to some extent at least. The rears of a MKV GTI/R32 are adjustable somewhat, you can look into whether the rear of a Passat is, not sure what setup it uses though.

Just had my alignment done with my 6k service (5000 odo) because the factory setup was off and it pulled to the right a bit at freeway speeds.

If I were getting new suspension items, I would also look for a cheaper place to correct the alignment.

NateM said:

I am getting alot of wear on the inside of my rear tires. I have 19" wheels and H&R sport springs. I mentioned this to the dealer today during my 10k service and they said a front wheel alignment is $99 and a 4 wheel is $199. I know that past VW's I've owned that the rears were not adjustable. Anyone here know for sure that the dealer can fix this issue before I hand over my hard earned cash?

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My local alignment shop, a very highly recommended shop for quality of work, charges $49 for a front wheel alignment and $79 for a 4 wheel alignment... I would look for a different place to get the alignment done. Just make sure they have the alignment specs for the 2012 Passat, one of the places I called didn't.

IXLR8 said:

My local alignment shop, a very highly recommended shop for quality of work, charges $49 for a front wheel alignment and $79 for a 4 wheel alignment... I would look for a different place to get the alignment done. Just make sure they have the alignment specs for the 2012 Passat, one of the places I called didn't.

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Wow, that shop is about 30 years behind the times. No such thing as a "front wheel alignment" as every single alignment machine for passenger cars sold here for several decades uses the position of the rear wheels to align the fronts. If the rears are out, the fronts will be out.

Used to be, many moons ago, you had to back a car up on to an alignment rack to adjust the rears, and you had to live data to sync up both axles. But like I said, that has been some time. Even 20 years ago, the alignment machines were doing 4 wheel alignments.

IXLR8 said:

Just make sure they have the alignment specs for the 2012 Passat, one of the places I called didn't.

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I have the alignment specs from my dealership. I can post them if you like tonight.

So I go the alignment done at the dealer yesterday. It took them about 2.5hrs and I got a before and after. The rear suspension definately is adjustable.

I think that car was cranked down too tight on the transport truck, or it was crashed. That is pretty out of whack.

I've only ever had one NMS up on the alignment rack, and it was pretty much spot-on at 40k miles.

oilhammer said:

I think that car was cranked down too tight on the transport truck, or it was crashed. That is pretty out of whack.

I've only ever had one NMS up on the alignment rack, and it was pretty much spot-on at 40k miles.

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Would the modifications cause such an extreme out of alignment condition?

Good question, and honestly I am not sure. Just depends on how much camber change occurs as the suspension goes down (car gets closer to the ground). If the H&R springs dropped the right height by 1.5 inches, and you get a camber change of a half degree to the negative with every 2 inches, yes, that may indeed be the reason.

However, then you'd expect an identical change L to R, and you still are not accounting for the caster being out on the RF.

These cars already run lots of negative camber, and they have no adjustment for this, and no [easy] provisions for making an adjustment, so doing anything to these cars that takes the camber in further negative is basically going to mean you've given up any reason to complain about tire wear. Kinda like the "Jeep clause" we have here, when you jack/lift your Jeep (or similar 4x4) and/or install giant Mud Commando Extreme 3000 tires/wheels on it, you give up your right to complain about any and all on-road NVH/handling characteristics.

We had our Passat aligned at 10,000 miles. Service department wouldn't cover it under warranty even though it had pulled slightly to the right since new. They found the camber to be out a little bit. It tracks straight now but the steering wheel is off to the left just a bit (no change from before the alignment).

VeeDubTDI said:

We had our Passat aligned at 10,000 miles. Service department wouldn't cover it under warranty even though it had pulled slightly to the right since new. They found the camber to be out a little bit. It tracks straight now but the steering wheel is off to the left just a bit (no change from before the alignment).

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I'm going in for my 10,000 mile service this afternoon, and am hoping they won't charge me for the alignment (pulls to right, since day 1). I told them about it at my courtesy check, but it was on a Saturday, and their alignment tech is only there on weekdays.

Well, evidently it was stupid on my part to think that they wouldn't charge me, or would be able to fix it. All I got was the runaround and talked to like I was an idiot. Now I need to decide whether to escalate to VW Customer Care, or to take it to an independent alignment shop.

VeeDubTDI said:

We had our Passat aligned at 10,000 miles. Service department wouldn't cover it under warranty even though it had pulled slightly to the right since new. They found the camber to be out a little bit. It tracks straight now but the steering wheel is off to the left just a bit (no change from before the alignment).

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That sucks. I wonder if it's the dealer or too late to get the alignment under warranty.

Too late to do it under warranty. I think the cut-off is 6,000 miles.

VeeDubTDI said:

Too late to do it under warranty. I think the cut-off is 6,000 miles.

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My car needs an alignment and according to two dealers I talked with, the alignment warranty ends when you take delivery and drive off the lot. Any issues are to be addressed at the pre-delivery test drive. I have 3200 miles on my car and the dealer I bought it from, said no coverage no way unless something else is wrong. Another dealer said he would cover alignment under a "good will" warranty. So I will not be returning to Morong Falmouth in Maine where I bought the car, Colonial VW in Marlboro MA will get my business for now.

Still red

NateM said:

So I go the alignment done at the dealer yesterday. It took them about 2.5hrs and I got a before and after. The rear suspension definately is adjustable.

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Hmmmm! I still see some red for the front after the alignment. Did they give you an explanation?

L8r,......dogger

Tried again to get the dealer where I bought the car to do an alignment under warranty, no go. I had 2260 miles on the car when I called, they would not agree to cover alignment under warranty. I went to the other dealer, had 3380 miles on the car at that point, they did the alignment work under "good will warranty", no cost to me . They didn't care that I didn't buy the car from them. The right rear alignment was out a bit, everything was dialed back into the green. Car tracks better, doesn't pull so much to the right, and it actually pulls to the left when I am in the left lane on the highway. So for now I am calling it good.

Mine also pulls to the right just enough to be annoying. Wonder if I contact em now if they'll cover it? less than 500 miles on it.

<500 miles? Of COURSE you should tell them. If you have tracking issues this early, it's a warranty claim. If the deny the request, make them put it in the computer so there's a record of it.

FYI, both my 09 Jettas and the 12 Passat didn't feel "dialed in" from the factory, and wandered more than I wanted, but in fact settled in nicely. My JSW, at 57k miles, hasn't needed aligning, and now at 15k, the Passat is straight as well, with zero tire wear issues on both.

jaredaggie said:

Mine also pulls to the right just enough to be annoying. Wonder if I contact em now if they'll cover it? less than 500 miles on it.

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Yes you should tell them.
VW policy is not to cover it after you pull out of the parking lot after delivery, but some dealers will cover it.

I had my 2012 Passat replaced with a 2013 after numerous CEL issues. I noticed the new car pulling to the right immediately after taking delivery of it. The dealership aligned it, changed the tires, and adjusted the k-frame. Nothing made a difference. I started a case with VW before I brought it in a second time and they are telling me that they are working on it. We'll see...