New tires on 98 Accord LX - Do I need an alignment?

I bought 4 new BF Goodrich tires for my 98 Accord LX 5-speed with
75,000 miles. The cars is very quiet now and very smooth. The guys at
Costco told me to get an alignment and they implied it would protect my
tire warranty. They said get an alignment every year. I think I have
had one alignment since new.

I am wondering if I really need one. There is zero vibration or shimmy
in the steering wheel.

If I take my hands off the wheel, (hold them an inch away from the
wheel & when no cars are around) the cars drives totally straight and
the wheel do not vibrate or anything.

The tires have a 60,000 mile warranty, 500 rating and Costco provides
free rotation, road hazard the works.

Tom Jackson wrote:
> I bought 4 new BF Goodrich tires for my 98 Accord LX 5-speed with
> 75,000 miles. The cars is very quiet now and very smooth. The guys at
> Costco told me to get an alignment and they implied it would protect my
> tire warranty. They said get an alignment every year. I think I have
> had one alignment since new.
>
> I am wondering if I really need one. There is zero vibration or shimmy
> in the steering wheel.
>
> If I take my hands off the wheel, (hold them an inch away from the
> wheel & when no cars are around) the cars drives totally straight and
> the wheel do not vibrate or anything.
>
> The tires have a 60,000 mile warranty, 500 rating and Costco provides
> free rotation, road hazard the works.
>
what was the wear pattern on the old tires?

Tom Jackson wrote:
> I bought 4 new BF Goodrich tires for my 98 Accord LX 5-speed with
> 75,000 miles. The cars is very quiet now and very smooth. The guys at
> Costco told me to get an alignment and they implied it would protect my
> tire warranty. They said get an alignment every year. I think I have
> had one alignment since new.

did they notice abnormal wear on the old tires to the inboard or
outboard sides? they dont do alignments, so thats the only reason i can
think of that theyd tell you something like that.
>
> I am wondering if I really need one. There is zero vibration or shimmy
> in the steering wheel.

dont need one, unless you notice uneven wear, or pulling to one side.
>
> If I take my hands off the wheel, (hold them an inch away from the
> wheel & when no cars are around) the cars drives totally straight and
> the wheel do not vibrate or anything.
>
> The tires have a 60,000 mile warranty, 500 rating and Costco provides
> free rotation, road hazard the works.
>
costco will warrant the tires regardless of if you align the car or not.

Tom Jackson wrote:
>
> I bought 4 new BF Goodrich tires for my 98 Accord LX 5-speed with
> 75,000 miles. The cars is very quiet now and very smooth. The guys at
> Costco told me to get an alignment and they implied it would protect my
> tire warranty. They said get an alignment every year. I think I have
> had one alignment since new.
>
> I am wondering if I really need one. There is zero vibration or shimmy
> in the steering wheel.
>
> If I take my hands off the wheel, (hold them an inch away from the
> wheel & when no cars are around) the cars drives totally straight and
> the wheel do not vibrate or anything.
>
> The tires have a 60,000 mile warranty, 500 rating and Costco provides
> free rotation, road hazard the works.

Some shops have a computerized slide slip meter that they can drive the car
over which senses how many feet per mile the tires are pulling sideways.
This test will help to determine if you really need an alignment. Call
around to a few different shops in your area. One shop that I know of will
do the test for free since it only takes a minute or two.

By the way, an alignment per year sounds excessive. The best thing you can
do for your tires is to keep them properly inflated to the car's recommended
pressure. Also check for unusual wear patterns and get them rotated front
to back regularly. I do mine at every other oil change. I also bought
tires at Costco, but I won't let them rotate the tires any more since they
messed up one of my lugnuts (just about the only way to mess up the threads
on a lugnut is to start the threads with the nut in your air tool instead of
by hand and people making this type of mistake are usually found in a high
school shop class or they belong there).

Eric

"Tom Jackson" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>I bought 4 new BF Goodrich tires for my 98 Accord LX 5-speed with
> 75,000 miles. The cars is very quiet now and very smooth. The guys at
> Costco told me to get an alignment and they implied it would protect my
> tire warranty. They said get an alignment every year. I think I have
> had one alignment since new.
>
> I am wondering if I really need one. There is zero vibration or shimmy
> in the steering wheel.
>
> If I take my hands off the wheel, (hold them an inch away from the
> wheel & when no cars are around) the cars drives totally straight and
> the wheel do not vibrate or anything.
>
> The tires have a 60,000 mile warranty, 500 rating and Costco provides
> free rotation, road hazard the works.
>
The shadetree trick to check whether you need alignment to prevent tire
wear: stick strips of masking tape across the treads of the front tires from
sidewall to sidewall and find a reasonably straight stretch of road to drive
for a mile or so. Pull over and look at the tape. If it is worn evenly on
the inside and outside edges, roughly matching the wear in the center, you
are wearing okay. If the inside or outside edges are more worn you need an
alignment.

If you haven't had anything replaced in the front end and the steering wheel
sits straight when you drive the alignment is probably okay. It's rare for
the alignment to be "knocked out" by a big bump without affecting one side
more than the other and so making the steering off-center.

Mike

I paid about $45 for a four wheel alignment at a Firestone dealer after
popping for a set of Bridgestones. The alignment was way off om my 2001
Accord V6-EX with about 45K. Spring for the alignment.

The wear [attern looked pretty normal. No excessive wear on either
side (inboard or outboard) of the front or rear tires.

BTW - is anyone here able to get more than 25,000 miles on a set of
tires? I did once on a new 1984 VW Scirocco with excellent (French)
Uniroyal HRs.

Thanks guys.

Have 194K on a 97 accord - no alignment since purchase - tire wear is
even - so if your tire wear is even - you don't need one. Also check
tirerack.com for recommendations on tire brands - BF Goodrich is not a
stellar choice IMHO.

In article .com>,
says...

>I bought 4 new BF Goodrich tires for my 98 Accord LX 5-speed with
>75,000 miles. The cars is very quiet now and very smooth. The guys at
>Costco told me to get an alignment and they implied it would protect my
>tire warranty. They said get an alignment every year. I think I have
>had one alignment since new.
>I am wondering if I really need one. There is zero vibration or shimmy
>in the steering wheel.
>If I take my hands off the wheel, (hold them an inch away from the
>wheel & when no cars are around) the cars drives totally straight and
>the wheel do not vibrate or anything.
>The tires have a 60,000 mile warranty, 500 rating and Costco provides
>free rotation, road hazard the works.

sounds odd to me. Costco doesn't do alignments, so it's not like they are
trying to sell you an unecessary service to make more money. Did they refer
you to specific shop? Maybe they are getting a kick back? Unless you are
getting abnormal wear of your tires or the car is pulling to one side, you
don't need to get an alignment.
--------------
Alex

They did not refer me to any specific shop. There are no auto repair
shops near this Costco location. There is no vibration in the steering
wheel at all, car drives stratight as an arrow and the wear on the old
tires looked normal.