IS-F wheel alignment questions

[_ISF]

OK so my car was due for a pink slip this week and i generally get my alignment done at the same time each year. So this time was no different so i booked in for both pink slip and alignment at my local Bridgestone tyre place which is conveniently located about 400m from my house.

I told the guy at the front desk the car model details as i handed him my keys, and specified that the car is an IS-F - not an F sport or regular IS250/350 etc. I also told the guy that since fitting new front tyres about a month earlier i had noticed my steering wheel was ever so slightly off-centre (probably 10 degrees off) when driving straight down a road, and asked if they could fix this while doing the alignment.

An hour later when i picked up the car, i paid and got my invoice, pink slip and alignment printout. I jumped in the car and took a quick look at the alignment printout and noticed they had selected the car as being a Lexus LS600H. 

Im no alignment specialist - in fact i know very little about alignments despite being a car nut....but i can only assume that if the operator selects the incorrect car that the alignment will be setup for that same incorrect car - therefore im driving around with an alignment suited to a luxury car and not a sports sedan.

Now obviously a LS600H is a very different car and no doubt has different alignment settings to an IS-F. On top of that, my steering wheel is still off centre. So i will be going back this week to get them to fix up the steering wheel and also wanted to talk about the fact that they have the wrong car listed on my alignment paperwork.

I walked past the shop about 30mins after dropping the car off and it was on the alignment machine and up in the air - so im assuming they did in fact do an alignment.

I have always had cars that are somewhat rare, and have noticed on other alignments i have had done that they have picked the wrong car (correct brand but incorrect model). Does it really matter?

Has anyone else had a similar issue? What did you do?

 

[2bling]

What did the print out read the only adjustment is toe which is .06 to 1.5mm toe in, I had a alignment done in little old Moruya and they had the ISF specs in there machine. How does it drive, and they can straighten your steering wheel using the toe adjustment (tie rod ends) so make sure they get the toe right.

[_ISF]

2 hours ago, 2bling said:

What did the print out read the only adjustment is toe which is .06 to 1.5mm toe in, I had a alignment done in little old Moruya and they had the ISF specs in there machine. How does it drive, and they can straighten your steering wheel using the toe adjustment (tie rod ends) so make sure they get the toe right.

I literally just got back from paying them a visit to discuss. I was hoping to get some feedback before i went down there but this forum is so dead haha. I spoke to the guy at the front desk (same guy i dealt with a few days prior) and he agreed that they had selected the incorrect car. We went out to the alignment bay as the technician had just finished aligning an Evo 10 and had a look on the computer. The IS-F is indeed listed as a separate car to the regular IS250, LS400 etc - so it was just either lazyness or an oversight by the tech on the day for him to select LS600H.

They have agreed to re-do the alignment at no cost to me and fix up the steering wheel alignment too by adjusting the tie rods.

I have attached a printout of the alignment info, but they do adjust camber and caster as well as toe by the looks of it.

[koop21]

Just as an FYI for anyone else that lands here in future the attached specs range is what's acceptable.

IS-F_Suspension_Specs.pdf

[_ISF]

14 hours ago, koop21 said:

Just as an FYI for anyone else that lands here in future the attached specs range is what's acceptable.

IS-F_Suspension_Specs.pdf 867.88 kB · 1 download

Thanks for that - i have downloaded to keep with my records. The beauty of forums is that this info can be found months/years later, whereas with Facebook groups its lost and there is no search function etc so you get people asking the same questions over and over again.

[2bling]

Good your getting it done again, but there is no camber caster adjustment on any IS or ISF. 40 years being a mechanic, check the US forum the difference in your numbers are very small, machine or human error, cheers. PS If you had 7.6mm toe before (2mm after) your tyres must have been scrubbing out pretty bad

[_ISF]

23 minutes ago, 2bling said:

Good your getting it done again, but there is no camber caster adjustment on any IS or ISF. 40 years being a mechanic, check the US forum the difference in your numbers are very small, machine or human error, cheers. PS If you had 7.6mm toe before (2mm after) your tyres must have been scrubbing out pretty bad

Yeah I am struggling to believe the toe could have been that far out (7.6mm) because I've only driven 6,000km since my last alignment and haven't hit anything or changed any suspension components etc. Also the car only has 53,000km on it so all the factory bushes etc are still good and i have the Figs Engineering control arm bushes.

So unless the previous alignment was also crap (different place did the last one) then something does not add up. I still have my previous alignment printout so I will check that out.

I did recently change my front tyres, the old ones were shagged on the outer edge but still had approx 4mm elsewhere...but in saying that these tyres were on the car when i bought it and i could see they were already worn more on the outer edge.

[choppyshrimp]

I'm pretty sceptical about wheel alignment shops as a lot of them can't ever seem to do them properly, while some charge you and may not even do them at all. Have always taken my cars to a reputable shop and avoid ones like the chains you visited. The good places charge a bit more, but it's worth a few extra dollars for peace of mind that it's being done properly, especially if your car and/or its suspension is uncommon. Not saying all Bridgestone tyres and such are incapable, but just seems to be the case from what I hear all the time.