Need an alignment - 2006 Accord

[Orange&White]

So I went to get new tires at Sears (they were the cheapest place by more than $140). I go in with no alignment problem whatsoever. Guy selling me tires keeps pushing me to get alignment. Pushing to the point (8 or 10 times) of me firmly telling him that I was not going to get the alignment, because I did not need one, and that he could really quit asking.

New tires on, I drive away, car is way out of alignment. I stop and check tire pressure. All tires have different level so I fill them all to 32 psi. Still pulling kinda firmly to the right.

I will be damned to go back to the ******** ever again. So, where is the cheapest alignment in town?

 

[orangecat]

I don't know about cheapest, but you can still buy a lifetime alignment from Firestone. I paid I think $170 for one about 8 months ago. Bring it in as often as you like, they make sure it's straight.

BTW, curious, how did you even consider going to Sears? I would have never even thought of buying tires there. Did your dad or grandpa work there? Seriously, I've never talked to anyone that bought tires from Sears. I've run into plenty of people that get tires from tire places, but never Sears.

 

[Orange&White]

Four brand new Goodyear GT's, installed, for $340 out the door. Not one other place came remotely close to it.

 

[KingBobo81]

I have bought good tires from Sears as well - cheap too.

 

[accuratehorn]

You probably don't need an alignment on a 2006 Accord. If the wear pattern on the old tires was odd, it can indicate an alignment problem. Were the old tires just worn out normally, or did they wear excessively on the inner 1/4 of only one or two tires, and the other two look OK, something like that.
Odd wear patterns can be due to running the tires underinflated as well.
An Accord, or any car can come off the dealer's lot needing an alignment, but they are supposed to check this during the new car checkout. Otherwise, they tend to settle on the suspension due to wear of the shocks and springs, and may need aligning, but this is typically by about 90 or 100k.
You don't need an alignment every time you buy tires. A competent suspension tech should look at the old tires and recommend whether it needs aligning or not.
Unfortuneately, a lot of these places just try to sell an alignment to every person that walks in who buys tires.
Speedy Align does a good job, I have used them, and in Pflugerville, Jerry's Alignment in a place I use (he was a top employee at one of the Speedy Aligns, then opened his own place).
Don't go for the cheapest service-you will usually be disappointed.
Sears may have the cheap tires as a come-on to sell, ahem, alignments and other front end repairs that are not really due yet.

 

[Orange&White]

Thank you, Accuratehorn. You're input is always appreciated.

The old tires had no sign of odd wear at all, so it was fine before they put on the new tires. And I have personally made sure that the psi has been right since the tires were put on. The tires are still pretty new (~ 2months) and I can't tell any signs of wear on them. But I can tell you that if I let go of the steering wheel, it starts pulling immediately to the right.

The car is a 2006 model, but was purchased in November of 2005 and currently has 51K miles on it.

 

[accuratehorn]

If they wore pretty evenly, I doubt you need to get an alignment. Tires really affect the feel of a car on the road, and engineers design the suspension to match the characteristics of a particular tire. So it may have a rougher ride, a noiser sound over certain types of pavement, things like that. I don't know why it would pull, though. Good tires really make a car feel better on the road.

 

[AUinAustin]

You might get the tire looked at. No idea if this is still an issue but in the 80's I had similiar problems several times. Every time it was a belt in the tire that had slipped. Covered under warranty.

 

[aUTfan]

I second the tire problem as a culprit, just because the tires are new doesn't mean they are perfect, think about it....the only thing that has changed on your car are the tires and now all of a sudden it's pulling? It's not just a coincidence, accuratehorn has far more expertise than myself but my experience with both accord's i've owned for the last 5 years and you have to really hit something to knock them out of alignment, every time my cars pulled it was a tire.....even brand new ones.