Tires: tires, alignment, Mazda 3, Tire Alignment

Question
QUESTION: I went to a tire & repair place for new tires and alignment.  After they had put on the tires & worked on alignment, they told me the car (Mazda 3) does not allow rear tires to be aligned so that they are straight up--after maximum adjustment there's still negative camber.  They offered (for lots more $) to install 2 after-market parts that will extend the original parts so that the tires can be straight up.  Without this I'll have greater wear on the insides of the rear tires. I talked to the parts dept at the dealer where I bought the car & they've never heard of this.  1) Is what the tire people told me, true? 2)If so, isn't it unethical of them to have givn me the estimate for tires & alignment without mention of this problem, and to have sold me tires whose warranty most likely won't be honored if I don't get this extra part?

ANSWER: Barbara,

1)  Yes, there are kits that will allow for increased range of adjustments for alignment - especially camber.  I'm surprised that the guys at the Mazda parts place don't know about them - but maybe that's because Mazda doesn't offer these - they should!

2)  No, it is not unethical to not mention it before hand.  These parts are only necessary if the allowable adjustment doesn't bring the car into "spec".  The tire place would not have known that before hand.  Besides they only told you about it - they didn't install the part, then charge you for it.  It would have been unethical to not mention that your car may need this part to keep the tire warranty.

As an example, if you had only purchased the tires and not an alignment - and the tires wore funny because of the alignment being off - would that have been unethical??

Sounds to me like you got good service.  They didn't do anything you didn't ask them to do, and they warned you about a potential problem.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks for your perspective.  As a customer with no special knowledge, it seems weird that Mazda intentionally makes the car to have negative camber--?  I guess they think it's important to the car in some way, not to have the tires straight up--? And, forgive me, I still think the tire folks should know these things (they say this is always true of Mazda3's) and lay out the problem when they first quote your price.

Answer
Barbara,

Unfortunately, things don't stay the same - and that goes for cars as well.

Sometimes a car will run over something - like a curb - and it will "tweak" the chassis a little.  Even though there may be no external evidence of this, it's enough to throw the alignment off.  Alignment are pretty precise settings - fractions a degrees.

However, most of the time, there aren't any problems with alignments - no extra parts needed, no special adaptors, etc.

I can apperciate where you are coming from, but the other side of the coin is for them to be accused of trying to charge customers for un-needed parts.