Alignment Specs
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I have 22000 miles on my Insight EX. When I went to dealer for the 20000 miles service (my second oil change) they told me that my car needs wheels alignment, but they don't have the computer program for Insight 2019 yet. I looked at a few other local dealers too, none has it. I'm not sure if it is related, but it has been a week that at speeds above roughly 45-50 mph I can hear a rattling or squeaking sound. It is more evident when I put my head closer to the back or bottom center of the car during driving. Also, when it's rainy, it is less evident. Any suggestion? I don't know what to do. Thanks.
That's a lot of miles on a car that isn't even a year old. You're going to blow through your 3 year/36,000 bumper to bumper warranty soon. :surprise: About the alignment, have you reached out to Honda corporate? https://owners.honda.com/help/customer-relations It's hard to say what could be causing that noise and diagnosing over the internet. I'm not a mechanic but I'm curious if you can upload an audio clip of the noise. Have you check for any damage or rodents underneath the car?
Thanks for the feedback. Yes, I drive a lot. I have extended warranty up to 100000 miles/7 years though.
I can't see any obvious damage including rodents etc. I will need to take it to mechanic or dealer. I'm waiting for the computer program for alignment to come, so I could at least take that out of equation ...
I am gonna bring the issue to Honda corporate as you suggested. It is non sense that they deliver a car but they don't provide an alignment capability. Seriously, this is not expected from Honda ....
I find it hard to believe that dealerships don't have the ability to do a wheel alignment on the Insight, yet. Considering wheel alignments are done every 6000 or so miles. The ones that bought the Insight in the summer probably have done 6000 miles by now.
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I agree they should have everything in place to do the alignment. But I’d never have it done as long as the car tracks straight and the tires wear right.
Finally my dealer called me regarding the alignment. Now they can do it. I'm going to do it on Saturday, plus a recall on rear camera.
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On the camera recall, you may want to brace yourself for your settings to be reset... or proactively ask your dealer if they save and restore your settings before the reset for rear camera recall.
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I'm sure you're wrong - no one does alignments that often. Alignment is very infrequent, as needed or perhaps every two to three years. You mean tire rotation. Tires can be rebalanced when they are rotated, but typically they are not.
Now I'm wondering if my complaint of squirrelly steering (I have to make frequent tiny adjustments) is due to alignment or balance? The dealer told me that Insight steering is meant to be a little bit soft. But I think it's defective.
Here in New England you pretty much need to do them at least once a year due to all the potholes. My Honda dealership recommends 6000 miles but I usually do a test on a straight road to see if my car is veering to one side without touching the steering wheel before I do an alignment.
https://www.friendlyhonda.net/blog/2016/august/3/5-signs-your-honda-needs-an-alignment.htm (Not my local honda dealership but most of them do list 6000 miles in my area)
Just covering all the bases here, by any chance is your LKAS activated when the steering is wonky? I lowered the sensitivity on mine and it made a huge difference in the feel.
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I hadn't heard of technology that checks wheel alignment by pulling into the auto bay. Whether the dealer was intentionally or unintentionally misleading in their report, the fact that their measurement data changes is a credibility problem in itself.
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Yeah, that was really strange. Either incompetence or fraud or maybe even the tool they were using isn't very good if the results differ so much from reading to reading.
I saw them go back out to the car while it was still sitting in the bay and re-check the alignment. It looks like they just go wheel to wheel and not something automatic that checks as you drive into the bay. Not exactly sure what tool they were using but they gave me a color print out of the results. I wish I had taken a photo of the first one they showed me with both front and rear tires being out of alignment. I did take a photo of the second print out after they supposedly re-checked the alignment. I'll attach it.
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Looks like a hunter alignment printout, weird that all of the values are missing though. I'll see if I can find a filled out alignment sheet so that you can see what I mean.
It's super easy to "fake" a bad alignment. The machines are very susceptible to any vibration or movement and would read incorrect very easily. Or simply by putting in the wrong vehicle.
Most dealerships and tire shops use Hunter alignment systems so it shouldn't take them more than a minute to do an alignment check.
From your alignment readout, it looks like your dealership use the newer hunter quick alignment check system, where it's measured by a bunch of lasers within seconds.
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Hmm, I see what you mean by missing values... sample before/after from internet is attached. It is odd that the report provided by Honda was incomplete.
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His alignment report does seem to be lacking some information. Is there a work order number and vehicle name on the printout @CommonSenseAl ? I have attached a copy of mine from when I did an alignment on my 09 Civic last year at my Honda dealership. Haven't done an alignment with my new Insight and with the newer hunter alignment systems so maybe the alignment report looks different.
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Watching these videos, I noticed that the laser technology 'just' came out in Oct 2018, and the Toyota dealer was raving about the gross profit from using this tool. If this is what the Honda dealer used, my 'inner skeptic' says the dealer may need some training/calibration on the new laser measurement if it differs so much upon re-measurement or when compared to alternate measure. And they must be pushing alignments hard because they're 'easy' to do and almost pure profit, not necessarily in the best interest of a consumer. #buyerbeware
It seems like the quick check system identifies the VIN via the license plate through Carfax. If Carfax has the wrong Vin or can't find one that matches your license plate then your alignment is compared to the wrong factory recommended specs. The dealership doesn't care if it's not as accurate if the system made a wrong recommendation when the laser check doesn't cost them any additional labor.
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Yep - sadly, it's actually in the dealer's best interest (financially) if the measurements are inaccurate, because it can drive up business in 'recommended alignments.' I don't think my dealer has this laser-based check, but if they try to throw a recommendation from it at me, I plan to ask for a second verification measurement before proceeding!
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