off road pkg and alignment issues

skohler · 09-05-2007, 01:18 PM

Just put on the PRG leveling kit (easy and looks great!). Made my appointment with the local nissan dealer and guess what- they realize they can't do it as it is sitting on the lift. I have the OEM off road pkg rims and tires and because of the seam, they do not have a pin that will anchor the alignment tools. How long have these off road rims and tires been out? 4 years?? I even had them verify ahead of time that I had the camber bolts since mine is an '05 so we really should have no problems.

The person from the company that makes the alignment machine was luckily enough there and even he said that they would need a $2000 set of special pins to do it.

The service manager calls another alignment shop in town, no dice on my wheels. Now I'm getting nervous. He finds a shop that can do it- a TOYOTA dealer about 10 miles away. Funny faces as a titan pulls up and a few of the service writers come up and ask me how I like it.

They said they can do it no problem. So now I'm in their vastly nicer waiting rooms typing this up right now.

Steve

cneary812 · 09-05-2007, 01:26 PM

sounds like your nissan dealer is an idot! Can't allign it? Stay away from that dealer!!!!!!! they sound like bad news.

baseballfanz · 09-05-2007, 01:28 PM

If you have an NTB local, they have machine that can do big wheels and tires.

redpickemuptruck · 09-05-2007, 01:29 PM

No kidding bad news, if they can't or won't buy the tools needed to service all the vehicles they sell Nissan should just pull their Point.

skohler · 09-05-2007, 01:43 PM

The dealership is not that old- maybe a little over a year. Apparently this is not a vehicle/package combo that has been aligned there before. The toyota dealer is owned by the same person as the nissan dealership, that is how I ended up here. The toyote service writer said he would contact the owner and let him know directly that this problem exists. It won't help my situation, but it may help the next guy with his alignment.

Still waiting for them to finish up.

Steve

Edit- My intent with this post was to let folks know that if they have the off road pky, just to verify that their dealership can do it. I have actually been very happy with this dealership and have a very good relationship with the service/parts manager. Sometimes things just are not anticipated and then wham- stupid problems come up.

Titanic9 · 09-05-2007, 03:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by skohler

...I have the OEM off road pkg rims and tires and because of the seam, they do not have a pin that will anchor the alignment tools...

So maybe I'm just not understanding correctly, but what exactly about the off road package wheels makes extra equipment necessary to align it? It is just 17" wheels vs. 18" wheels, right? I have the offroad package as well, tires are 285/70R17 BF Goodrich Rugged Trails. I would think any tire shop that does alignment should be able to handle both sizes.

skohler · 09-05-2007, 03:58 PM

titanic,

There is some sort of 'lip' that the alignment equipment latches onto normally. Specifically on the 17" offroad wheels there is no lip, AND the tires bulge to some extend beyond where the lip should be. I did a search before posting and noticed others had the same problem with the off road stuff.

Toyota scratched 2 of my rims, one is bad, so here goes another quest. They had a lot of difficulty with these rims as well, which I think surprised them because they had the "latest and greatest equipment". At least the alignment feels good.

Steve

cp.16 · 09-05-2007, 06:20 PM

I had seen the problem ahead of time since I do alignments. So

I bought a set of used steel rims and put a set of winter tire on and use these for the alignments.

skohler · 09-05-2007, 07:27 PM

cp- thanks for the input. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around why Nissan would use this setup if there would be so much difficulty performing basic maintenance. Kind of like placing the oil filter IN the oil pan that would require a teardown to do an oil change.

Or not using bolts that could adjust camber.

Oh well

cneary812 · 09-06-2007, 06:19 AM

ok now heres my problem... (or at least this is how I see it imo) all auto manufacturers have their "special tools required" for every car they make (almost like they design a tool and build a car to fit it) So... Why on earth would Nissan design one model AKA the Titan OR to be unallignable? The dealers are supposed to have all the necessary equipment to do all maintenance on the vehicles they sell! If the OR wheels can't do it then they should have a set of speical wheels used for allignments that are for the titan... right?

**loufish** · 09-06-2007, 06:28 AM

It never occured to me to bring a truck into the dealer for alignment...
I've had my truck aligned like 4 times already, I live next door to a frame/alignment shop and they have no problems with these wheels...
Just back away from the dealer sir...

skohler · 09-06-2007, 08:36 AM

"If the OR wheels can't do it then they should have a set of speical wheels used for allignments that are for the titan... right"

I agree with this 100%. I would not expect an "alignment" shop to do this, but I would expect this from a dealer. They should have all the tools to do this properly. Of all the titans I've seen around, only a few have the OR package. I seriously believe that they have not done an alignment on one yet and mine was the first.

I'm back at the Toyota dealership with my scratched rims and they have called in someone who specializes in rim repair to see if they can be fixed. There are actually 3 that are dinged up.

Steve

cneary812 · 09-06-2007, 11:32 AM

the last time I checked, they have been making titans for um 4 years now and the OR wheels have been in exsistance since then, so... I dont buy that they haven't done an alignment on OR wheels. Maybe your dealer just usually farms out all allignments or just got an alignment machine recently. My dealer has the new state of the art allignment machine (can't remember the name) but its the same one that the NTB's and good allignment shops use.

skohler · 09-06-2007, 12:39 PM

cneary- this dealership has only been around for maybe a year. I was quite pleased to see it as the other one (where I bought my Titan) is about 15 miles away.

I quite agree that the OR tires have been around for 4 years, but I can say there are not many in my area. At least in my city there are a good number of titans, but I have only seen maybe 2 Off Road in the 2 years I have been looking. Perhaps those 2 have had an alignment, realistically not.

On a funny note- the toyota dealership gave me a prius as a loaner while they fixed my rims. What a funny little car. Very strange to be sitting at a light with NO engine sounds, just like it is parked.

Rims look good as new (actually better because they polished all 4).

Steve

cp.16 · 09-06-2007, 02:08 PM

The problem is the fingers on the alignment heads. They need to be fitted in-between the spokes with those particular rims(special adapters). That dealership is not very experienced with their alignments and you are better off finding a better shop. It sounds like Toyota dealer must have forced the fingers onto the rims and chipped them in the process. I hope they got the alignment right aleast..

Also rims like that with no lip around the rim are common on other cars and trucks, and the non ajustable camber/caster bolts are very common too..