Had an oil change and tire rotation at my dealer Friday. The service writer said my rear wheels needed alignment which might need shims since they are not very adjustable.

I asked how far out of spec my alignment was, but he had no numbers. Car has 11K miles.

Researching the issue, it appears that many techs don't try to align the rear unless car was in a crash that bent the suspension beam.

Tires show normal wear. Running on a flat road and releasing the steering wheel did not trigger a pull to either side.

When I ran a gas station many years ago, our position was to not align customer cars unless car pulled or tires wore unevenly.

Normal alignment is $79.99 but shims would add an unknown fee based on disassembly time and extra parts,

I told dealer, I'd consider aligning when new tires were needed and he didn't push the issue.

Like this dealer and have used them for years.

Need opinions. Do I need to do anything about rear alignment if handling stays good and tires wear evenly?

Thanks

Question is, did they check your alignment even if it's obviously not neccessary, and is it really off? To blindly recommend an alignment on an all original accident-free 11K mile 2013 Corolla is in fact ridiculous... My 2004 has been to hell and back at 169K miles, and my rear toe alignment is always fine as confirmed by my old Snap-On tool, as well as camber angle with carpenter's bubble level.

Thanks, dom.

Dealer policy has changed with free maintenance for 2 years on new cars.

Before, dealer offered free alignment checks at owner request. Now, it's done as part of the free Toyota maintenance plan at 5,000 mile service intervals. i guess this is a way to generate more revenue to cover the free maintenance which is reimbursed by Toyota probably below retail rates.

I agree with you that it ought to be left alone.

Any other opinions?

well, "technicians" should know what they are talking about but to be honest if there is normal wear on the tires then they should not need any alignment. you can get a second opinion from another shop, but if all is good then why fix what is not broke

Dealer did the 4 wheel alignment with shims under warranty for me.

I love Leith Toyota.

Wow. When the Toyota dealer replaced my front right strut on warranty, they did not align it after. Warranty covers the blown strut only, and not the subsequently required alignment which is actually part of the job. So they let me go with it misaligned on a 300 mile return trip, and I then aligned it myself and let them know about it again.

I didn't really mind because I always do my own alignments, suspension work, etc... The average Joe leaves the dealership satisfied with the concept that the repair is good and complete, as they don't even mention the need for an alignment.