Greetings. We just purchased a new 2005 Outback 2.5i Ltd and the alignment was out of whack from the beginning. Just curious if this was a one off thing, or if it was a greater issue. The service department indicated it was the latter. It was fixed under warranty, but actually invoved 2 visits to the dealer and 2 1/2 hours.

for now i'd just let it ride and assume it was mis-aligned from the factory.

 

but it does sounds weird to me. an independent shop could have told you why it was out of alignment. a dealer only has something to loose by being honest with you. for instance...suppose it was a greater issue....the dealer would like you to find out this greater issue after the warranty expires. but then again i trust noone unless they earn it.

 

i never get alignments unless they are needed or something drastic happens to the vehicle. a knowledgeable person who has nothing to gain will tell you that alignments are rarely necessary and certainly overkill with every set of new tires. if the old tire wore perfectly even for 30,000 miles it's really silly to think the new ones are all of a sudden going to get ruined in the first 10,000 miles of service on an average daily driver????? even potholes are no match for alignments unless you slam them hard and "slam them hard" is much harder than most people think since it's really an ambiguos term. i've driven 100,000 miles each on two XT6's without EVER getting an alignment even with new tires. i'll drive my 220,000 mile XT6 to your house and show you the perfectly even wear. i even bent the front control arm four wheeling in snow and replaced it with a used unit about 70,000 miles ago and still never got an alignment. again, no issues. alignments are one of those things that people make money off of. if you pay attention to your tire wear...which should happen anyway on an AWD vehicle because you should be rotating the tires frequently you'll notice irregular wear before it becomes a problem and have the alignment checked without paying for it more often than needed. if you don't rotate your tires much or pay attention to them then get them aligned regularly. others will disagree and if you want to spend the extra money go right ahead as there is nothing wrong with getting an alignment whenever you feel like it, i for one will keep my 70 dollars and have tires last just as long as everyone else.

Unless you want more crisp turn-in and the tail to let go first. In which case an alignment will be needed. Simple really, factory spec is very conservative on the negative camber up front. Just -0.5 degrees will transform the handling, and still be safe enough.

 

Even sudden hard braking in tight bends doesn't result in any waywardness.