r/AskAMechanic 2h ago

Alignment issue help

2009 Honda CRV

1 year ago I put a different set of rims on my car my brother had at home with brand new tires on them instead of changing the tires on my stock rims because he was getting rid of the rims anyways.
Afterwards it felt like something wasn’t quite right either an alignment or balancing issue, so I took the car into a commercial tire shop to get that looked at and pre paid for the service on Groupon. Turned out my brother had forgotten to tighten a few lugs on a rim which is why it felt so off (scary mistake, I know). Mechanic said that was the issue and I was good to go.
Recently I notice one of my tires is quite worn down so I take it into a (different) commercial tire shop and they say all 4 of my tires are wearing down really bad in weird spots due to a bad alignment issue.
To me this kind of sounds like the previous shop didn’t bother looking at the alignment after they caught the lug nut issue. Is it normal for an alignment to get really off in just a year? Thoughts?
(I mention the Groupon thing here because originally I was frustrated I wouldn’t get refunded for that)

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u/StillSwo NOT a verified tech 2h ago

It sounds like you haven't really had much service to your tires in well over a year. It's recommended to get an alignment every once a year, every oil change, or every 15,000 miles depending on driving conditions like if you hit pot holes regularly, or uneven roads. What did you expect?

u/Ok-Cryptographer682 2h ago

I guess it’s just a surprise to me that the alignment in one year can get so off that it messed up all my tires if one year ago the alignment was inspected and was good enough that it didn’t need to be realigned. But maybe that’s normal-ish on an older vehicle?

u/StillSwo NOT a verified tech 2h ago

Yeah, it looks like they didn't inform you on how often you need to get your alignment done. Some places offer 1 year warranty and lifetime alignment services.

u/simmer_study NOT a verified tech 2h ago

It can drift in a year. Check the alignment and suspension before replacing the tires.