You probably don't need an alignment based on what you wrote.
The biggest sign that you should look out for is if your car "pulls" one way or the other.

"Wobbling" might indicate that a wheel is unbalanced.

But here's what a dealer might tell you and it's a tactic that I've seen over the years - they'll say: "We can put your car on the machine and let you know if it needs an alignment or not - if it doesn't, then no charge!"

They know that virtually every single car on the road is off a fraction that causes zero problems but, they'll tell you that yes, you car is off a bit - "Do you want us to do an alignment then?"

99% of people fall for this.

 

"Wobbling" might indicate that a wheel is unbalanced.

Yip. Agree.

 

Squirrelly feelings at highway sped or while turning is another thing to look out for. Tranck is right, I bet over half of dealership alignments are not needed.

 

We will have had our crosstrek 3 years next month. No alignments done after 75,000km. Tire wear is even, it does not pull or drift to either the left or right...so it doesn’t need one. I’d say it’s been about 5 years since we’ve had one done on our outback.

 

Off-centre steering wheel. Hint. Wondering on crowned roads. Hunting turns. As a steering system, the worse your alignment becomes, the dead centre it feels. I went 76,000 miles without an alignment, finally got one. The little idiosyncrasies we noticed - off-accelerator pedal and drift to the right alerted us. Make sure it's an approved 4x4 alignment.

What did you do to your Subaru today???

A thread that appears on a number of Subaru forums I frequent, so might as well start one here. Tell us what you did to your Subaru today, could be simple, could be some modifications, could be ..... Washed and waxed mine.

www.subaruxvforum.com

 

Steering pulling or uneven tyre wear is the telltale, but for me I typically do it 500 kms after changing new tires, just to make sure the new tires not getting uneven wear and to check if all the suspension component is still in order.

 

Why do you think you need an alignment? If you do not drive your car off road you may never need one. My 2015 XV has 159000 miles and no alignment was ever done nor is necessary. Here are the things you will see when you need an alignment or you have a mechanical issue that causes the alignment to be off:

• A bit off: After your tires do about 10 to 20K miles (Inspect before rotating the tires) you will see uneven wear either on the inside or the outside of the tire.
• A bit more off: You will notice that when you are driving straight on the road, your steering wheel is sitting just a bit turned and you may or may not realize that you are actually "fighting" it to keep the car going straight.
• Way off: Both of the above and when the road is excessively wet you have hard time keeping the car going straight.

If you are experiencing none of these symptoms, an alignment may align the wheels that are off by a fraction but you are essentially wasting your money.

 

Some big Subaru Dealerships have a pad that they drive your vehicle over with lasers and sensors checking for tire uniformity and even cross tread wear for free. I'll try to get the YouTube video. Checking the alignment once a year with the below system is great, especially in Central New York where pot holes are prevalent and a way of life. We hit pot holes on the highways out here to shake one's rear teeth.

 

I haven’t had one in 50k miles. Not sure when it was done before I bought the car. I’m due for new summer and winter tires and will probably get one then as the inner tread is wearing a little faster.

 

90+% of all alignments aren't necessary60 years of driving on multiple multiple vehicles (6 AWD/4WD) and 3 alignments. 2 out of the 3 were to correct a misalignment. Folks its unnecessary.

 

This is an excellent tool as well.

 

If the tire wear is even all the way around on the car I don’t bother with an alignment. Our crosstrek has not needed one in the three years we’ve had it and I’d say it’s been a good five..ish years since one was done on our outback. Just keep a close eye on tire wear.


very cool tech but no one around here has one so I’ll have to use the poor man’s hand held tread depth gaug.

 

And 274 inches of snow a year those plows rip up the roads. It's not what you hit, it's how you hit it. LOL

No money to fix potholes, but plenty for amphitheater (Your letters)

Shouldn't taxpayers have a vote on frivolous expenditures?

www.syracuse.com

 

That's the Pennsylvania that I remember - moved to North Carolina like 35 years ago - never looked back.

 

If you rotate yourself - watch the thread wear pattern or just take cross thread depth measurements. If you see discrepancy - you better check alignment.

 

2021, brand new, alignment was off a bit (wheel off-center when going straight) so I had it done after the first week. Warranty though, no cost at all.

 

Had my 2021 Sport get its first alignment at 2030 miles. But this was done after an ADF Lift kit and Methods were installed.

 

Like many things in life: it depends.

I had a brand new 2014 Camry SE Sport off alignment upon delivery. Felt off on freeway so I insisted the dealership check it and the toe-in in the rear was off out of factory.
hitting a pothole likely will knock it off alignment depends on size, speed, and angle. So milage along is not a reliable indicator. If you go off-roading, I will probably once a year just in case.

 

These are really useful things to know. I got the "Lifetime" alignment at a local Firestone and had my car aligned after going off road at 16 K and at 35 K (just before end of warranty). It is hard to believe that the first alignment numbers were nearly identical with the second alignment numbers which is something I've never seen before. The Crosstrek seems to keep in alignment if the numbers I was given are to be believed.
At the time some folks on this site also mentioned that the Subaru was "difficult" to align properly and I apologize because I don't remember the particulars of their concern.
The Firestone numbers were so close that I was concerned they simply copied the first alignment and then erased a couple digits while never aligning the car at all.
If your tires are wearing well and the car doesn't wander or pull you are probably ok. Nice to know.

 

I rotate tyres roughly every 6-12 months and do a wheel alignment when I get new tyres. I haven’t needed to, but I’d do a wheel alignment if I notice uneven wear during the tyre rotation or the car pulls to the side. Or if I hit a major thing on the road like a pothole or run over a kangaroo and then I’d do a wheel alignment, as well as fix any damage. Incidentally, I hit a cockatoo (bird) the other day. At about 80km/h. Like the size of a chicken. It hit right on my left fog light. I really though it did damage. Feathers everywhere. The bird was obviously gone. But when I checked everything the bumper and fog light and fog light surround were all dislodged and didn’t look fantastic but after pulling it all apart it all slotted back in place with no damage. Just one broken retaining clip I replaced. Irrelevant story but there is no cockatoo road kill thread.

 

Mine was done at the first 6K mile service. I mentioned that the steering was off to the right and when the wheel was centered the car drove to the left in an alarming fashion; oddly it tracked straight with hands off the wheel. Never hit anything nor did any driving that would have caused this. The car had this issue from new but due to the distance and drive time to the dealer and other time consuming life details made a regular visit tough to schedule. It turned out that the rear alignment (toe-in) was off by 21° with no apparent tread wear but was expertly handled under warranty.