abaitedcat

What should I do about the caster? The shop says it needs to be grinded down or something? Could these specs cause the car to pull?

Sasnuke

The difference in front camber and caster from side to side is only 0.2 degrees. I wouldn't bother trying to make any adjustments there...the reality is you won't notice a difference.
The way the camber and caster are offset on the front, the vehicle front should drive straight down the road.
Toyota allows for a 0.5 degree difference from side to side...you're nowhere near that.

Now...the rear camber is a different story.
The difference in camber is 0.6 degrees, so if your vehicle is pulling, it would be pulling to the right.
Essentially the rear is actually drifting to the left, which makes the front drift to the right, as the vehicle attempts to go straight down the road...basically it's dogtracking.
Once the rear camber is corrected, then the rear toe will need to be adjusted, followed by the front toe.

Since the rear camber has no adjustment, you will need to look at why it's off (i.e. an accident), or simply get some SPC arms for the rear so the camber can be adjusted.

Sasnuke

Also, a few concerns with the alignment printout i just noted.

It says your car is a 2015 IS250...but doesn't indicate if it's RWD or AWD, or what size OEM wheels the vehicle should have.
All these factor in to make sure the measurements are being compared against the proper factory spec.
There are no alignment specs for a 2015 IS250...cause they're specs for a 2015 IS250 AWD, and RWD, and 17 inch rims, and 18 inch rims.

Also, if the alignment tech thinks the issue is with the front caster...yikes!
You can see plain as day the issue is starting in the rear.
Until the rear camber is corrected, there's no point addressing anything else...and reality is there is no other issue.

E46CT

I see nothing wrong with your alignment. everything is green where it should be. nothing in there would cause pulling. drive the car and enjoy. nothing to see here or worry about.

abaitedcat

It's a rwd f sport.

they wanted to grind my front camber on one side to see if it would stop pulling. Even with these specs in green, I feel like the steering wheel is not straight.
which was why I took it in for an alignment in the first place. Did I waste my money?

Sasnuke

Sorry chum...everything in the green doesn't mean the vehicle will drive straight...or the steering wheel is straight.

Sasnuke

First of all, grinding is not a solution to anything. Second of all, anything you do in the front is just fudging a correction to the issue in the rear.
My suggestion, take it somewhere where they know what they're doing and see what needs to get the back corrected first.
Realistically something may have gotten bent ever so slightly in the rear, probably the right side, maybe a bad pothole.
You could try to replace a part or two to fix it, or just get some adjustable arms and get the alignment set spot on in the rear.

Also...the steering wheel being straight when the vehicle drives straight is a function of the front toe.
If the vehicle is pulling and the steering is off center, then there is more to correct than just the front toe.

abaitedcat

The first place I did it was a complete joke. The car pulled even more. So I took it to the Lexus dealership and the alignment that was done an hour earlier was not good. Here are the new specs. Were the old specs enough for the car to pull? It feels a lot straighter now but I'm not 100% sure. It's definitely an improvement. Dealership said the front caster would be 600 each to set but they said it's ok for now.

387

OP, if your car is still pulling after that alignment printout, I would look into the tires. What tires are they, how much tread and how are they wearing?

Sasnuke

Those alignment specs look proper.
Based on the numbers now the car should drive straight as an arrow.
Even though the caster is technically out of the spec range, the fact is it's even side to side....therefore it will have zero effect on it pulling.
The caster isn't actually adjustable on these cars, to adjust it you replace the front lower control arms.
Lexus makes a few different control arms with a different amount of caster built into each one.
I would agree with the dealer to leave the caster alone, since it's even. If one side was out of whack, then I would say change the one arm to make it match the other side.

As suggested, I would start to check tires now. Make sure pressures are good and even all around.
Check for any abnormal wear.
Of course all these things should have been checked by the dealer before they did the alignment. No point aligning a vehicle with oddly worn tires.
But honestly I would drive it for a while before you touch anything else on it. Just give yourself a chance to settle into the new adjustments.

abaitedcat

Thank you so much for your help.
based off of the numbers prior to adjustment after the first sheet, would that result in the uneven steering wheel? I havent found a perfectly smooth road yet but it definitely feels better than after the first mom and pop alignment place. They knew nothing about these cars... even suggesting that I rotate the tires lol. Surprising how they can stay in business for 20 years.

all of the roads around here slope to the right , so my steering wheel should also be turned slightly right too, correct? If I attempt to straighten it out I will veer left right away. Is this normal?

Sasnuke

Hard to say about the uneven steering wheel.
The front toe should be set with the steering wheel locked in the straight ahead position.
If the steering wheel was off center when the toe was adjusted, the numbers would look good on the printout, but the steering would be off center, even if the vehicle drove straight.
Toe doesn't effect the vehicle in terms of it pulling...that can be caused by camber and/or caster.
Based on the clear difference between the two alignment printouts, I wouldn't even look at the first one as being a legit reading.

Although, the suggestion to rotate the tires was a bad one if they thought the vehicle had a tire pull. Rotating them would help to confirm or eliminate a tire pull.

I guess the real question is, what's the issue with the vehicle?
Is the steering wheel off center? Or does the vehicle pull in a direction no matter if the steering wheel is straight or not?

abaitedcat

The problem with the vehicle is that I haven't been able to find any flat roads. Even the freeways here in Southern California are slanted to the right and it's very apparent because the cars in front of me look like they are leaning to the right. Therefore, if I straighten my steering wheel, my car will go to the left right away. This is why I initially brought it in for an alignment this morning to begin with. That didn't fix the problem, so I went to the dealership who did a better job. So in the end, it might just be me or the roads according to the second alignment specs done by the dealership.
I also had a vibration at high speeds and that was fixed with a tiring balancing.
The wheel seems to be straight along with the odometer. Right now as I'm driving on the roads slanted to the right, the odomter is clearly not straight as the car is not straight.
The car doesn't pull if I keep the wheel to the right.

So my question is, if the roads are slanted right, does that mean that my steering wheel should also go a little bit to the right? Because that's how it is and it's going very straight if the steering wheel is titled a little bit to the right on a road that leans right.

Sasnuke

Your best bet to see if the wheel is straight and the vehicle is driving straight is to drive down the center of a side street as opposed to the highway.
As an example, highways, at least around me, have a natural crown built into them...meaning that to allow rain water to drain away and not pool all over the highway, the road is made to slant from the middle to the curb. And by middle i mean the middle of the entire highway, not just the direction you're travelling in. There's also sections of the highway where the storm drain is in the center, so the crown would be different in this case.
Inevitably this means that if you're driving in the left lane at speed, you may be holding the steering a little to the left as the vehicle will naturally want to drift to the right...the direction rain water would drain.
On city streets, especially side streets where it's only one lane in each direction, you can drive down the literal center of the road so the crown is under the middle of the vehicle.
This way the vehicle won't pull/drift in either direction and the steering wheel should be straight.
Obviously do this when there is no other traffic on the road.

abaitedcat

I had my friend drive the car and he said that it was ok. But to me, the steering wheel is still a bit off centered to the right like half an inch or less but it still feels weird..

I also noticed that my wheel and the lexus logo and the f sport is lined up with my steering column and dash, but even my steering column and dash seem to be off centered to the right. It seems like my turn signals are higher than my windshield wiper ***..are both supposed to be even with each other? How can I truly tell if it's me or the wheel who needs to be straightened.?



first pic is what it takes for the car to drive straight... a slight right.
second pic is what I think straight should be, but then it doesnt line up with the steering column