Alignment shop turned me away today because of tire size

[Crossfit Jeep]

I just had 35" tires put on my Jeep and the alignment shop stated they can't attach their sensors to larger wheels like this. Trying to make it sound like a big problem. What are you all doing when you put larger wheels on your trucks, how are you getting these properly aligned?

 

[smritte]

The most common way to hook up an alignment machine to your vehicle is with what’s called a rim clamp. The clamp has small flat blades that fit between the tire and rim bead.
Depending on your rim design and how tight your tires are to the rim bead, he may not be able to clamp on.
My bead lock rims are like this. I can actually clamp inside the bead ring to align it. This issue isn’t about tire size but about if the tire sticks out past the outer rim lip. This problem is not just off road tires. I’ve had it on some sports car tires as well.
You have a few options.
First, find a shop that has an adapter that bolts on to the hub. This will use a couple of lug nuts to hold it in place. These machines are rare. People dont like them because they take longer to hook up but dont pay any more.
The next option is what I hope you do, set it yourself. It’s actually very easy because you have a solid axle. All you have is a toe adjustment. If you lived near me I could show you how to do this in your driveway. It takes longer to drag the tools out of the garage then it does to align it.
If you modified the suspension and gave yourself an adjustable caster, that takes another 20 mins to set.

This is all based on me not actually seeing your tire/rim. I’m assuming the guy just wasn’t an idiot. Believe it or not “Modified vehicles” scare poorly trained techs.

I could draw up a few pictures on how to do this but I’m out of town all week. I have to try to remember to do it this weekend.
The tools needed are three bungee cords, a long piece of string, tools to adjust tie rod, two pieces of wood and one or two tape measures.

or you could try another shop.

 

[Todd C]

Go to an offroad specific shop

 

[Zoe]

How much should the charge be for oversized tire alignment?

 

[smritte]

Oversized tires aren't what makes it difficult as long as you can get the alignment heads mounted. If they cant get the heads mounted, your not doing an alignment.
Some guys flip out on modified vehicles because they don't really understand what their doing. There should be no extra charge for a lifted vehicle unless you put something in the way or you really screwed up the lift.
Lowered vehicles are a diffrent story.
The last I looked an alignment went from $100-$150.

 

[Walter K]

Oversized tires aren't what makes it difficult as long as you can get the alignment heads mounted. If they cant get the heads mounted, your not doing an alignment.
Some guys flip out on modified vehicles because they don't really understand what their doing. There should be no extra charge for a lifted vehicle unless you put something in the way or you really screwed up the lift.
Lowered vehicles are a diffrent story.
The last I looked an alignment went from $100-$150.

Yeah, their gear/sensors won’t fit on the larger tires, right? Is that what you are saying?

 

[smritte]

Its not the tire size but it is. There's two common types of sensor mount. One has four little flat plates that squeeze between the tire and rim. They grab the top and bottom edge's of the rim about 1/4 inch in. When you tighten it, it draws them together clamping the sensor mount. If thr tire lip sticks over the rum at all, its very difficult to place these securely.
The other type grabs the outside of the tire and clamps that way. I have never used them but the ones I've seen dont look like they could do a 35" tire. As I said I have seen, not used the second design.

Here's what the first design looks like. they fit into the clamp. The "lip" is what grabs the rim. If the tire stuck out, it couldn't clamp on properly. There would be four of these.