Hi guys. Just bought a used black 05 scion xb last saturday.

I had bought it from a small dealer and the carfax said that the car was clean title and no frame damage.

However when I had my tires changed yesterday, they did an alignment check at wheelworks. The front tires were within their set of standards. However the rears have pretty big issues or so the guy said. (I'm not sure if it really is. Please tell me if it is.) My car is stock suspension and stock height.

Rear Left:
Camber: -2.2° (Specified Range -1.4° -0.5°)
Toe: -1.33° (Specified Range 0.00° -0.33°)

Rear Right:
Camber: -1.1°
Toe: 0.43°

I was told by the guy who works there that they cannot fix it and that I was told that its a possible bent frame. Or a spindle, he said he's not sure what the scion xb have. My heart broke as soon as I heard bent frame considering I thought the car was accident free and free from frame damage.

So I have a couple of questions.

1. I've heard of camber kits that give +2 camber. I haven't seen a Toe kit. And if there is can they actually be combined to work together?

2. I plan to lower the car, I read somewhere that lowering the car makes the angles even worse. So if it is fixable with a camber kit or shims, would they end up being useless as soon as I lower the car?

3. I'm going to get it checked at a professional alignment shop and a body shop to get it checked but I would like to hear your takes on this. And what you guys would do if you were in my situation.

Thanks!
-Bryan


....soooo brokenhearted

 

take it to a different place and see if they get the same numbers... if you fix the camber it will bring the toe in closer...to an extent.. if you fix the toe it can affect the camber but not enough to get it in specs.. but your toe number is way out..

 

I gotta tell you your taking that way better then i would

With that said first thing first
I believe with carfax if the car is said to be accident free and is found out not to be they will buy the car back, give a refund to the effect of the car price etc.
2nd bring it back to the dealer you bought a car not a lemon see if you can make them fix it

Take the car to a good body shop they will be able to tell right away if the car was cracked up. Worst case see how much it would cost to have them check the body alignment to narrow down the issue and to give you some documentation to prove that the car is not 100%

Good Luck

 

Here's a link to our site where we have the specs listed for you. Just scroll down a bit once you click on the link. I hope this helps.

http://www.trdsparks.com/displaypart...1&parts_id=687

Ken

 

Hi

Did the 2 dealer alignment check and both were close, but my rear camber was in the red. So we took the wheel off, cleaned the drum checked to make sure it was on straight, and put a different wheel on. When checked again, it was within factory specs, in the green. I would do that and most alignment shop have a 30 day not charge warranty. I took advantage and had it rechecked, all is OK now.

 

go to a different place. if they're using a digital alignment machine, it may not be calibrated properly. that being said if it is messed up, that sucks. not everything gets reported on carfax, esp. if it were fixed outside of insurance.

 

UPDATE:

I did go to a different alignment shop and i was told that the car did indeed get into an accident. I was told that only an accident would cause the alignment to go that much off. I was told I had about an inch off on toe on the left rear size and that they would have to pull it to straighten it.

On the bright side, the price to actually do the pull wasn't as high as I thought it would be. I was quoted $450 to get all alignment fixed. I also asked advice if it would be better to do the lowering and changing shocks that I had planned to do before getting it aligned to do the pulls on the car.

As for the carfax guarantee, I looked it up and so far a lot of people have not gotten carfax to refund it. In two years, they only have reimbursed 9 cars. I can imagine how many complaints they probably have had. And as for the dealer, I doubt they will take back the car. I just bought the car from a small 2 man dealership. I highly doubt they would accept taking the car back. They offered a "cooling period" which was about $400 where in you can return the car for whatever reason you want in 48 hours. If i had bought the cooling period I would have wasted money since I found out about the alignment issue on the 3rd day I had the car.



Thanks for the advice everybody, I really appreciate it. Your replies actually made me feel better about my current situation.

 

My father is an attorney. What state are u in. I hate auto dealer rip offs.
Contact ur states attorney general office and file a complaint. It does not hurt.
I am sorry u have that problem.

 

many states have lemon laws. look into it.

 

I live in california. Do I really have grounds on returning the car? There was an "sold as is" thing that was in the paperworks apparently. But anyway, I will try to contact the attorney general office.

 

BBB is a good place too. at the very least, if they won't take back your car, you can always make sure no one else goes there in the future. you can always exercise your first amendment right and protest.