Alignment front caster angle is out of spec?

LURCH-SD

MEMBER
2022 KIA RIO
2WD
AUTOMATIC
39,444 MILES

Good day - I just had new tires put on yesterday at Costco and took the car in yesterday for an alignment at a Kia dealership. The mechanic says that the right front caster angle is out of spec at 4.6 which appears to be shown as a minimum value in the range. They asked me if the car was in an accident, which it wasn’t. They stated on the paperwork -“Tech has performed alignment. Unable to get alignment straight due to caster interfering with possibly damage. Recommend new struts.” Can you please help me with advice on what to do? The conversation with the service manager made me question that I needed new struts because the sales pressure was high and they couldn’t definitively say that there was damage; just speculated it was potholes. They wanted an answer to do the work in 10 minutes so they could order the struts and complete the work asap. The price also kept changing from $1000, up to $1,200 and then down to $800 and then back up if I didn’t authorize asap. They also said they would provide a price quote but never did, except to talk numbers mentioned above. Thank you.

Sunday, December 14th, 2025 AT 9:27 AM

1 Reply

STEVE W.

MECHANIC
15,314 POSTS

These are the current alignment specs for that vehicle It shows caster at 5.12 degrees plus or minus one half of a degree, so 4.62 to 5.62. If you are at 4.6 then it's fine as it. Also caster has very little to do with tire wear, it is basically the angle the vertical line through the steering components tilts back from 90 degrees. Personally I try to set the caster at the minimum on my vehicles that are street driven. It gives you more steering response and decreases steering effort. It doesn't alter tire wear unless you are really driving the car hard, like slalom racing it. Now if your car has never been hit and there is no physical damage to the struts or suspension there is this from the service information - "Camber and Caster are pre-set at the factory, so they do not need to be adjusted. If the camber and caster are not within the standard value, replace or repair the damaged parts and then inspect again." IE- There are no adjustments that can be made without altering parts, adding shims or bending suspension items. What was the other side? Did they give you the print out? If so post those numbers or take a picture of the sheet and post it. For instance if they showed that they adjusted the toe more on the right side than the left (and the steering wheel is actually straight) then it's possible that a large pothole or a curb hit could have bent the suspension, but it's doubtful.

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