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Alloy Gators and alignment problems

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DrComputer

TeslaClubLA President
Jan 29, 2009
1,222
725
Sherman Oaks, CA
I just wanted to make everyone aware of an issue I encountered with my car. I had Alloy Gators installed several months ago and loved the way they looked and helped protect my wheels from curb rashes. A few weeks ago I had to have my rear tires replaced because they were worn out. The LA service center installed two new tires, balanced all four wheels and did an alignment on the car. Ever since that was done my car started to handle very poorly at freeway speeds about 65mph. It was hard to keep it in a lane and it felt like a boat bobbing on the ocean when you would try to change lanes at high speeds or going around sweeping curves.

The service center picked up my car last week and re-ran the alignment check on it and said it was just fine. I tried it again after they gave it back to me and it was still just as bad. I then explained to problem to their top tech and he suspected that since they have to attach the alignment blocks over the Alloy Gators that it could be throwing off the machine. I told them to (permanently) remove the Alloy Gators and re-run the alignment. Like we suspected the car was completely out of alignment when done without the Allow Gators installed. It now drives like it did before and is perfectly stable at high speeds. They did offer to re-install the Gators again, but I said that if they are going to cause problems in the future with aligning the car I'd rather keep them off.

So this is just a word of caution to anyone with Alloy Gators installed. Do not try to have the alignment done with them on the car.
 
I appreciate your report, but this does not match my experience.

I have had Alloy Gators installed on my wheels and under very hard accelaration I experienced a severe tendancy to swerve right and left.

However, I don't attribute this to the Alloy Gators because when I took the car into the service center to correct the issue, they performed a four wheel alignment and the problem completely went away and has not returned.

I took the car into the center recently on a minor unrelated issue and I asked the manager how the tires looked for wear and he said that they looked very good and that he expected them to last past the 12,500 mile recommended maintenance point. (I currently have about 9000 miles.)

My wife has recently had a close encounter with a curb and seriously damaged the rim guard. Based on the my positive experiences with them I intend to replace the Alloy Gators with new ones.

Larry
 
Hmm, I've got the alloy gators and I'd hoped to keep them when I got new tires. Though, a couple are pretty chewed up so maybe I'll tell the shop to toss them and I'll put new ones on.
 
Seems pretty reasonable. Didn't think of that. Not sure how many service centers have spares, though.

Just wanted to add my experience. I had to have 2 tires replaced after they had some damage done to them and they removed my Alloy Gators from all rims. I was told in order to do the alignment properly, they HAVE to remove all Alloy Gators from the car. I am not sure about doing the alignment with spare tire they might have laying around. May be worth asking the next time. Did not think to ask them about this until I just read this post. Thanks for the thought.
 
Also adding my experience, my service center outright said they couldn't do the alignment because of the Alloy Gators. They also said they could not remove them for me (even permanently) because they could not do work on after market products. Ended up paying a tire shop $150 to remove the Gators.
 
I got rid of the Alloy Gators a few months ago. I hated the things. They look great when you first put them on but after some wear and tear they start to prove that they're made of cheap plastic. And they're a pain to install and remove.

I developed my own DIY solution, which I call RRBs (Rubber Rim Bumpers). Scraped a curb today with the left rear rim and not only was there no damage to the rim but the RRB shows very little damage. With the Alloy Gators they would be a go ugly mar and likely a piece hanging loose.

Not sure if these will present alignment issues like the Alloy Gators or any other rim protectors.
 
Not sure if these will present alignment issues like the Alloy Gators or any other rim protectors.

It depends on the equipment. Yours don't stick out the way the Gators do, so there's a good chance it won't be a problem. Also they don't interfere with the mating of the tire and the rim flange.
 
Bringing this thread back after a couple of years. Anyone else have experiences to share with Alloy Gators? My wife will be driving our new model 3 and she has curbed her current rims several times. Want to get her protection but if it is a problem for alignment equipment maybe better just to risk it.
 
I just wanted to make everyone aware of an issue I encountered with my car. I had Alloy Gators installed several months ago and loved the way they looked and helped protect my wheels from curb rashes. A few weeks ago I had to have my rear tires replaced because they were worn out. The LA service center installed two new tires, balanced all four wheels and did an alignment on the car. Ever since that was done my car started to handle very poorly at freeway speeds about 65mph. It was hard to keep it in a lane and it felt like a boat bobbing on the ocean when you would try to change lanes at high speeds or going around sweeping curves.

The service center picked up my car last week and re-ran the alignment check on it and said it was just fine. I tried it again after they gave it back to me and it was still just as bad. I then explained to problem to their top tech and he suspected that since they have to attach the alignment blocks over the Alloy Gators that it could be throwing off the machine. I told them to (permanently) remove the Alloy Gators and re-run the alignment. Like we suspected the car was completely out of alignment when done without the Allow Gators installed. It now drives like it did before and is perfectly stable at high speeds. They did offer to re-install the Gators again, but I said that if they are going to cause problems in the future with aligning the car I'd rather keep them off.

So this is just a word of caution to anyone with Alloy Gators installed. Do not try to have the alignment done with them on the car.
So, first off when they took the tires off it sounds like they did not put the alligators back on the new tires. That’s a problem.
I just wanted to make everyone aware of an issue I encountered with my car. I had Alloy Gators installed several months ago and loved the way they looked and helped protect my wheels from curb rashes. A few weeks ago I had to have my rear tires replaced because they were worn out. The LA service center installed two new tires, balanced all four wheels and did an alignment on the car. Ever since that was done my car started to handle very poorly at freeway speeds about 65mph. It was hard to keep it in a lane and it felt like a boat bobbing on the ocean when you would try to change lanes at high speeds or going around sweeping curves.

The service center picked up my car last week and re-ran the alignment check on it and said it was just fine. I tried it again after they gave it back to me and it was still just as bad. I then explained to problem to their top tech and he suspected that since they have to attach the alignment blocks over the Alloy Gators that it could be throwing off the machine. I told them to (permanently) remove the Alloy Gators and re-run the alignment. Like we suspected the car was completely out of alignment when done without the Allow Gators installed. It now drives like it did before and is perfectly stable at high speeds. They did offer to re-install the Gators again, but I said that if they are going to cause problems in the future with aligning the car I'd rather keep them off.

So this is just a word of caution to anyone with Alloy Gators installed. Do not try to have the alignment done with them on the car.


OK, so first off, it sounds like they didn’t put the gators back on the tires you had to have reinstalled. That is a potential balancing problem in itself. Two, and more importantly, is that the idiots were putting the alignment blocks over the gators which are a type of very strong nylon, not metal. That’s another problem. I’m sorry to say but it sounds like you need to get better mechanics by going elsewhere. What happened was your alignment was off in the first place; they got a false reading because they’re trying to get a reading through the gators (like reading the first page of a book without opening the cover) so the alignment wasn’t fixed. When they took the gators off (opened the book) they got the correct reading. They balanced everything. Wha-la, your car is suddenly in balance again. It’s not magic.

Oh, and by the way, never had a problem with the alloygators, both on my Tessy or bimmer besides having to replace one that my dearest kerbbed which MAGICALLY saved my wheel!!!