Pay for a Firestone lifetime alignment once and for as long as you own your vehicle, you can get as many alignments as you need.
Update 12/21/2022- $20 off coupon linked here. There may be a larger New Years deal so, watch out for that.
Firestone sells Lifetime alignments for $200. Several times a year, they’ll throw out some $20 coupons to get down to $160. On New Year’s (yes, they’re often open) that price might drop to $150 or lower depending on the coupon you find. This one from 2013 knocked $80 off. The one below, only valid on Jan 1, 2022, knocked off $50. But is a lifetime alignment from Firestone worth it?
What is an alignment and when do I need one?
Do your tires wear uneven?
Does your car veer to the left or right when you let go of the steering wheel?
Is your steering wheel off by over 20 degrees even though you’re driving straight?
If you answered yes to any or more than one of the above, you might need an alignment.
The basic alignment will adjust your camber (angle of the wheel viewed from the front,) caster (the angle of the steering pivot,) and toe-in (difference in distance between the front of the tires and the back.) Besides these main three, Firestone also checks,
- Thrust Angle
- Front and rear steering
- Suspension system
- Tire wear and tire condition
- Tire air pressure
There are also two types of main alignments. The standard alignment which only aligns the front two wheels to factory specs, as described above, and, a four-wheel alignment, which first aligns/trues the rear wheels, then aligns the front wheels.
While front and rear wheel drive cars typically had little rear adjustability in the past, today’s modern cars, from economy compact to full-size luxury, have adjustment points out back which means four-wheel alignments are necessary.
There is no hard or fast rule when to get an alignment, but manufacturers like Honda and Toyota recommend getting a wheel alignment every two years.
If you drive a lot, mechanics may tell you to check every 15K/20K miles.
Keeping that in mind and depending on how much you drive, if you own your car since new, you can expect to get an alignment between 5-10 times or more.
If you check tire wear yourself and don’t experience alignment issues, you may only get an alignment once or twice.
You need not get an alignment if you get new tires.
Also, search for “Firestone Alignments” on YouTube. You’ll come across helpful videos like this one.
Costs
A standard alignment at Firestone will run you $80 before taxes, be it just the front two wheels aligned or a full four-wheel alignment. So, if you think you’re going to need at least two alignments for the life of your vehicle, a lifetime alignment pays for itself.
Firestone is also not the cheapest place. You can typically find a two-wheel alignment locally for $50 or less. While they typically have older equipment, they may have top-notch mechanics that’ll align your suspension just as good, if not better than Firestone.
So, is a lifetime Firestone alignment service worth it?
It depends.
According to Firestone lifetime means,
Drivers receive alignments free of charge every 6 months or 6,000 miles for as long as they own the vehicle.
The real determining factors are if you’re unmodified and the Firestone location where you’re going to buy your lifetime alignment.
While some locations offering a Firestone lifetime alignment might be lenient if you’ve modified your OEM suspension, typically, if you’re raised or lowered from factory specs, they may refuse to sell you a lifetime alignment.
Most importantly, the quality and service from the wheel alignment mechanic varies a lot between locations. You will need to do your research on Yelp, Google Reviews, and your local city’s Facebook group searching for the keywords “Lifetime alignment” on that specific Firestone and asking, “What’s everyone experience with lifetime alignments at X location?” on Facebook groups.
If there’s a bunch of one-star reviews connected to honoring lifetime alignments or people have a lot of critical reviews about that Firestone, either steer clear of the lifetime alignment deal or shop for an alignment elsewhere.
But, if you find a good Firestone with glowing reviews and few complaints about their alignment services and you think you’ll need two or more alignments for the life of your vehicle, the lifetime alignment deal is worth it since the deal will pay for itself.
Come across a $20 off coupon, like the one above from Slickdeals, or wait for New Years for their $80 off coupon, and, at a good Firestone location, a lifetime alignment is a no brainer.
But, if you’re cheap and think you may never need more than one alignment for as long as you own your vehicle or the Firestones are not all that great around you, the lifetime Firestone alignment is not worth it.
This is false alot of front wheel cars do have adjustments in rear.. second firestones price does not differ from 2 wheel to 4 wheel alignments it’s always unless non adjustable a 4 wheel alignment
You’re right. Corrected. Thanks, Al! =)
I took my car to firestone for front end aligment? Dont know what they did? Had to take it back was without it 3 days? It was worse than it was ?? Had to tke it somewhere else they fixed it! Charged less than firestone? ?? Never again!
This may be the worst written comment I’ve ever seen outside of a social media page. Are you asking a question in any one these statements? (SPOILER ALERT: the answer to my actual question is no)
Does anyone know if Firestone will offer the New Years Lifetime Coupon this year (Jan 1 2021)? I know that there is going to be a $30 off coupon for Black Friday but I wouldn’t mind waiting until January if I can get a better price.
I have always had the lifetime alignment with Firestone on all of my cars. You are so correct when you stated the quality of the mechanics vary. They used to be fantastic there but recently I’ve had a lot of problems. The two biggest being-I left and my very large Toyota Sequoia started wobbling like crazy. I had to pull over and we realized they had not tightened the bolts down at all and the whole wheel was about to come off. The next thing was after having some axel housing issues. We were called and told we had to replace all of our axels in our Subaru Forester and he would get us a price. He never called back-had our car there. They told us he left sick for a couple of days so we waited. He never called us back after we left 4-5 messages so we went and got our car and took it to Subaru and they told us he was straight up scamming us. They were not even leaking at all anywhere and it wasn’t that at all, it was a simple alignment issue that would have been free. We are avoiding them for the time being until they can get better guys working there. Super sad because they used to be great!
I have lifetime alignment, but was told upon purchase that I’d have to buy 2 alignments, because I have a front and a back? was I scammed?
That doesn’t sound right. An alignment covers all four wheels. Please call their Customer Retention toll–free line at 800–440–4167 and let them know the details. In addition, inquire about your experience on your local Facebook group as someone might’ve had a similar experience. Let me know how it goes.
I bought the lifetime allignment for my civic. My civic had a recall on the control arms. I replaced the control arms and because there is another adjustment to make Firestone will not honor their lifetime alignment and wants to charge me for a regular allignment although I paid for the lifetime allignment and even bought new tires they talked me into. I don’t have job and can’t afford to be safe on the road now.
Shouldnt Honda have done the re alignment if it was a recall? Seems crazy the would recall/replace part not to spec?
Shouldnt Honda have done the re alignment if it was a recall? Seems crazy the would recall/replace part not to spec?
There is a $20 off coupon now online
Stop buying foreign an get better built vehicles for America’s rds. Facts.