Is Firestone’s Lifetime Alignment worth it?

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.

For a more in-depth read what Caster, Camber, Toe, thrust angle, and etc. means, I found this resource from Valley of Hastings helpful.

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.