Corolla 2005 Tyre Alignment issues

Question

I have owned Toyota Corolla 2005 since the last 3 years. The previous owner had changed the original tire rim to size 215/55R17 91W. I bought a new set of tires(Primewell PZ900) 2 years back and got the alignment done, everything went fine. But my rear tires wore out in only 13000 miles (Guaranteed to last 40,000 miles).

I got the same tire again and was trying to get the wheels aligned, but the tire shop says that they cannot align my rear wheels. They say, a shim(K6660-3) would need to be installed on both of my rear tires and have quoted me 225$ for the shim work.

I am confused about the following: - Shouldn't the same set of tires align well if they aligned well last time ? - Should I try to get it aligned again ? I have a 3-year alignment contract. - How bad is the rear wheel alignment ? - If the shim is absolutely necessary, can't I get the work done only on the left rear ? - Is 225$ fair for the work at hand ? Is there an alternative ?

Any suggestions would be of great help !

Answer 1

Price sounds reasonable to me. Alignment definitely has an issue on that left rear corner. I can't tell across the Internet if it really needs shims, but it doesn't seem unreasonable. Many cars have very limited adjustments on the rear. They're not supposed to move much back there. Any change there is typically due to damage (hitting a curb or even a large pothole).