Does Alignment have to be done through Rivian?

[Myrna Pearce]

My tires had to be replaced after 10,000 km because they were completely worn down and deemed “undrivable” by Rivian itself.

On the Forum, many people posted that they had tire wear problems due to alignment issues. The vehicle was taken into Rivian Service for many issues one being the extreme tire wear. I don’t know why the tires wore out so fast but one of the reasons suggested on the Forum was malalignment. I was misguided when I thought Rivian would look for causes of the extreme tire wear. I wasn’t expecting to have to try to diagnose myself the cause of the problems. I thought that was the job of the technician.

Anyways, now I have purchased aftermarket wheels and tires. I looked on my service invoice and Rivian did not check the alignment. They just sold me more tires. I booked an alignment appointment with a local shop who specializes in this service. I called Rivian and they told me that only Rivian can do alignment work on a Rivian.

Is this true or am I being fed a line? I really don’t know who to trust anymore.

Myrna

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[UnsungZero_OldTimeAdMan]

While alignment can cause accelerated tire wear, so can other factors. Factors like driving style/habit—are you a smooth operator or do you accelerate/decelerate abruptly a lot? And/or, how often do you drive in Conserve/FWD and low ride heights.

Any alignment shop could do the alignment, if they have the info on what specs to align to. Rivian does not share this info. But people have posted their alignment data sheets in the past and you can find them through forum search.

 

[Myrna Pearce]

While alignment can cause accelerated tire wear, so can other factors. Factors like driving style/habit—are you a smooth operator or do you accelerate/decelerate abruptly a lot? And/or, how often do you drive in Conserve/FWD and low ride heights.

Any alignment shop could do the alignment, if they have the info on what specs to align to. Rivian does not share this info. But people have posted their alignment data sheets in the past and you can find them through forum search.

Does having the alignment done privately affect the warranty?

 

[Riviot]

Does having the alignment done privately affect the warranty?

How could they know unless you tell them?

Which wheels/tires did you have that wore so quickly? And was it evenly wearing across the pattern?

Check the below and let us know if it's any of the common abnormal wear. If it was even, it's just all the 0-96kmph testing you did ?️?

https://mechanicbase.com/tires/tire-wear-patterns/

 

[UnsungZero_OldTimeAdMan]

Does having the alignment done privately affect the warranty?

Of course it could. It’s not done by Rivian. If the work results in damage, and Rivian believes they have enough evidence, they will try to deny coverage.

Operative word is “could”.

 

[swflor]

Any shop with a NEWER Hunter machine already has access to the Rivian Specs in the software.

the 2 potential issues/hurdles/maybe doesn’t matter…

1) not all shops have the proper size and length wrench to reach the adjustment bolts. If they don’t, they will be taking off the underbody panels to reach them.

2) part of the Rivian alignment at the SC is a software simulation. They plug into OBD and through the computer they simulated different suspension settings while the alignment is being done. Does this matter if you only care to align for 1 mode? ?‍ Could this be replicated by manually adjusting ride height in the vehicle? I don’t think so….

Certified Body Shops can do alignments, but from what I hear, they are 3x what Rivian charges. (Rivian is $240-260)

 

[Electrified Outdoors]

There is a shop in VA that several owners have taken theirs to for alignment. They have access and are familiar with Rivian R1 vehicles. So yes alignment can be done at shops other than Rivian...but...one needs to do their due diligence to make sure the shop knows what they are doing.

The shop in VA quoted me about $230 so a tad less than the Rivian charge. I would still prefer to take it to Rivian for alignment ...but....service center appointments are at least 3 months wait right now for non critical or safety related items.

Any work not done by Rivian has the potential to affect warranty coverage. With that said the burden is on Rivian to prove that said 3rd party work caused the damage and its a case by case thing...meaning RIvian can't legally say you have no more warranty. They can just decline to cover a specific repair. If Rivian can prove a 3rd party shop caused damage then you would have a claim against said 3rd party shop to cover the repairs.

With all that said I would prefer Rivian if possible but I wouldn't have a problem taking it to a 3rd party who I know had the expertise and equipment to perform the work to a very high standard.

 

[R1TCntrlMaIzzy]

Like most, I prefer to have the service done at the SC, to avoid any possible warranty confusion, concerns. IMO the problems are the long wait times and when told, "it's within the specs", to find out the issue was not fixed, within a day or two.

Why is this post in the R2 forum?

 

[AYAYRON]

3rd parties will have a hard time doing the alignment as they may not know what height to put the truck in to do it, other than that it's a standard alignment *I asked this question to my mobile Rivian tech, they're encouraged by Corp to recommend you go to Rivian but, there's the possibility a 3rd party shop can do it correctly.

 

[Roads76]

My R1T doesn't feel like it's pulling right, however I notice my wheel is usually slightly turned left when going straight. And the lane sense always has me a couple feet to the left which gives me fantom dings, because it often thinks I'm crossing the center line when I'm fact I'm just right next to it (confirmed with rear view no mirror). When doing an alignment, would that address the calibration that is off on the lane sense?

 

[Mathme]

I'd go back to Rivian and ask them "The first set of tires were gone in 10k Kms. I brought the truck into you to check for excessive tire wear and I see here that you did not check the alignment. going through a set of tires in 10k KM is not normal wear and isn't at least checking the alignment part of the troubleshooting process?" "I'd like a report of the on my alignment and how it relates to specs."

If it's off (as I'd be surprised if it's not) then I'd ask for a set of replacement OEM tires.

 

[Riviaenz]

Does having the alignment done privately affect the warranty?

No.

Is yours a Gen1 or Gen2? The reason that matters is Gen1 are more complicated to do alignments on due to the complicated subframe it has vs. the new casted frame on Gen2. If alignment is off the extruded aluminum and welded subframe can be a factor and would require adjustments to the subframe positions that contributes to the alignment. SC has advised that an alignment (if straightforward) can be done in under 2hrs but if it involves tweaking the subframe it can take as long as 4hrs. That could be a (the only) reason for taking your Gen1 to a RSC rather than independent shop. If you know it’s not going to involve the subframe then anyone else will be able to do a standard 4 wheel alignment.

 

[ndmiller]

Can you use the tire wear pictures to determine if it's alignment using the pictures of your worn out tires and report back?

My tires are wearing out quickly as well, but evenly across the tread, not an alignment issue. The OEM 21 Pirelli's are junk, more specifically the only OEM tire made for 21" Rivians are junk.

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