melwuest

The dealership says I should get an alignment every 15K. I don't see it listed anywhere in the scheduled maintenance list. I don't feel any pull but wondering if he's right?

Rjim

Sounds like the personal opinion of whoever you talked to at the dealership. Alignment is not part of Audi scheduled maintenance or of any other car I have owned. If you have abnormal tire wear or the car has been in an accident, then yes get an alignment.

Wires

I'm with Rjim:
Unless it's pulling or you are getting uneven tire wear (tread on the inside or outside wearing faster than the middle), I wouldn't waste my money. Brutal honesty: if it was important to get done every 15k, it would be on the scheduled maintenance.

RingsMk2

Just did 20k service, had a slight pull to the right I informed them about and had them correct and align the vehicle. Not a mandatory service, just pay attention to tire wear and if it pulls then you know it needs to be corrected.
FYI, if you have the Adaptive chassis with 4 wheel steering there are 2 options based on the amount of correction they need to do. The cheaper alignment is under $200. The other more expensive alignment involves some calibration and further adjustment to the tune of over $500.

Wires

You typically only hit a point when an alignment is needed if you tweak a wheel in a bad pothole, or bump a raised curb with the wheels turned.

I had my car at an indy shop once to get an alignment (backing out of a parking lot, snagged that walkway that extended the length of the parking stall). Guy in the shop actually asked "why do you THINK you need an alignment?" I was a bit taken back by the comment and he then explained that typically when customers think the car is out of alignment, it's actually something worn out or broken.

In my case, car drove perfectly straight, but there was extra tire noise. Eventually it scrubbed off the outer 1/4 of the tire tread since it was tweaked in and dragging.

If it drives straight, and tread wear is even on the front tires, save the cash (BTW, buying a cheap tread depth indicator is worth it to check -- couple of bucks).

BigKutta

There is no need for an alignment ever! Unless you see or feel something abnormal. The dealer is trying to extract the extra revenue from you. There have been some vehicles where I have never gotten an alignment, such as my 2 other cars currently, and they drive perfectly straight and no pulling

Wires

If you really want to call the bluff, you do like I did in an electronics shop when they wouldn't back down with the high pressure extended warranty plug. Looked him in the eye and said: "So what you are telling me is this is a POS, so I need the warranty, because its guaranteed to break?" Try that line and watch the back pedalling begin.

Eppieguy