I have a ’97 R and I absolutely love the thing. My only beef is that the alignment goes out far too quickly. When the alignment is dialed in just right the car handles like a dream, very predictable and makes me feel like I’m not driving a 3400 pound 4 door sedan. Now, the car is not pulling one way or the other it just wags its tail a little too much for my liking which in turn is causing a reduction in handling.

I’ve had alignment work done several times at two different local dealers $90 - $130 a pop and more recently at a local Merchants Tire ($59) that the independent shop that I use recommended. The car has probably been aligned at least six times in the two years that I’ve owned it. Each time, whether done at the dealer or Merchants, the car comes back great, the tail is right were it should be, and I’m back in heaven. This feeling will last sometimes a couple of weeks or maybe even several months. But then it’s back to the happy dog syndrome.

I’m not bouncing off of the local potholes but the washboard roads are pretty rough in Northern VA. Is this something that I’m going to have to live with or do I need to “realign” it monthly? Is something broken/worn or do they need to tighten things up a little more?

Additional info:

Do I check the tire pressure (I run 36 PSI cold) frequently with a quality dial gauge and top them off while cold if necessary. This problem existed with the original Pirelli’s and with my replacement Bridgestone RE730. The tires get balanced and rotated about every 5000 miles. And remember the car comes back “perfect” after the work is done.

Any thoughts or insight would be greatly appreciated.