Question about wheel alignment

This morning I brought our Volvo XC90 to our mechanic to have new tires delivered by Tire Rack put on. Since the left front tire had significantly more wear on the outside edge, I asked him about checking the alignment while he's got the car. His alignment guy isn't in on Saturdays, so he recommended a couple other places to go nearby. He said it didn't make sense to put new rubber on and then drive without having the wheels aligned.

We dropped the car off at a tire shop that does aligning. Of course, they called around noon and said we needed new tires before we have the wheels aligned. I told them that we already had new tires, but wanted to get the wheels aligned first at the recommendation of our mechanic. This guy told me that if they align the wheels with the old worn rubber it will affect the alignment, because they will be aligning the wheels with tires that are uneven due to the tire wear. Since I have no idea how they align tires, that made a lot of sense.

I called my mechanic back and he said alignment is done by the wheel, and the tires will have no effect.

Who is correct? Is the tire dealer just trying to sell me tires?

Thanks for your answers. your mechanic is right. alignment has got to do with suspension and steering angles, not tires. bad alignment can cause tire wear but not the other way around.

sometimes cars need to be aligned in between getting new tires. doing that will help the tires thats on there last longer, and shops do that all the time without making customers buy new tires first.

your guy is allso right that its a good idea to do a alignment when u get new tires. the idea is to get evrything set right to get u the max mileage from the tires, as well as the best handling. if u want your guys shop to do the alignment it wont hurt nothing to wait a few days and get it done by some body u trust.Car Repair Talk's forum.