02 MAX Rear end alignment

Can somebody please tell me if a dealer would be able to align my back wheels? They are out of alignment because I went off the road months back and my brother in law said he needed shims to align it. Can somebody please tell me if it is possible to align the rear wheels and make them straight again or is something else messed up that is causing them to be out of whack.

Thanks

Mark

Can somebody please help?

The only real way to know is to take it to an alignment shop and let them check it. The rear wheels do have some minor room for adjustment, but not a lot by any means. Having a shop check it out can cost you anywhere from $20~$60 dollars (call around and check first) but if you continue to ride around on unaligned wheels, the cost will be a new set of tires within 7 or 8,000 miles. Depending on how bad out of whack they are, your tires can get uneven and mis-worn pretty quick.

If you take it to an alignment shop they can either align it, put some sort of adjustment kit on it, or (worst case scenario) give you a print out of the alignment stats so that you can take it somewhere that can pull your suspension a little via a frame machine. Usually running off the road won't bend anything that bad. Running off in a ditch would, but if the car was simply ran off the road a bit it should adjust fine with no heavy repair.
Like I said the only way to know for sure it to take it to an alignment shop that can hook it up to a computer and check the specs. Then, go from there. In the meantime, keep a good look on your tires for uneven wear patterns.

you cant align the rear on maximas. Maximas only require 2 wheel alignment (front). every shop will tell you that

Let me clarify. There isn't any 'factory' adjustment in your rear wheels. But, if you take it to a reputable, experienced alignment shop they can make minor room for adjustments by reaming a few holes and trying their best to move things around a little. Only minor though we're talking fractions of an inch, but fractions of an inch can make a world of difference when your talking about alignment. If your car is too far off spec you will most likely have to pull it out with a frame machine. If you have to do that, do yourself a favor and make sure you go to a reputable place. An inexperienced person can screw up your suspension big time in a matter of seconds with ill advised pulls.

You're only other option is to find the source of the mis-alignment (i.e. whatever you bent when you ran off the road) and replace it. You probably don't want to go that route, because it won't be cheap; not even close, and you may still wind up having to have frame pulls anyway.

Here are the factory specs for your car. Any alignment shop should know them, but you can take them in for comparision when you go just in case.

REAR WHEEL ALIGNMENT

Camber, in degrees
-1.75 Minimum
-1.00 Nominal
-0.25 Maximum

Total toe-in distance, in millimeters
-3 Minimum
+1 Nominal
+5 Maximum

Total toe-in angle (left plus right), in degrees
-0.27 Minimum
+0.09 Nominal
+0.43 Maximum