Car veering off to the right

Soldato
Joined
14 Aug 2004
Posts
2,992
Hi all. I hit a curb yesterday when parking and there was a slight squeak. It wasn't a hard hit but I knew something was going to go wrong. When driving home yesterday, I noticed that my car (2001 Mazda 626) was veering off to the right. I checked with my dad and he said that I probably need my wheels balanced but I'm not sure as I've just rang Kwik-Fit and they said that it wouldn't be that if it was veering to the right.

Would anyone have a clue what this could be?
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
14,662
You're alignment is out.

Use Align My Car to find your nearest garage with a Hunter machine, it's more accurate that a traditional tracking fix.

They should give you before and after readouts of the geometry of the car so you can see how bad it was.
 
Associate
Joined
23 Sep 2006
Posts
2,399
Location
Wiltshire
How much (approx) does it cost to get tracking sorted? Is it worth doing even if nothing seems to be obviously 'wrong'.

It will cost £20-30 and it's generally a good idea to get it done once a year or so, the amount of potholes and speed bumps you hit will put the tracking out and you don't want to unevenly wear your tyres.
 
Associate
Joined
19 Jan 2010
Posts
582
Location
127.0.0.1
Whether or not they still do it, or even if it's advised on these forums. I used to take my car to one of the Motosave (now Wilko Motosave) as they offered tracking for about £20 and then a free checkup after a month. You would be suprised what could happen in a month on our roads!
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
14,662
Getting the geometry done on a Hunter rather than just the normal tracking is a bit more expensive, £45–£55, but IMO it's well worth doing.
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
14,662
Should probably make it clear with the Hunter, the price can vary depending on how much needs doing.

The place I went to worked as follows:

They put it on the rig and get a readout about how mis-aligned everything is.

At this stage, if it's within the normal limits, they take it off the rig and don't charge.

If the front wheels need correcting then it's about £50, if the rears need doing as well then it's almost twice the price.

If you use AlignMyCar (linked above) you can get a 5% discount which is good.

I got my wheels balanced at the same time and the guy gave me 5% discount on the total, rather than just the alignment so for a full realignment and all four wheels balanced I paid £99.
 
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