Four Wheel Alignment Necessary?

Clarkey said:
Over £100 for alignment holy ****. Last time I paid £30 for a full setup, everything except the front camber. Most I ever paid was £50, did take ages though as the top mounts are a bit of a faff and you need to keep jacking the car up and down, moving the back and forth and using a bit of guesswork. Without this, it takes 20 minutes tops I don't know how it could take 2 hours that is madness.
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Ahh, the difference between 'want yer trackin done mate' and getting it actually done properly so each value is identical side to side (within minutes of a degree)

'All in the green' isn't getting alignment done, much as Turtle wax 'wash n wax' isn't detailing your car.
 
Conanius said:
Ahh, the difference between 'want yer trackin done mate' and getting it actually done properly so each value is identical side to side (within minutes of a degree)

'All in the green' isn't getting alignment done, much as Turtle wax 'wash n wax' isn't detailing your car.
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Indeed, I take all of my cars to A Line - the same place as clarkey - for this reason. They get the lot done, to within a very very small tolerance, go through the whole process with you if you're interested and there's lashings of free coffee to boot.

:D
 
shoes said:
If the car feels 'fine' there is no abnormal wear on the tyres then chances are you'll pay a tenner to find out all is well, or at least within tolerance. If the alignment is out then your new shiny runflats may get eaten quicker than you'd hoped, costing you more than the 30-40 the alignment will have cost you.
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I spoke to the chap at WiM today, and the check costs £30+VAT, and the alignment is over £100. Ouch!

Think I'm going to hunt down somewhere a bit cheaper.
 
dangermouse425 said:
Think I'm going to hunt down somewhere a bit cheaper.
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Not sure if you saw my previous post but Elite Wheels and Tyres based in Reading have a Hunter machine so should be close to you. Was impressed with what they did. If you print a voucher from the Alignmycar website you get 10% off too.
 
aMb said:
Not sure if you saw my previous post but Elite Wheels and Tyres based in Reading have a Hunter machine so should be close to you. Was impressed with what they did. If you print a voucher from the Alignmycar website you get 10% off too.
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Interesting, hadn't come across them before, and they also do Alloy refurbs...
 
crinkleshoes said:
Alignment has nothing to do with replacing tyres...

However, you could benefit from a proper geometry setup - as you live in reading, Wheels in Motion are quite close to you... highly recommended - they really know what they're doing :)
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Second this :)
 
:)
dangermouse425 said:
I spoke to the chap at WiM today, and the check costs £30+VAT, and the alignment is over £100. Ouch!

Think I'm going to hunt down somewhere a bit cheaper.
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Ouch indeed. For the cost of the equipment, overheads and their skills/experience it's most likely a fair price, however others just as good also with hunter machines will do it for a lot less.

I imagine a trip to dudley would be completely out of the question for wheel alignment? (although I travel 40 miles to have it done at A Line).
 
aMb said:
Not sure if you saw my previous post but Elite Wheels and Tyres based in Reading have a Hunter machine so should be close to you. Was impressed with what they did. If you print a voucher from the Alignmycar website you get 10% off too.
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Cheers, buddy, I'll check them out.

shoes said:
I imagine a trip to dudley would be completely out of the question for wheel alignment? (although I travel 40 miles to have it done at A Line).
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I'm afraid 2 hours is a bit of a trek, all I want to do is get the alignment checked first.
 
WIM is a trek from Reading.

I know as I spent £1200 there :( damn seized bushes everywhere combined with rediculously priced Honda parts
 
Def not a typo there? :-S

Ive seen the work carried out when they align these things and there is no way I could do that without their rig. I can't see how it can be done cheaply
 
Part and parcel of expensive cars I guess (or just not bother, let it all wear out and drive a piece of crap like so many people do)
 
I had no idea it would be that much and I was away which didn't help.

Oh well it handles ok now :p shame the seized bushes can only really be replaced with poly ones which have their own issues. My attitude to running cars is probably a mix of doing things properly and being frugal so only fixing things that need doing.

The car certainly isn't expensive
 
Matt82 said:
Part and parcel of expensive cars I guess (or just not bother, let it all wear out and drive a piece of crap like so many people do)
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Agreed, but surely there's not much point getting a £120 super-duper geometrytastic alignment by a race-tweaking specialist, someone like WiM, when you could get a good "standard" alignment job at £60 by an indie wheel specialist type place?

I'm not sure what the 100% difference in price gains me whilst on standard UK roads, not a track?
 
I think you pay for the settings in some cases too. Anyone can set the car to a given number, it's knowing the best numbers and tweaking it for the individual car /driver is where they make the difference.

If you want the BMW numbers then go to Elite, I might go there to get mine checked as WIM is miles away
 
Simon said:
WIM is a trek from Reading.

I know as I spent £1200 there :( damn seized bushes everywhere combined with rediculously priced Honda parts
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I take it you mean the one in Chesham ? I live in Chesham and Reading isnt that far away ?
 
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