Wheel Alignment Results

BennyC

BennyC

BennyC

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Joined
25 Sep 2006
Posts
14,440
Morning,

I had the wheel alignment checked on my 335i this morning as the fronts (Goodyear EF1A's) have worn more heavily on the outside. They're about 1-2mm off the outside marker with a good 3-4mm tread over the rest of the tyre. Driving it hard on roundabouts & corners would account for some of this of course. (I've had the car 4 months)

SppdTHj.jpg


Car geometry isn't my area of specialty so, despite googling, I'm unsure if any of the adjustments above would account for the uneven wear. Could anybody interpret these for me please?

I was told that wheel weighting would create a wobble and that alignment would be responsible for uneven wear.

Thanks in advance,

BennyC
 
ci_newman said:
Those numbers in red tell you what you need to know, your front toe is completely out of spec and your rear is a small way out.
Click to expand...

As I thought, front Toe was jaffed and left front camber was out too. I was just after confirmation that the numbers above would contribute to heavy outer edge wear. Thanks.

snips86x said:
Out of interest, how much would this cost? Is it relevant to the vehicle?
Click to expand...

This is the first alignment I've had done on a car. Some places seem to charge by adjustment, others charge a flat rate. I've seen £80-160 thrown around. It'll vary on the equipment used (Hunter, John Beam etc), the garage reputation and the car/how deep your pockets might look.
 
As has been marked in blue pen already, you had way to much toe in, this results in the front wheels effectively "snow ploughing" down the road and wearing the outside edges off.

A good setting would probably be have been closer to the +0,05 min threshhold (more feedback, making it less dull). :D

Wheel weighting info is horse ****
 
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Anything that goes on the alignment ramp is £80 an hour at my place.
Generally speaking you'll do most cars in the hour.
BMW's - Front track rods seize up
MR2's - Rear track rods seize up.
MX5's - Bolts seize in bushes
Those are the most prominent "ball aches" I can reel off the top of my head.
 
I think this thread perfectly illustrates the difference between 'want your trackin done bruv!' And a wheel alignment/geometry specialist. Prices and standards of work vary hugely.

There is a huge difference between the two, and unless the BMW isn't fully adjustable, for the best results left and right values corresponding should really be identical, or within a minute of a degree.

'In the green' is fine, but effectively the wheels aren't the same on opposite sides, leading to handling that isn't as good as it can be.
 
Conanius said:
I think this thread perfectly illustrates the difference between 'want your trackin done bruv!' And a wheel alignment/geometry specialist. Prices and standards of work vary hugely.

There is a huge difference between the two, and unless the BMW isn't fully adjustable, for the best results left and right values corresponding should really be identical, or within a minute of a degree.

'In the green' is fine, but effectively the wheels aren't the same on opposite sides, leading to handling that isn't as good as it can be.
Click to expand...

IMO it's only really worth paying specialist prices (wheels in motion, Center mavity etc) if you have a fully adjustable system, go in and say 'I want my car to handle like X and behave like Y, please bill me Z and make it so'
If you have a normal car and you just want OE handling and tyre wear then most places with the proper kit and someone trained to use it will do fine.
 
I had my old Mazda Xedos 9 miller 4 wheel tracked by two local outfits - Rubbish - handled like a tank - went to one like the above which cost me about 60 quid and it was like a race car - took my Focus there and it was now 90 quid - best bit of money spent and recommend it to anyone to have car tracked properly. Especially when tyres are over 100 quid a corner.

Dave
 
Sorry to hijack this thread but...

My car would pull to the left and the steering wheel is at the 1 o'clock position when going straight. Got wheel alignment done and the problem still exists but in the opposite direction!! It pulls to the right and the steering wheel is at 11 o'clock position when going straight!

Does this sound like a bad wheel alignment job or could the problem be something else? Tyre pressure are all fine and the tyres are new as well.

I did have one of my coil springs changed however, can that be causing the problem?
 
Paid £149 all in for a full alignment at a local Halliwell Jones dealership.

All other franchises local to me were over £300 for the same, the guy at Haliwell Jones said that they realised long ago nobody was going to pay that for a wheel alignment so they charge a flat fee of £149.

It's worth phoning around.

Most of my cars specs were out by a bit, it made quite a difference actually, it tramlines far less than it first did when I bought it.
 
I got mine done for £49 on a Hunter. Took something like 90 minutes, a lot was in the red.

The best was a quote from this guy:



 Test drive and report

 Inspect all suspension systems and components including dampers, springs, bushes and balljoints

 Pre load car with weight

 Tyre data check and adjust

 Ride height check

 Geometry check and adjust (optimise for A/B road use)

 Customer test drive check and handover

 Before and after tyre and ride height report

 Before and after geometry check and report


Labour cost


Road package 4.5hrs £ 262.50


Sub total £262.50

VAT £52.50

Total £315.00
 
:eek:
Mind you, unless you know what car it is that's a bit misleading, it could be a Caterwestfield thing.. in which case, every single adjustment (bar front toe) is raise car car up "wheels free" remove suspension arm mounting bolts, add shims, refit arm, lower vehicle, recalibrate alignment gear, recheck alignment, repeat until correct amount of shim, move to next component and repeat.
 
Right, onto what I cam in here to say...

Perfect example came in today.
A good looking lass in a 350z had previously been to protyre and had geo done.
Had new tyres fitted but 5000 miles later had completely wiped out one of the rear tyres.
Went back to said Protyre and had them check the alignment..
They told her it was OK.....
She had a printout from them with before and after.
After measurements -rear camber 2.3 degrees, rear toe toe out 45 mins !!!!!!!!!!!!
and that's OK is it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What I surmise actually happened was the fact they couldn't get the correct adjustment due to a couple of things, mainly the washers on the nut end of the bolt didn't follow the bolt head end, therefore making the adjuster essentially useless. (washers either forced/damaged or rusty or both.)
The bolt was in the "max adjustment" position so I guess they just thought "oh that's as far as it'll adjust then and that's it.

What they failed to realise is the way the arms are connected is that had they adjusted the camber arm (which also has the same issues with the washers/bolts) the toe would have come into roughly into spec...
So after a little abuse with a hammer, chisel and ratchet strap, I managed to pull the suspension arm into spec, taking the load off the washer which allowed me to tap it round with the chisel and orientate it correctly with it's bolt head counterpart and then do it up.
Viola, non working camber/toe bolts adjusted all into spec.
1,35 camber, +0,05 toe.
She now at least has setting that wont shag her second new tyre while she thinks about getting new bolts sorted to get it perfect...
Annoyingly the track control arm nut was also seized so that made getting the front end perfect a bit of an arse so she is having to come back, but hopefully with explanation of why, she now understands all that was involved and probably why the previous company washed their hands of it.
All for £80 too!
Although she will need it doing again if/when she gets the bolts replaced!
 
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