Wheel Alignment

[james.l]

I am hopefully going to be getting my coilovers fitted this weekend if i can find somewhere decent to get them put on...Just wanted to know if anyone knows of somewhere decent and reasonable cheap (coming up to xmas) where i can get my wheels/car re-aligned/tracked after fitment??? cheers

 

[DazWood]

any local garage should do that for you mate

 

[robreidmotors]

Specific Tyre Fitters possibly cheapest.

 

[bertrum]

Google search for "wheel alignment stonegate" maybe?

 

[james.l]

lol tried wheel alignement stonegate (east sussex) comes up with places in leeds. i was just wondering if there is anybody local to me that can reccommend anywhere? looking for 4 wheel really, unless i only need 2 wheel alignemnt after fitting coils?

 

[bertrum]

I was told when I had mine aligned that rear axle on the mk4 isn't adjustable?

 

[james.l]

does that mean that only a front wheel alignemtn need to be done?

 

[bertrum]

*awaits to be corrected on status of rear axle before confirming*

 

[james.l]

have just been told by f1 brighton that the rear is not ajustable anyway as it is on a bar.

 

[james.l]

answered my own question really

 

[james.l]

sounds liek you get what yo pay for with tracking from what people have said

 

[PJ_TDi]

sounds liek you get what yo pay for with tracking from what people have said

Thats right, i went to a VW specialist 3 times and they couldnt get it right. They claimed they had it spot on but i knew it wasnt.

I took it to seat, they nailed it first time.

Cost £30 at seat which is good. some garages charge a lot more.

 

[Aimez]

Let me know where you go as I'm not far from you and need to know this in a few months too!

Have you tried them do not know if they do it but worth a call maybe or is this too far away?
http://www.tcgarage.com/revo-technik-performance-tuning.html (no experience of this garage by the way!)

 

[Altech]

The camber at the rear can be altered by using camber shims.

Obviously the tracking can quite easily be altered at the front by using the track rod ends. Camber and Castor can only be altered slightly by using the bolt slack in certain suspension components. This is a very specialised job and very few alignment places will do it.

Most places will tell you that it's not adjustable due to the fact that it's quite a difficult job or they don't know how to do it!

 

[RUM4MO]

Sigh, yes the rear suspension can not be adjusted (other than fit aftermarket wedged shims to adjust camber), but the point is, the front is adjustable and needs to to set up wrt the position of the rear suspension. That is the reason why you need four wheel re-alignment - ie to move the front across, if necessary to "centre" on the rear suspension! Most cars only have one "end" adjustable - but still need four wheel re-alignment. Just ask yourself, you've spent good money on suspension modifications to make the car "drive" better - then yuo'll not bother to make sure that the car runs true - so what was the point of changing anything - there is no magic in fitting new parts unless you allow them to work properly - is there?

You should be looking for somewhere like an indep VAG specialist that knows about these cars and has a proper four wheel re-alignment jig - and knows how to use it - if not walk away and try at another one - its your money after all that is paying for this work - oh and yes avoid VAG dealers so in general they don't seem to want to do a proper job and probably don't have the info to set up lowered cars.

 

[james.l]

aimez, sure thing, will let you know where i find and if i rate them or now.

 

[Nick_J]

Quite a few tyre garages will do the "alignment" for about £30, but they only align the toe.

The more expensive option, I paid £80, from a more specialised garage is to check the toe, camber, thrust & caster.
I chose this option due to lowering my car, so I knew the camber would be out, the toe was ridiculous anyway as the inside edges wore out too quickly and thought might as well pay for thrust and caster as well. Im not too sure how adjustable the Ibiza suspension is, but I had a print out (lost it know though) of before and after checks which shows a difference.

Oh, it improved the tyre wear by miles, nice even wear acorss the surface

Hope this helps!