Lemster

I took my classic to have its tracking checked last week as it felt like it was pulling to the left a little too much. So the local garage got the lasers on the front wheels and re-aligned them.

An hour later a few Scooby owner he said that they need to have 4 wheel alignment done. Is this correct? I have never heard of this before, but then I've never had a AWD before, is this common with AWD cars?

paulwrxppp

iTrader: (1)

i had 4 wheel alignment done at powerstation last Saturday, the difference is very marked, would recommend it.

jimmyv

Yep had mine done on the classic, felt like a new car afterwards, one of the most octs effective mods to do i think.

Turbo2

Some people say you need it doing every year, but that seem's a bit OTT to me. I guess it depends on the mileage and kind of driving you do in a year. On recommendation I had mine done at TSL soon after buying it. I don't really know if it made much difference to the "feel" of the car, but they certainly made some adjustments and I was really just hoping to cure some uneven tyre wear issues. I think it has helped this, but it is a bit too early to be sure. Everyone on here seems to think it's an essential and effective part of maintenance, so I bow to their greater experience. It doesn't cost the earth after all.

gubby

I got quoted £130. Would that be about right?

bugeyeandy

My local tyre centre charges £30
I think Powerstation have some hi-tech setup and they only charge £80.
£130 seems too much to me.

172sport

iTrader: (6)

Price is very much dependent on how seized things are IMHO.
I had all mine set up for £40 but nothing was seized.

help2003

iTrader: (1)

got mine done for £38 all in, whats the point in tracking the front 2 to match the alignment of the rear 2 if they are out,

It will drive alot better, after you get it done,

PeeVee

iTrader: (1)

Imho £80 and upwards is what you need to be paying for a proper geometry set up on a scooby, carried out with the proper computerized equipment by a competent person.

The company's who offer what seems to be a bargain price for this are almost certainly only adjusting front/rear tracking & sometimes only doing the front or rear not both, they also never include camber adjustments which are crucial to a proper set up!

If you just want to try and stop tyre wear then this is normally sufficient.

It is important on a scooby (if you want to optimize the cars handling) to have a FULL geometry set up carried out front & rear & this needs to be set with great accuracy to the correct figures as a these cars are very susceptible to small changes/inaccuracies in the settings.

This obviously takes time if carried out correctly & The equipment used is very expensive. Just because you are told that it is a laser system does not mean that it is accurate, a lot of the laser systems shine a laser onto a card that is marked by lines and numbers, this is not as accurate as a computerized system as it relies on eyesight and the judgment of the person using it as to when he thinks the laser is in the correct place. A proper computerized system reads the figures for itself and displays them on screen, these can be accurate to within a hundredth of a mm (0.01).

If the figures are out by as much as 0.05mm this has an effect which most drivers can feel when approaching the limit and can make a noticeable difference to how well balanced the car is and how much oversteer/understeer is suffered.

So to summarize.... You Get What You Pay For when it comes to geometry set ups.

Phil

172sport

iTrader: (6)

Or you stand on the gimps shoulder watching his every move and get it done correctly for £40

I agree though what the point of £50k of gear when usually its an untrained guy using it

bugeyeandy

Spot on! You can have all the gizmos in the world and still do a sloppy job.

renny

iTrader: (2)

I paid £90 + Vat for mine and got a full computer read out of what everything was set at.

I agree,you get what you pay for with this.Get yourself to a specialist,get it done properly to YOUR requirements and believe me,you will feel a difference !

Terminator X

iTrader: (7)

Licho / Powerstation have the sophisticated kit don't they? Remember when Evo mag tested the Spec C - it had been tweaked geometry wise & was very well thought of (tested it against a GT3 & CSL I think).

TX.

danfranklin1

Paid about £40 at my local tyre garage for four wheel laser alignment. It needed quite a bit of adjustment. Car felt totally transformed after that - best thing I've ever had done.