4 Wheel Alignment – How Difficult Can It Fcuking Be????

[zeppelin101]

Great response, not sure what I've done this time to rattle your cage? It was asked further up how much people are paying...

If you go in and ask for some specific settings and they have the kit to measure it, then 9/10 times I've got what I asked for. I used the same garage in Swindon for years while I was living there and they were always within an acceptable margin of what I asked for without spending half a day doing it.

If you want utter perfection then it will take most of a day as everything moves around but getting to within 5-10% or so adjusting almost everything will take an hour tops. The last little bit isn't worth the ludicrous amount of time it takes for a road car or even most track cars.

Most of the independent garages which have the laser kit will know how things respond when changing something else. The likes of Kwik Fit are mugs and will most likely fob you off or just dick about with it until it's somewhere near factory, but if you avoid most of the chain places they are pretty good in my experience.

[Daz]

Avoid Sumo Power. They are worse than a dead aids infested rat.

[piman2k]

Well done you.

Bit hostile.

4 Wheel Alignment is about £80 round here.

[Mark]

Nice one Scottie, I'll give them a try.

Dont forget you will need to be a member to get the club rate

[Mark]

Avoid Sumo Power. They are worse than a dead aids infested rat.

I thought you loved them?

An even bigger thanks to Mark @ Sumo power (gonna e-mail him aswell). My car's alignment was so shit before that I had got used to the way it drove and that's why it felt horrible at first. Once we all headed off and we hit a little right then left and I felt how planted the car was I was grinning like crazy. I've got my confidence back in the car now which is something that I had lost recently.

Will defo be going down there more often I'm sure

All jokes aside about that. His response to how I felt about the car gave me even more confidence in what he was doing. He could of easily of just said to me, your a twat and you are talking bollocks. But I appreciated that he checked it again and explained it all to me. Thats the kind of service that I like.

[Daz]

Lol, that was before I found out he hadn't done the arms back up. Then lied through his teeth and got his boss to lie rather than sort it out.

It did handle better until the wheel started moving freely lol

[Jonny Wilkinson]

Avoid Sumo Power. They are worse than a dead aids infested rat.

I presume this is based on experience of both

...and was it infested before or after ?

[paulsx]

LOL if it was quick fit are you sure the sign said "Hunter wheel alignment" and wasnt a typo!!!

I paid £60 last time and they used my settings I sent in ahead of time. It will cost you more if the bolts are seized etc as it takes them more time so its worth WD40 them and then cracking off the nuts

[leightaylor]

It took me 3 hours to align mine with a kwik fit monkey mate on a hunter machine at a kwik fit, as above seized bolts, dialed out 5 degrees of rear camber from lowering it, full welded lock kit. Took it down the road and felt odd and steering was out so had to align it all again.

Defiantly worth noting if anyone does plan to use a hunter machine and you are quite low, they have a calibrating type procedure that has to be done before anything is aligned. This involves turning the wheel approx 1/2 a turn each way and if the car is low the sensors that are clamped on the wheels can foul on the wings you, may have to un-bolt the bottom of your wings and pull them up for a second for clearance.

[S15_SAM]

You turn the wheel 20 degrees each way to calculate the caster angle.

I do wheel alignment everyday, took me 2 hours when I put all adjustable arms on to get it to within 2 minutes of my target measurements.

[wutang200]

Some good info on here.

I've booked my S15 in with a place in Bolton whom uses the Hunter system and even has profiles for import cars created including the S15, Skyline, etc. I'll see how it goes and if things don't work out, then at least I've got a bunch of other places to try out now without having to deal with Kwik Fit.

Speaking of Kwik Fit, I got a call back from them today in regards to my complaint I raised about that manager. Said my complaint was a bit abusive and a bit of a verbal assault on the staff lol. Politely explained to him what happened and how he'd feel if he were in my shoes. He offered to get my car booked in with them to get the work done, but I kindly told him I'll never take my car to any Kwik Fit again as if they can't even get their diaries sorted, how can I trust them with my car!!

The guy didn't even offer any sort of discount or something special to redeem the brand which further proves they're not fussed and their lack of customer service skills.

[Scottie]

If you got to Nigel Lang's in Bolton you will hopefully get Peter to set it up. He does a proper job, greases all the threads etc, and talks through specification options with you, they have lots of settings built in, and know what they are doing.

The Lotus club also have a deal with them like SXOC and they have set up their road and track cars for them for over a decade now Look at the feedback they get on the thread in NW section. Mine was a different car when I left there

[arry]

It's grim up north - can't even get alignment done local