Tracking question?

[BenzComander]

Was in town, doing death by shopping yesterday, and to ease the bordom, and because they were not busy asked Kwik Fit to check the tracking on my W210 estate. It has been pulling to the left for a while, and I have never been really happy with the handling, and this is the result.

Question is, they said they could not adjust the front left without a special bolt, and they would need to order it in at about £20 billed to me!

Can anybody confirm this, or should I just take it to the stealers

Also, the rear right wheel is out of spec, and they said that it cant be adjusted, is this true as well??

Cheers,

 

[BenzComander]

Has anybody used the stealers for a geometry check and adjust, and what was the cost?

Thanks,

 

[Flash]

Silly money - £200/300 depending on Stear and could cost in excess of £300 depending on adjustments that need to be made and hourly labour rates apply £90 per hour..)

Take it down to tryre/wheel specialist that has same machinery/equipment as Stealer for fraction of cost - decent wheel specilaist with correct equipment should be able to do all 4 wheels for under £100 mark....

 

[BenzComander]

Cheers Flash, that makes Kwik Fit seem an absolute bargain. They want £49 for the inspection and then £20 to do any adjustments (Plus the £20 for the special adjusting bolt)

They had a seemingly good setup, all computer controled. I even had to take the kids and shopping out the car as they said it would effect the readings.

 

[Dieselman]

Not sure about the rear camber setting but there's probably an offset bolt for that too.
The bolts are about £7 from the dealer and they just fit. There is no adjustment once in place. It can go in one of two positions at 180 deg apart.

The toe in will require setting again once the bolt is in as it pushes the wishbone out by about 3mm.

Part no A210 330 0018

The left pull is due to front left camber and castor and rear left toe.
The rear right camber is only just off tollerance but won't have much effect anyway.

Fit the bolt, check front camber and castor (the bolt alters the castor as well as camber), set front toe better ( might happen as a result of camber change), set rear toe.
Start at rear of car and have a full tank of fuel.

 

[Thmsshaun]

I was quoted £180+ VAT by MB Derby. Went to my Local Indy £35inc VAT.


Those MB garages shure no how to charge.

 

[BenzComander]

Not sure about the rear camber setting but there's probably an offset bolt for that too.
The bolts are about £7 from the dealer and they just fit. There is no adjustment once in place. It can go in one of two positions at 180 deg apart.

The toe in will require setting again once the bolt is in as it pushes the wishbone out by about 3mm.

Part no A210 330 0018

The left pull is due to front left camber and castor and rear left toe.
The rear right camber is only just off tollerance but won't have much effect anyway.

Fit the bolt, check front camber and castor (the bolt alters the castor as well as camber), set front toe better ( might happen as a result of camber change), set rear toe.
Start at rear of car and have a full tank of fuel.

Thanks Dieselman,

Is it straight forward to fit the bolt, or should I get it and let Kwik Fit do the rest? I will check with the stealers for a rear adjustment bolt as well.

 

[Rory]

I even had to take the kids and shopping out the car as they said it would effect the readings.

I've read elsewhere that, when using this type of equipment, there's supposed to weights put in the car - although I've *never* actually seen that done.

 

[Mambo]

Was in town, doing death by shopping yesterday, and to ease the bordom, and because they were not busy asked Kwik Fit to check the tracking on my W210 estate. It has been pulling to the left for a while, and I have never been really happy with the handling, and this is the result.

Question is, they said they could not adjust the front left without a special bolt, and they would need to order it in at about £20 billed to me!

Can anybody confirm this, or should I just take it to the stealers

Also, the rear right wheel is out of spec, and they said that it cant be adjusted, is this true as well??

Cheers,

As far ask I know the rear camber cannot be adjusted.....

 

[bazza]

I got the tracking done on my 190 done at the dealers as nobody else wanted to touch it. Dealer was talking about £300 if bolts were seized etc. In the end they charged me £70


Bazza

 

[jgevers]

Hi,

In order to get rid of the pull to the left the left front caster angle needs to be the same as or slightly higher than the right front caster angle.

Make sure that the person who is doing the adjustments knows what they are doing! After adjustment the measuring process needs to be repeated in order for the new caster angle to be displayed.

regards,

Job

 

[Shude]

As far ask I know the rear camber cannot be adjusted.....

k-mac in australia make rear camber adjustment kits for lots of mercedes models

their website seems to be stuffed atm though.

http://www.k-mac.com.au

 

[jgevers]

k-mac in australia make rear camber adjustment kits for lots of mercedes models

their website seems to be stuffed atm though.

http://www.k-mac.com.au

The k-mac top mounts work very well. They have the patent for their adjustment of BOTH camber and caster.

The rose joint is set in polyeurethane and is slightly noisier than the oe items.

recommended.

regards,

Job

 

[dougal74]

The k-mac top mounts work very well. They have the patent for their adjustment of BOTH camber and caster.

The rose joint is set in polyeurethane and is slightly noisier than the oe items.

recommended.

regards,

Job

As both of the two posts above highlight some cars are 4-wheel adjustable (e.g. Audis) and some are only two wheel adjustable unless you use an aftermarket kit. Given the readings on your print-out your corner measures aren't really out by enough to mean anything other than you'll have higher wear on the tyres due to the incorrect settings on those corners f-l and r-r. Both your steer ahead and thrust angle values are within tolerances (as extrapolations of the other values) so it shouldn't really be steering that hard to the left save for the camber of the road.
To be honest most of the decent equipment is much the same, it is all down to the skill of the guy operating it/making the adjustments, if you like the look of the guy at Kwik-fit, and his advice to you sounds like he knows what he is doing, then go with it, it tends to be the cost of the adjustments (hidden labour rates) that make up the difference in price.
Cheers, Adam

 

[barneybeardsall]

In my experience it is sometimes best to leave the tracking on some of the modern cars to the stealer....

Around 6months ago..I took my 3series Beamer in for tracking at the local tyre dealer.. and paid the normal rate £35... a couple of days later the dashboard lit up like a xmas tree telling me that the ASC,DSC and ABS was not functioning.....ouch..... I contacted the dealer who took the car in and checked it and found that the cause of the problem was the the tyre dealer had mis adjusted the setup and the angles of the wheels where out of alignment so much that the electronic safety systems could not cope with the sensors feedback..... I think I had to pay 200quid to the bmw stealer to put it right...

Barney..