Wheel Alignment - Did they weight your car?? :part 2

[HughJarse]

Ok this is part two of thread below but I believe it warrants its own space.

In the search for a garage that could 4 wheel align etc, I rand my local Kwik-Fit knowing that they couldnt do it but may know of a garage that could. After the normal sales blurb of we do this and we do that they admited they couldnt do it, BUT....... one of the branches in city had equipment that could, and I should ring the Manager and chat to him
I did; The first thing he said after hearing what car it was, was "did they weight your car?" No says I what you on about.... He then explained that the correct way to do these cars, including BM's was to weight them, and they had 15kg bags of sand. When connected to the computer, it tells then where to put the sand and he then said that there was absolutely no other way of aligning these cars without doing that, any other way simply does not work.
When asked for a price, he couldn't give it as he said it depends what the computer says once they are attached, but in betweeen £50 and £150.

 

[miro]

Every alignment machine has its own special (stupid) ways of doing things.

Some use cameras, some use lasers and some use low profile equipment.

 

[Rory]

I've certainly heard of this before - another poster used a place in Leeds and they used bags of something or other (it might have been cement, but that sounds a bit messy). The fuel tank is supposed to have a certain amount of fuel in it - full?

I guess using the 'factory' settings is always going to be something of a compromise, as many cars are usually driven with just the driver and, even a fairly normal range means he/she could weigh say 9-16 stones, which is quite a weight in one part of the car.

 

[Parrot of Doom]

http://www.wheels-inmotion.co.uk./trusted.htm

I used the place in Oldham, sorted my car out very nicely. Couldn't balance my wheels though, as they're apparently all slightly twisted.

 

[Ian B Walker]

Interesting link Parrot. Did they do your camber angles as well as i am currently looking for someone reliable.

 

[Dieselman]

I believe the correct weight for alignment is usually a full tank of fuel and the weight of a driver in the car.
You could probably assume about 70kg for each.