Lowering Springs Fitted....Wheel Alignment?

[Anonymous]

I've just fitted TTE lowering springs do I need to get my wheel alignment checked???

It handles very well no pulling left or right.

Sorry if this is a dumb ass question.

[fstsven]

There are no dumb questions, although sometimes the "search" button helps    s:wink: :wink: s:wink:  

Anyway, an alignment IS required after lowering your car.  Chances are the settings will be well out of tolerance after the work is done.  
You may not "feel" anything wrong, but on one of my previous cars they didn't bother to check alignment properly ("We marked the positions before disassembling"   s:roll: :roll: s:roll:  ), and 2000 miles later the left front tire was showing canvas...    s:? :? s:?  

So, get it done mate!

Cheers

[Anonymous]

Just as I thought   s:wink: :wink: s:wink:  

Anybody recommend somebody I can go to locally in the West Midlands and get a good job done while I wait?

Or is it MrT and booking in a week in advance?

[Slacey]

Mr T checked mine gratis, and would have charged should alignment have been necessary, which it wasn't  s:) s:)

[Anonymous]

BMTR in Perry Barr, not the cheapest but they do it properly.

 m http://www.bmtr.co.uk/contact.htm m

[Anonymous]

Thanks Steve, booked in for Wednesday. Spent hours looking for alternative to MrT without success.

Various MrT's wanted £89.95 upto £132.17 inc VAT  s:shock: :shock: s:shock:   and could'nt take the booking til next week  s:!: :!: s:!:  

BMTR charge £82.19 inc VAT which is'nt bad.

If you fancy a drink one night let me know I owe you one

[Anonymous]

No way!

I got mine done for £35 at Gordon's Tyres in Wakefield, had a proper laser system, took about 20 minutes and i stood and watched all the dials turn green.

And it was a sunday, and i didn't book.

I can heartedly recommend them by the way, but like I say, near Leeds.

[Anonymous]

They quoted me the same but when I took the car in (Scorpio not the 2) the rear tracking is fixed so they only charged me about £30, they could have ripped me off!!!

I don't know if the rear of the 2 is adjustable or not, I'm sure someone will supply the answer.

Where abouts in Sutton are you?

[Anonymous]

I tried a couple of other places who said

"yes we can do 4-wheel alignment for £23.50/£28.00 plus VAT"

and

"we'll do it while you wait in 10 minutes"  s:? :? s:?  

I figure (rightly or wrongly) that you get what you pay for.

Steve, I live in Four Oaks.

[Anonymous]

As far as I can see, and I don't really know what I'm talking about but...

They have a lazer alignment system where the cars put onto a ramp, 4 reflectors are attached to each wheel.  A laser at the front of the ramp fires, and collects information from the reflectors.  This feeds into a computer that then displays a number of 'dials' with info such as toe-in, camber and all the rest of it.  Then, all the mechanic has to do it adjust the suspension, which seemed pretty easy to me.  

I stood there and watched the alignment dials go for red and way off centre to green and (practically) centred.  They then gave me a print out of before and after values.  

Now, if a garage didn't have that machine I could imagine it being really, really hard to do.  If they do have that machine, it's simple.  The machine itself looked rather expensive.

Like I say I don't know, but you might be paying more, simply because they don't have a machine therefore it'll take them longer and won't be as accurate a job anyway.

I'm sure the more technical chaps on here will have a better knowledge of this than me.

[Tem]

The normal price over here for 4-wheel laser alignment is 50 euros (some £30) as well. Those are top of the line machines, so you get more than what you pay for  s8) s8) ...of course Toyota dealers charge about 100 euros for the same work on same machines though...

Personally I think the best part about those are that you can see all values all the time and note how they change when driver and/or passenger enters the car...and the fact that you really get accurate readings. With those older machines you always seemed to get a bit different values when you rock the car to settle it...not so easy to trust them  s:? :? s:?

[Anonymous]

The cost is'nt my main concern.
As a person I'm more concerned with convienence.
BMTR is on my way to work, they are flexible for booking in, do not require a weeks notice and cheaper than MrT....  s:) s:)

[Anonymous]

Please correct me if I am wrong.....

...but I am led to believe there is a big difference between a 4 wheel alignment machine that uses all 4 four wheels to check the alignement and allow adjustment of the front wheels only (which is why they only charged me £30 for my Scorpio) and having all 4 wheels aligned when the tracking is adjustable on the rear and I'm not sure if this applies to the 2.

BTW When I had 4 new tyres fitted to the X-Type they couldn't do the tracking as it was a dealer only adjustment which after a bit of negotiating was done for £75 + VAT as part of a service.

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure about that, but when they did mine they definitely adjusted the back.

I'm not sure what they did, but it looked like they loosened something on the axel, then used a spanner so adjust the axel in a screwing type motion, then tightened it back up.

My car was dragging to the left after the lowering, but after that its been fine.

[GSB]

There are indeed 2 types of alignment done...

The first is your basic tracking check that tyre fitters offer all over the country. This measures the toe angle of the front wheels, as that is the measurement most frquentley out due to knocking curbs etc.

The one any self respecting sportscar owner should go for though is a full 4 wheel alignment. This is measured in many different ways, but is most frequently done by firing laser beams around the car to measure the different angles. It measures not only the front toe angle, but also front camber, front caster, rear toe, rear camber, rear caster, thrust angle, and loads more. It enables the operator to set the car up so the wheels and tyres make the best of the suspension geometry available, and thus make your car handle the best it possibly can.

[Tem]

There are indeed 2 types of alignment done...

Over here those toe angles can usually be get for free when buying new tyres. £30 gets you the real deal, with check&change of front&rear toe, caster and camber...well, at least in Mk1 where they all actually are adjustable  s8) s8)  With the Roadster it was pretty much just checking the values and adjusting toes as the rest were perfect...
(actually the front was in factory values, but wanted to change that)

[Anonymous]

Well wheel alignment carried out. BMTR did a good job and seem a nice friendly humorous bunch, so much better than going to MrT. Even opened up early because I arrived. Not like MrT who leave you there till 1 second past their start time while they discuss what they did last night!

The cars handling with the lowering springs is a massive improvement, not that it was bad before. The ride is no more harsh. In fact mrs roadsterman99 says it's smoother and not as choppy? She cannot understand why it took me so long to get lowered.

Anybody thinking of lowering should do it. It's an easy DIY job except for the wheel alignment.

Petrol consumtion is suffering though   s:wink: :wink: s:wink:   as I keep accelerating into corners and  roundabouts just to feel the grip   s:D s:D

[heathstimpson]

I actually fitted the lowered springs this afternoon from the group buy at my dads garage. He said he always fits smaller bump stops with lowered springs otherwise they will wear out quicker as they ground out more frequently with the shorter springs. Any knowledge on this anybody  s:?: :?: s:?: