Wheel Alignment (The Conclusion)

[davefrith]

Andyp and I met up on Saturday to have our wheel alignment etc checked out and adjusted, shame we couldn\'t play really because it was pissing it down with rain

Went to STS in Bedford, guy appeared to know a lot about what he was doing, and I\'ve got to say my car feels SO much better after its all been set up

No vibration on steering wheel at high speeds, cornering is smoother etc, less twitchy

Well reccomended guys, common fact that most cars are out of alignment and you don\'t even know it

Dave

[chrisBoid]

Coincidence, picked up my car from Geff at RE:Worx on Saturday and he suggested I get the alignment / tracking checked out and there\'s me thinking it was supposed to be all twitchy :rolleyes:

Will be getting it sorted ASAP, at JPS (Milton Keynes) probably.

[davefrith]

I don\'t think JPS do laser alignment.........

[iaint]

I\'ve got mine booked in @ WGT for decat, mapping and suspension setup, should be fun when I get it back!


Iain

[chrisBoid]

Ummm, >noddy hat on< I phoned them and asked if they do wheel alignment and tracking, they said yes.  Does that mean there are different types of alignment?

[davefrith]

I stand corrected if they do, I just assumed that they didn\'t as Andyp has been talking about them recently and I presumed if they did it he would have booked us in there

perhaps they do then

[Archbish]

Noticed my front wheels are badly worn on the inside (ie - totally smooth)...  Yet my tracking is fine, so either:

a - my wheels are causing my camber to be wrong or

b - there is a problem with my suspension...

or is there a \'c\' I haven\'t thought of???

[davefrith]

Thats what I had, camber setting and tracking was out

[iaint]

There\'s a trade-off with camber from what I\'ve heard and read and the balance between grip and tyre logevity is the main thing...

From talking to Glenn a little while back he was advocating up to -1.5 degrees front and -1 degree at the back for fast road/track use.  Obviously if you\'re just doing road driving then closer to neutral will give less wear but less cornering stability.

I guess you must have an aggresive setting on your OJ - would the bling wheels mak much difference?  I\'d have thought the width, not the diameter would be the main factor...

Iain

[Andyp]

hehe their faces as we both rolled up.. kinda just stopped what they were doing and starred hehe and they do all sorts of sports cars so that\'s an achievement to take their breath away

Chris I\'d ask JPS if they do laser aligning. From what I saw in there I seriously doubt he does... didn\'t see anything to suggest he did.. may send ya down the road to another unit afiak.

That STS in Bedford ain\'t far from ya don\'t think... my car feels like a dream now, no more twitching round the corners, mine was set up REAL odd, think mr drift kind had it before me hehe

AWW I wanna find out who owned my car hehe

[chrisBoid]

Okay, I\'ll check if they do laser aligning.
So, there is laser aligning and some other kind of aligning?  With laser aligning being more accurate I suppose?

Do you have contact / adress details for STS in Bedford?

How long did it take?

[Andyp]

as far as I\'m aware, when I asked about, you can get regular wheel alignment which any old tyre place will do but as soon as you start putting on aftermarket suspension and so on, no one wants to touch it at all and you need to bring out the old lasers. Ours were tested on computers and customised to our requirements. I asked for Road and track settings.

I think it\'s basically a case of there being more factors into the equation than the regular places can/will handle

Took about 35 mins and cost £58 inc vat

here\'s their card hehe

[iiyama]

Had my car Laser tracked on saturday before travelling over to Geffs for a little tinkering here and there.

existing tracking was all over the place, a mile out and not one corner was the same. Requested that the short track setup was used ala
http://www.mazdarotaryclub.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1573

Ill let you know how I get on, although the car already feels hugely different. Front camber setting maybe a little to aggressive though for road use. The more camber the quicker the tyres heat, so I may need to back this off a little.

Ian

[chrisBoid]

Thanks for the details, I\'ll give them a ring and get myself booked in (and get their postocde so I can find the place!).

[Andyp]

cool stuff. If ya need directions gimmi a shout and i\'ll do ya a map :0)