Wheel alignment cost?

4 wheel alignment is pointless and to an extent a non sequiter. There is no way of aligning the front wheels relative to the rears that makes a scrap of difference to most cars. Find a garage with an old experienced guy with a Dunlop tracking gauge and get it done for a tenner. You can actually do it yourself with a tape measure and a couple of fixed points either side of the wheels if you have the savvy.

Some Avons are s**te and some are ok. No idea which ones you have.

-- Dave Baker

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What car is it? Most cars never need (nor have any provision for) adjustment of the rear wheels, just the front toe-in. If the steering wheel is centred when it goes in, MAKE SURE IT IS STILL CENTRED after the adjustment, or they are lazy idiots and have just adjusted one side (this is the norm for fast fit places, I'm afraid).

A few cars do need a full 4 wheel alignment from time to time, like my MX-5. On these cars everything is adjustable except the rear castor, and it gradually drifts out of spec due to bushing wear, potholes and (on earlier cars) stretch of the adjustment bolts. An MX-5 with rear toe-out is not a safe vehicle to drive. A *proper* 4 wheel alignment normally costs £100 or so if any adjustments are needed, because it is

1-2 hours of a fairly experienced mechanic's time. A basic tracking check and adjustment is more like £20-30.

You can get on the floor and check the tracking by eye and get it bl**dy close. I have done this many times and then checked with a gauge to find it spot on.

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Depends on the car and on where you take it. The local independent I use for my tyres said my Omega would be £25 to adjust because they are bloody hard to do (there is nothing to gain any purchase on to turn the tubes!). In any case it was seized such that they could not shift them.

I went home, split the ball joints, unscrewed the track tubes, cleaned and greased all the threads, welded grip ridges along the tubs, reassembled it all.

When I went back for proper adjustment they were so pleased that I had made the job easy they only charged me £15. This was using a proper

4-wheel optical alignment rig.

Ok so 4 wheel alignment does not normally involve any adjustment of the rear wheels, what it will do is set the steering wheel to the rear wheels. Then you can set the front wheel track to the steering wheel, it is far more accurate than *any* front wheel only alignment system. Dunlop optical gauges are not accurate as they rely on the operators judgement, the entry level kit to do proper wheel alignment starts at £1500 . So expect to pay around £25+ to get the job done correctly, Avon tyres are regarded as crap within the tyre industry.

The message from "Fred"

If it's out on Camber (top of wheel leaning in/out) no average tyre shop can fix it, they only do tracking - toe in/out (where the wheel points down road). You need a specialist laser chassis alignment check. Derby accident repair centre (arc) did a check on mine about 5 years ago for £45, shouldn't be much more than £55 by now. Done while I waited but took close to an hour (may have taken it somewhere else?). Adjusted the rear camber and toe as I had fitted new upper and toe links, I had also repleced all the gaiters. Couldn't adjust the front struts as they hadn't been fitted with camber bolts - smaller diameter bolts with eccentric cam on middle and tabbed washers. Gave me a before and after computer print out with diagnositics on items out of spec. The laser chassis checking equipment seems to be quite rare and even non existant in some parts of the country. If you wind up at a "performance" centre then expect to pay 2 to 3 times as much for the privilege.

You can check camber yourself. Get a sprit level and steel rule, park on level gound. Check on the slam panel that the car is level from side to side - move it round until it is. Put sprit level vertically up against wheel, then pivot level so one end stays in contact with wheel rim. When it's true, measure gap that opened up between wheel and level. Measure distance between pivot point and where you measured gap. Camber angle = atan(gap/distance). It's "inv" "tan" on MS windows calc. Gap at top is negative camber, gap at bottom is positive camber. Putting a couple of tapped holes in the edge of the level for screws that sit on the rim makes it easier as level tends to sit on the tyre otherwise. Or tape a couple of blocks to the level to space it off the tyre. On a 15" rim should be able to set and measure within +/- 12' (1/5th degree) using this crude DIY method and usual tolerance for camber is +/- 30' or 45'.

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