4 Wheel Alignment - Wow, what a difference!

[MikeFish]

A bit of a story first... I needed a 4 wheel aligment a few weeks ago for my RS4 after having had the adjustable arms fitted. I noticed that a kwik fit not too far away had the Hunter set-up so thought I'd give them a try. After mentioning that they thought they'd be unable to do it due to the ride height they eventually managed it.
So last week I thought I'd take the 6 in for a go as I don't think they come out of the factory very well aligned and it has been lowered too. After messing around for quite a while the manager came to see me and top me and told me they have been directed by headquarters to not align any cars wtih adaptive cruise etc as the 'lasers' mess with the Hunter lasers apparently and after aligning a BMW it all went wrong so now they are not allowed to touch any cars with 'lasers' (by which I assume he meant radar). So be warned, don't bother going to kwik fit if you have adaptive!
So I ended up going back to the normal place I use that is a bit further away. No such issues with adaptive and were happy to have a go at it (I've used them loads of times in the past for the RS4 and have always had a good experience).
Wow, what a difference it has made to the handling on the 6. I'm not sure if it just needed an aligment, or if it is a combination of the lowering and alignment, but something has changed. It feels so much lighter through the bends now (still a big heavy car but feels much less so), it is much less effort to turn at speed. It feels like it is turning in as is should. In fact, by the time I got to the 2nd roundabout on the way home I found myself in a 4 wheel slide in the dry! I'd of never had enough speed through the roundabout to achieve that before. I'm pretty sure it is not a placebo effect, the car justs feels much more fund to drive off the straight.

[Bit_evl]

Did you have them dial in some additional front camber ?
Just standard factory settings ?

[wildbore]

Kwik Fit were right, even though the guy there got confused about lasers and radars. ACC is supposed to be re-calibrated after a 4-wheel geometry adjustment.

[Andy_W]

I thought after lowering it would have needed a full geo doing anyway? Did it feel any different immediately after lowering?

[innercry666]

Getting somebody who knows how to properly set-up the alignment on these types of cars can make a huge difference to the way they handle and feel drive. I had the RS4 aligned by Centre of Gravity last year and it made a huge difference to the driving pleasure. Considering there's a bit of a gulf between the handling of the RS4 and the RS6 and having driven both I would imagine a properly set-up RS6 would be pretty awesome...

[MikeFish]

Did you have them dial in some additional front camber ?
Just standard factory settings ?

There is no adjustment to front camber on these cars unless you fit adjustable top arms, and I can't find anyone that makes them yet. I imagine they will be the same arms as an A6/S6/A7/S7/RS7 so have been searching for all of those but not come across any yet.
So whether I want to or not, the front has more negative camber than standard from the lowering.
I will take a photo of my before and after readings when I get hoem and post them here.

[MikeFish]

I thought after lowering it would have needed a full geo doing anyway? Did it feel any different immediately after lowering?

Yes it should. I wanted to get it aligned when new, but thought I'd wait until it was lowered and settled rather than do it twice.
After lowering it felt pretty much the same. I lowered it purely for looks but like I said I am now not sure if it was just the aligment that improved things or a combination of lowering and aligment.

[robf]

Taking to Centre of Gravity or similar is a bit of a waste of time with Audis given the lack of adjustability. They are used to Porsche GT cars and the like which have quite a bit of adjustment potential from factory, and a raft of aftermarket parts.

Sounds good Mike! Looking forward to getting mine lowered as it's my excuse to then make sure the car has the right geo.

[RIV]

Taking to Centre of Gravity or similar is a bit of a waste of time with Audis given the lack of adjustability. They are used to Porsche GT cars and the like which have quite a bit of adjustment potential from factory, and a raft of aftermarket parts.

If your lowered with adjustable top arms it isnt, I'm booking mine In with them next

[robf]

Somewhat a moot point in the C7 RS6 forum, given you can't get adjustable arms (yet).

[RIV]

Somewhat a moot point in the C7 RS6 forum, given you can't get adjustable arms (yet).

Yet!! Do stern not do them?

[MikeFish]

I looked at Stern and 034 but neither list them. I also did a search for a6 and A7 as well as RS7 as the American market is much bigger but nothing came up on searches. I did find a nice uprated chassis strenghtening plate but it won't fit right hand driving cars unfortunately.

[RS6chris!]

Are you getting any uneven wear on front tyres Mike?

My lowered C6 mullered the inner front treads.

[MikeFish]

Too early to tell, but I am assuming I will which is why I was looking for some adjustable arms.

[MikeFish]