tracking

[brice9]

Anybody ever had to have their tracking re done? i have got some odd wear on my front wheel, and Audi say i should have it re tracked...only problem is they say its a long job on a 4 wheel drive car, and could be in excess of £300??
never had it done on my RS4 but it seems a bit steep.

i think i might have to just go ahead and have it done as the car is pulling a bit when i go ver the white lines in the road, or when i use the inside lane of a motorway and get stuck in the tram lines caused by lorries (worn out roads)

just wondered if anybody else had had this problem, i am not aware of ever having curbed the wheels badly, so why should this happen?

love to hear from somebody who has been down this path, as i dont want to waste money.

[t_urbo]

If you have never hit a curb and the car is a new purchase then really they should do the work FOC.

As for the car pulling when going over the white lines and following the tram lines, this is normal.

[pippyrips]

My local dealer told me pulling slightly to the left (curb) is a safety 'feature' designed to help you in the event of a heart attack etc. God help the people in the slow lane or walking on the pavement:shock:

£300 does seem very high for alignment

[alex_123_fra]

APS in Banbury do 4-wheel laser alignment using the Audi OEM equipment and they have all the standard spec settings. They are also a LOT cheaper.

[P_G]

That's actually quite reasonable from Audi, when I had similar problems with my S4 they quoted nearer £450 + VAT!

The reason being ( or so I was told independently) is that not only is it 4WD toe-in adjustment they have to do but camber as well. Some tyre places will not touch Audi's because of the adjustments needed on torsen Quattro or only do toe-in, not camber.

I would have thought a co. with Biesbarth laser allignment would do it though or an Audi independent specialist if they have the gear.

[almoRS]

Sounds about right price to me too. I was quoted £250+VAT by my dealer when querying a full alignment. It takes them a couple of hours too to go through it all.

[Dom81]

My local dealer told me pulling slightly to the left (curb) is a safety 'feature' designed to help you in the event of a heart attack

Reminds me of one of my early cars - R5 Turbo maybe. Torque steer was so bad that you held the wheel straight to overtake. Accelerating pulled you into the opposite lane, and backing off slotted you back in...

[audijohn]

My local dealer told me pulling slightly to the left (curb) is a safety 'feature' designed to help you in the event of a heart attack etc. God help the people in the slow lane or walking on the pavement:shock:

£300 does seem very high for alignment

Well which stealership told you that load of B*llocks.

[S4INT]

Reminds me of one of my early cars - R5 Turbo maybe. Torque steer was so bad that you held the wheel straight to overtake. Accelerating pulled you into the opposite lane, and backing off slotted you back in...

Yeah, I had a chipped Series 1 RS Turbo that did that as well, terrifying

Having said that, my Megane R26 with slippy diff can tug the wheel around quite alarmingly too....

[DavidB]

Anything over £300 is quite a lot i think. Recently had both my B5 S4 running coilovers and B7 stock RS4 fully adjusted by APS. Cost was £80 per car and this covered everything. Worth a look for sure as they use dealer kit and know what they are at. To cap it all when i was there at the weekend the guy waiting with me in the reception was from Wayside Audi and was having one of there customers RS6's setup as they were finding it difficult to get the setup right which was interesting i thought.

Cheers, Dave

[ARSEY4]

I normally have my cars 4 wheel aligned as Im very sceptical that they leave the factory within tolerance. My thoughts were confirmed when I had teh rs4 done lst year. I use Chris Franklynn at centre gravity, he does lots of work on porsche cars and is very popular wiithin the s2000 community (they tend to be sensitive to alignment changes). If you have a look on www.centergravity.co.uk all the contact details are on there. Chris is a top guy and I personally would not have anyone else touch my cars.

[rsw]

The sole reason any car pulls to the left (bent,misaligned susp aside )is down to the camber of the road surface,the ammount of pull can be reduced by tuning the suspension slightly.The trick is to give the front left wheel more negative camber than the front right wheel this will counteract the camber effect of the road surface.

[pippyrips]

My local dealer told me pulling slightly to the left (curb) is a safety 'feature' designed to help you in the event of a heart attack etc. God help the people in the slow lane or walking on the pavement:shock:

£300 does seem very high for alignment

Well which stealership told you that load of B*llocks.

I live near Cardiff

p.s.
Powerstation (based in Tweksbury) are excellent with suspension set-ups.

[tartan_rob]

Hold on here, we are talking tracking aren't we..? There is no open wallet surgery required for that.

It is about 1hour to do, 1.5hrs max. Any wheel alignment centre with laser alignment can do it very well. I pay £75 at Imperial Tyres in Swindon and I get a print out of before and after for the following:
- Toe
- Camber
- Thrust angle
- 2 other things

+ I get a nice picture on each wheel for before and after that shows how far out it was/is in relative terms and an explanation of what making changes to each wheel does to the cars behaviour. Dialynx use these guys I believe and Audi recommended I take my B5 there when they were too busy to do the tracking. Make sure you find someone with laser alignment and that gives you a printout of what they have/have not done.

At £300 + I would be expecting some very personal and intimate service from their receptionist too....and not just tea and coffee - something altogether more horizontal

[r4fdud]

Guys i think the price is ridiculous what you have been quoted
i jsut got mine done at £99 inc VAt at BLackburn Audi

4 wheel alignment