littlebrownbike Posted January 4, 2010 Report Share Posted January 4, 2010 Apparently! LOL. I phoned up a few local garages asking if they did "four wheel laser alignment", they all said yes, so I digged a bit deeper... "What do you charge?" "£30". Instantly alarm bells were ringing... "How long does it take?" "On average, an hour and a half" "Does that include a before and after print out?" "No, what do you want one of them for?" "Do see what the tolerances are and how badly they were out" "Oh that laser alignment, its a con" "So how do you do it?" "We straighten the front wheels, then make sure they line up with the back". "Oh right, cheers for your time, bye" I phoned 5 garages, all had similar response. Some bloke actually suggested I was from a rival garage and trying to get information, LOLLOL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted January 4, 2010 Report Share Posted January 4, 2010 Pretty much standard reply for mechanics who haven't been taught about chassis dynamics/geometry, just tracking. They think that's the way to do it and highlights the point Tony makes about the industry needing re-educating. As for taking an hour and half I feel that was just to get more money in their pocket...it takes Tony that long to do a Lambo/Ferrari (I think) and they are fully adjustable. If they only adjust the front (toe) and check it to the rear wheels it should take under an hour for most cars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jammy Posted January 4, 2010 Report Share Posted January 4, 2010 lmfao......losers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted January 5, 2010 Report Share Posted January 5, 2010 Nice research The whole situation is a farce, the garages think they know what their doing but they live in a linear world, the poor customer doesn't know what their getting or indeed asking for! Laser measures linear angles like toe, setback, wheelbase or any other perpendicular angles or in other words "X"..... A great test to ask the technician if in doubt of their ability is to ask... "Front wheel alignment, what are you aligning the wheels to?"... most will confidently say "each other"... WRONG!... The front wheels are aligned to the rear wheels using the thrust angle (exact rear centre) as a reference point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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