Took the car to Wheels In Motion in Chesham today for a full alignment check. You would think on a car with only 1k miles on it you wouldn't need to but how wrong can you be...

The ROS wheel was toe'd out, the rack was off centre and the front toe was out on both wheels. The rear camber was also slightly out too.

So 40 minutes later and £72 lighter the car was done.

The drive on the B roads that I had driven just an hour before was a totally different experience. The car was planted, the understeer was less and it just felt planted.

My advice to any new owner is to get a PROPER four wheel geometry check done at a reputable place. You won't regret it.

Took the car to Wheels In Motion in Chesham today for a full alignment check. You would think on a car with only 1k miles on it you wouldn't need to but how wrong can you be...

The ROS wheel was toe'd out, the rack was off centre and the front toe was out on both wheels. The rear camber was also slightly out too.

So 40 minutes later and £72 lighter the car was done.

The drive on the B roads that I had driven just an hour before was a totally different experience. The car was planted, the understeer was less and it just felt planted.

My advice to any new owner is to get a PROPER four wheel geometry check done at a reputable place. You won't regret it.

Wow. Never thought this would be needed on such a young car. Not sure where near me i can get all wheel alignment checked but i may look into it. I was planning on monitoring tyre wear for a while before i got it done as my car currently feels fine. Is £72 pretty standard for this sort of thing as if it increases the life of the tyres it would make more sense doing it now rather than later.

Edited 19 October, 201213 yr by Jockdooshbag

http://www.alignmycar.co.uk/CentreLocator

Basically anywhere that has the Hunter system. Have a look at the above.

http://www.alignmyca...k/CentreLocator

Basically anywhere that has the Hunter system. Have a look at the above.

Thanks for that. Found one at a grage the missus Dad uses a lot. Perfect.

Mines been out from day one... Yet the dealer has fob it off dozens of times. Just read all the posts about saw toothing

Mines been out from day one... Yet the dealer has fob it off dozens of times. Just read all the posts about saw toothing

That's why I didn't even bother speaking to them.

What a coincidence! I took our Fabia SE+ to Burns Garage in Congleton, Cheshire, this very morning, on the recommendation of a Buddy Who Knows about these things. (Another laser-alignment tech had failed to get it perfect a few weeks ago.)

A few gentle tweaks performed and the car feels completely different in my hands. And it cost only £35!

Being a training car, the Fabia does get a little kerbing from time to time, despite my best endeavours. There has been a very slight (under 2-ish degrees?) left-twist on the steering wheel at the straight ahead, and a tiny drift to the left might have been evident, had I ever taken my hands off the wheel for a moment...

When I rotated the wheels around the car the other weekend, I discovered that the inner shoulder of the OSF tyre was wearing more than it should. With any luck, the tyres'll last a bit longer now than they otherwise would have.

Strongly recommended.

Is this a problem that mainly effects the VRS Octavia? -> A

Or is it just more noticable on that model? -> B

Or are VRS owners more sensitive to these issues? -> C

Eh or any other response? -> D

Answers please :-)

Edited 19 October, 201213 yr by TDIum

I have had my Blackline for two weeks, are you suggesting I should get it checked. If I do and it's off surely the dealer should be paying for this? Advice please?

Get it checked yes. If its out take it with receipt to skoda and play tour face loudly yet politely a d they will pay or give you something to recoup your cash

I have used Wheels in Motion for both my Octy and my Panda 100HP. Transformed both cars. As with the OP, my Octy was only 6 months old and was well out.

The £72 you spend will save you far more in reduced tyre wear over time.

I have had my Blackline for two weeks, are you suggesting I should get it checked. If I do and it's off surely the dealer should be paying for this? Advice please?

The dealer will not have the kit to do it. A standard tracking rig will probably show that the tracking is ok but it won't do the full geometry.

I know its a pain to spend money on a brand new car but its well worth it and should (in the case of most adjustments made) only need doing once.

Good luck trying to get the dealer to pay for it!.

Had mine done after I had the Sport Springs fitted

ABC in Leeds

Spot the difference:

Because I've also had my Fabia done, I've started an equivalent thread in the Fabia II sub-forum.

Hope the OP is OK with that?

Cheers.

http://www.alignmyca...k/CentreLocator

Basically anywhere that has the Hunter system. Have a look at the above.

Don't agree with this statement at all! A lot of Kwik Fit branches are now having the Hunter Alignment Systems installed - however the kit is only as good as the people using it! If they don't understand the true meaning of what is on the screen then you will still get a misaligned car at the end...

Any people in the Bristol area I recommend using FCM Motorsport. They have a guy there (Lee) whos one job is alignment and nothing else and he knows it inside out. He left Protyre in Bristol and bought his own alignment system, then Protyre bought the identical system and they were phoning him asking him how to use it!

Yes agreed with R8MXX, I had to use Kwik Fit to replace a tyre recently - it was going down fairly quickly and I had to pull in. I will never use them again following my experience. They fitted a non exact tyre and my steering wheel alignment was out after they finished. I didn't trust taking it back to them so went to the Wheel Alignment and Ball Joint Centre in Liverpool who have been doing 3D / Hunter alignment for years (used to use them way back when I had an MR2). I swear by them/ and their system.

I take my cars to Wheels In Motion - I can't recommend them highly enough and the corrections they've made have always been noticeable on the road - especially with my new Skodas come to think of it!

Has anyone used DMS in Erith? They are the closest to me for laser wheel alignment.

Any car you buy new or second hand should have the alignment checked. It'll usually pull up a problem and pay for itself in tyre wear quite quickly. The difficulty is finding an alignment shop that is trustworthy. I've had two shockers which cost me in tyre wear and one that got it right but their cust service was so bad I'm never going back.

For a few years a mate owned a tyre/alignment shop. I happily drove 450km to get the work done. Sadly he's sold up and moved on.

The dealer will not have the kit to do it. A standard tracking rig will probably show that the tracking is ok but it won't do the full geometry.

I know its a pain to spend money on a brand new car but its well worth it and should (in the case of most adjustments made) only need doing once.

Good luck trying to get the dealer to pay for it!.

Quite a sweeping statement. I have worked in quite a few dealers that have the full approved Biesbarth or Hunter alignment systems that can do full alignment.

WIM is excellent, I replaced the entire front suspension on my Superb (using genuine parts) and after having it tracked three times by the local cowboy tyre shop, they could not get it to drive in a straight line and eventually accused me of changing the suspension due to am accident I wasn't telling them about (which was not the case). One trip to WIM and all was sorted with no issues.

This thread has actually prompted me to book my octy in on Monday to finally get the alignment sorted (rear tyres wearing unevenly)

I hope I have similarly pleasant results.

Anyone had any experiences with the Corghi 4 system?