Evening All,

Yesterday I put the car into Henry's Skoda, Glasgow to have a Haldex oil change and a four wheel alignment check carried out on my Scout, and all I can say is, wow, the car is trully transformed.

My one major disappointment with the Scout was with the ride comfort. It was so bad, I would go round and change the location of items that I kept permanently in the car to see if that would improve things. I even started wrapping them in microfibre cloths, all to no avail. The only respite I got was on really smooth roads.

After having the four wheel alignment carried out, the ride just feels 'creamy' !!!! There is less crashing over imperfections on the road/potholes, gear changes appear smoother. The car is so much quieter, even the infamous Spectacle Holder rattle is a pale imitation of its former self. I am a happy bunny. It is only fair to give credit to Henry's Skoda, they observed the same pull to the left I had, and spent a fair amount of time sorting it out. :clap:

This now raises a few questions;

1. How often should I require to have this carried out?

2. Why was the car not set up like this in the first place??????

Fin

I get mine checked every 12 months. Gods knows why it wasn't like that in the beginning.

good to hear henrys improved the ride of the car, i bought a 62 plate superb out of there in January and service was brill, really good dealer compared to parks. skoda in hamilton

Thinking of getting mine checked as it was over a year ago that I last had it done. Did they give you a printout of before and after? What did they charge for 4 wheel alignment? I've used parks skoda in Hamilton for servicing as their local and I had two free services when I bought the car and must admit I haven't had any issues with them. Originally bought the car from borders skoda in Dumfries. ..salesman there was great not pushy.

It was £49.99 = VAT. You get a print out (Vehicle Alignment Report), with a printout which details Pre-correction and After Corrections, Front and rear.

I asked Parks about this, and unless I heard him wrong, I believe they take it somewhere else to get done.

I will see how the car handles when I swap back from winter tyres next year as to whether I get it done annually, but so far it definately seems worth it.

FIn

Yeah have heard quite a few dealers outsource the work as they don't have the correct equipment. Might see about getting mine booked in. Took the winters off a month ago and had to get two new rear tyres as the summer rear ones were bald on the inside edge. Really annoying as they still had 5mm tread over the rest of the tyre. They had worn like that before I got the alignment done. The winter tyres didn't have any excessive wear so hopefully thats a good sign that the alignment is about right .

My local kwikfit now has the hunters tracking system now. The guy that did my car seemed to know what he was doing, that was a nice surprise.

I get mine checked every 12 months. Gods knows why it wasn't like that in the beginning.

Where do you go for yours Simon? Sure you've told me but can't remember. And what equipment do they use?

Where do you go for yours Simon? Sure you've told me but can't remember. And what equipment do they use?

Pm'd you Steve.

It makes a huge difference on all cars. My old Civic had it done and was fantastic.....for a few days then when I went back to using normal A roads it slowly got worse and back to how it was.

Our roads are in such a mess unless you drive on brand new roads or motorways all the time its money being thrown away imo. Good to hear the price is coming down, I paid £70 when I had my old Civic done

Helloo , My 1st post from a long time lurker .

I have noticed a feeling of the back end slightly " skipping " out of line when going over a rough road or hitting a bump when cornering

Is this a symptom of incorrect wheel alignment ?

Could be. A 'Hunter' rig alignment should be done on all cars!

Could show up a multitude of alignment issues. Once sorted, car will feel much, much better. More planted at speed, better turn-in, etc.

Not sure if the 'gear change' will improve though ;-)

Always worth the (up to) £70 it may cost, even in saved tyre wear alone!

I have noticed a feeling of the back end slightly " skipping " out of line when going over a rough road or hitting a bump when cornering

Is this a symptom of incorrect wheel alignment ?

Yes, that is exactly the kind of sympton you get with incorrect alignment. "Skipping" describes it nicely.

Other possible symptoms can include

- "Floating" - the steering feeling far too light and lacking feel or feedback

- "Tracking" - tending to follow thickly-painted white lines

- "Lurching" - lurching off-line if you suddenly hit a bump in the middle of a long, sweeping, fast bend

- "Wandering" - tending to drift off-line on motorways, making it hard to drive one-handed

Thanks for the advice dunc69 / Stuarted . Will mention to the dealer at its first service .

In my experience, even some main dealers which have the necessary specialised (and expensive!) equipment to carry out proper four-wheel suspension alignement do not always appear to have technicians with sufficient skill, training or experience to be able to do the job with sufficient accuracy.

At the very least, they should supply you with a detailed printout of the precise "before" and "after" settings. You'll be paying good money, and "near enough" is not good enough.

You may need to go to a specialist workshop to ensure that the job is done with the necessary precision. There is no point in having the alignment adjusted if it is not adjusted spot-on. Apart from anything else, you could end up with undue tyre wear - I've seen that happen.

Edited 14 May, 201313 yr by Stuarted

Don't bother with the dealer, goto a specialist. You'll only waste time, and potentially money otherwise.

Don't bother with the dealer, goto a specialist. You'll only waste time, and potentially money otherwise.

Agreed.

There is a website that lists local places, but you are best going off a recommendation as having the correct equipment is only half of it, the operator needs to be as good as the kit as well.

Don't accept anything other than bang on the correct values, within tolerence is not good enough.

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

http://www.alignmycar.co.uk

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

Yep that's the one Andy, for Hunter equipment. But you're dead right in saying, having the kit is only part of it.

What's the saying? 'All the gear but no idea....'

Thanks for all your help .