Hello,

my Superb pulls to one side way too much for my liking.

Local Skoda garage refused to assist as they don’t have equipment for ACC calibration after wheel alignment...

Nearest VW garage can help but they are asking £422 for wheel alignment and ACC calibration. This is ridiculously expensive! 

How do you you deal with it?

Has anyone done alignment without ACC calibration?  

 

Marek

I lightly bumped a kerb last winter (edging my way downhill, took a left turn and kept going).

 

Took it to local fitter and no mention made of ACC. Only minor adjustment needed and no problems with ACC since.

That’s what I’m trying to figure out really 

can wheel alignment be done without “upsetting “ ACC

 

Info I was getting from Skoda is rather confusing 

First they said ACC must be calibrated then they said it has to be calibrated only when there is major change in car geometry 

Edited 9 March, 20197 yr by MarekMm

Dont see what impact wheel alignment would have on ACC (Adaptive Cruise Control.)

Are you sure you're not talking about DCC (Dynamic Chassis Control)?

Positive 

It’s ACC 

I’ll try to find email from Skoda and post it here 

Here it is

May be Lane Assist function should also be recalibrated. It would seem more obvious compared to ACC. 

I have had 4 wheel alignment done and no issues with ACC but it only needed minor adjustment, I can imagine if it needed more than minor and/or they don;t keep the steering wheel straight (mine is not quite straight now but very close to it)  it might affect ACC and the detection of cars in other lanes as it might think you are heading in a slightly different direction?

Kwik Fit did a four-wheel alignment for me before I went to challenge the Autobahns in Germany. ACC worked fine at any speed. This is the first time I've heard of it being an issue. I can think of an eight-letter word to suit.

Try the professionals at wheel alignment and ask them what they think

Don't you just love it when you buy a car that has A LOT of unnecessary features for a normal driver? I rather prefer feeling and driving the car myself without any assistance from a computer. The more complex the car, the more expensive and cumbersome the maintenance/repairs. Just my 2 cents.

Doesn't ACC use the radar in the grill?  Or does it use other sensors as well?  If just the radar then I can't get my head around this whole calibration thing.  Surely an alignment adjustment wouldn't affect the radar - I can imagine calibration needed if the grill had been replaced.

 

Ditto with lane assist - that uses the camera so alignment shouldn't affect that, or am I being dim?  The camera spots the lines in the road and adjusts steering appropriately.  

 

Perhaps I'm just a dunce, but I simply cannot figure how an alignment would cause ACC issues (or LA or DCC etc.).  

Edited 10 March, 20197 yr by adamjackdrew

looking at the response from Skoda, while it says it is required, it doesn't explain why. Could you go back to them?

9 minutes ago, adamjackdrew said:

Perhaps I'm just a dunce, but I simply cannot figure how an alignment would cause ACC issues (or LA or DCC etc.).  

 

Yeah, well, that makes two of us.

I am also baffled why ACC needs a recalibration, if they had said good idea (but not essential) to check existing calibration is not out, then I would have understood.  

 

If sensor got knocked (or panel holding it) then easy to understand needs setting up again. 

 

The logic behind a misaligned wheel has been returned to alignment, thus ACC now needs recalbrating, would only be logical if ACC was originally calibrated whilst a wonky wheel existed.  Why are Skoda applying this logic ?

2 minutes ago, SurreyJohn said:

The logic behind a misaligned wheel has been returned to alignment, thus ACC now needs recalbrating, would only be logical if ACC was originally calibrated whilst a wonky wheel existed.  Why are Skoda applying this logic ?

 

But I still can't get how a wonky alignment would in any way affect ACC.  ACC, as far as I am aware, uses the forward facing radar firing out a radar beam in front of the car (arced out to include side lanes as necessary I think).  The return from that radar then tells the car how far the vehicle in front (or to the side to some extent) is.  It doesn't steer the car, it simply tells the car to back down when necessary to avoid accidents, and to make motorway cruising much less stressful.  So why would it matter if the car has bad alignment?  

 

I apologise now to those who understand these systems better than I do, but my simpleton brain (albeit an advanced simpleton!) cannot wrap itself around this at all.  Would it be the same if one would fit larger wheels?  How about when there's a hefty weight of people or load in the boot, or even a trailer, affecting the ride height and angle?  Surely they'd have more affect on ACC than wheel alignment!   

I've had a wheel alignment done on all 4 wheels - no issues with ACC, or a need to recalibrate it.

 

*If* having wheel alignment carried out could throw off the ACC calibration then how does a perfectly functional ACC system handle bends in the road, regular changes in steering angle/direction? 

 

Both my Superbs needed alignment within days of taking delivery. Neither main dealer mentioned the need to, nor carried out ACC recalibration. 

 

 

Seems plausible to me.

 

ACC, Lane Assist and Front Assist are pretty complex systems, using cameras and radar. They can influence the operation of the steering and braking too.

 

It would seem logical to me that they also rely on inputs from the many other various sensors and systems around the car, including those on the chassis, suspension and braking systems, which can all be affected by wheel alignment.

1 hour ago, penguin17 said:

*If* having wheel alignment carried out could throw off the ACC calibration then how does a perfectly functional ACC system handle bends in the road, regular changes in steering angle/direction? 

 

Both my Superbs needed alignment within days of taking delivery. Neither main dealer mentioned the need to, nor carried out ACC recalibration. 

 

 

 

I think ACC makes use of multiple sources of data, complex radar data, the camera, steering angle sensor, individual wheel speeds, yaw sensor, accelerometer etc. If in the digital processing, something doesn't agree, for example yaw sensor with steering angle with wheel speeds, it will throw a wobbly.

So, possibly, there will only be problems if damage or alignment alters the relative position of the steering to the motion of the vehicle. In layman's terms, the steering wheel no longer steers straight at 12 o'clock, or something like that.

Edited 10 March, 20197 yr by xman

I had my Superb 4x4 alignment checked last year by a VW dealer (around £90) and no ACC alignment.  The mechanic contacted me to query if wheels had been swapped round - the tyre wear not consistent with his initial readings and wanted to confirm if a recent front/rear swap had been made (yes) so I'm pretty confident he was competent.  AFAIK ACC alignment  is only required if the sensor or the cross member its mounted on is disturbed or a significant adjustment to the rear toe in.   Just done a search for the "rules" and found this on a Golf7 forum "so went to Mr Tyre group down the road (and opposite a VW main dealer) and he sad no problem doing it. He also told me they do them for the dealer as well".   Found this  again for a Golf at  http://www.vwgolf.org/adaptive_cruise_control-2030.html 

 

Re-adjustment is required:

Rear axle toe setting has been adjusted.

The adaptive cruise control unit -J428- has been removed and reinstalled,

The front bumper support has been removed and installed.

The front bumper support has become loose or has been moved.

The misalignment angle is greater than –0.8° to +0.8°.

5 hours ago, xman said:

 

I think ACC makes use of multiple sources of data, complex radar data, the camera, steering angle sensor, individual wheel speeds, yaw sensor, accelerometer etc. If in the digital processing, something doesn't agree, for example yaw sensor with steering angle with wheel speeds, it will throw a wobbly.

So, possibly, there will only be problems if damage or alignment alters the relative position of the steering to the motion of the vehicle. In layman's terms, the steering wheel no longer steers straight at 12 o'clock, or something like that.

That's right, the ACC and AEB use the vehicle dynamic data to estimate the vehicle trajectory and determine if a radar target is going to be an obstacle. It doesn't need much of an angle error for an incorrect decision to be made on a distant target. There will be some adaptation capability though, based on the long-term average position of targets, so I'd get the alignment sorted and see if you get any problems before paying for a radar calibration.

Had two front struts replaced under warranty but was charged £45  for tracking. No mention of ACC needing calibration. Have been told that for calibration it takes roughly 2 to 3 hours to set the car up and 1/2 an hour to reset. Apparently the ACC is only warranted for 5000 rather than 60000 miles. Big bills if it needs recalibrated.

Had my fronts realigned when I had the front tyres replaced. No ACC calibration and ACC and lane guidance have performed perfectly since, just as they did before. Like others I'm baffled as to why Skoda would suggest recalibration and would be keen to hear what their response is.

£400 odd pounds seems a good enough reason. The main dealer who completed the warranty work on my car didn't have the equipment to recalibrated, I would have to have taken it to another of their garages 16 miles away. Point should be Ask, how many pay without question.