Is 4-wheel alignment a genuine procedure as the vehicles I have previously owned have had non-adjustable camber and castor on the front wheels. I presume that the rear wheels have non adjustable geometry and is factory set to meet factory spec? Is it possible on the Roomster or a waste of time paying for 4-wheel alignment? I have owned my car from new and have not walloped a kerb or had pothole damage during ownership but I realise suspension components do wear but surely not in the 33k I have travelled  and the front tyres wear evenly to warrant such an expense.

If it ain't bust, don't fix it.

 

I had 4 wheel alignment done on my last Octavia because the steering wheel was off centre and the rear tyres wore unevenly.  

 

Unless you have similar issues then it isn't necessary.

I believe its only the fronts that are adjustable on the Roomster. 

They would be able to tell if you had bent anything on the rear after an accident. 

Well, while there is no allowance to adjust camber or castor, the camber might equalised by moving the subframe across the car and/or front<>back for castor - as well as improving the overall alignment of the front to the rear wheels so to get the car running as "true" as possible. There used to be a small bit of "wiggle room" at the lower swivels where they bolt onto the TCA/lower wishbone.

 

Just one comment, my daughter runs a late 2009 Ibiza SC 1.4 86PS, and she has been complaining about a spot of steering or wheel unbalance at 55MPH and these wheels were rebalanced and that issue remained! That was last May, last month, I replaced both steering rods as the joints had become slightly slacker than when new plus TREs, also, as I had already bought new discs and pads when she first mentioned this, I replaced them as well. While doing that work, I checked the hub run out, the hub + disc run out and the wheels run out using a DTI, everything was okay except one wheel that originally had been on the front, it has a 0.5mm run out over a short section of the rim.  So after doing all that I handed it into KwikFit to get the toeing set up - they only do a full geometry check in that outlet, so without asking the price, I let them do that and set the toeing up and recheck - that cost me £59.99 which annoyed me at first but it did give me a picture of how things were with that car on that day, so I think that it was money well spent. It turns out that the camber is just out of spec but that is acceptable to me for that, but the castor is almost 1 degree too low on both sides, so either the alignment bench is no good or that car has been driven maybe up to a kerb straight on - too little castor it has been said, can give a decrease on the front wheel stability - so is this what is causing the issue at 55MPH, by the way my daughter says that the car is good since I did that work on it, but  wonder if she is being "nice" to me, she is away on a 125 mile trip South this bank holiday weekend so I'll see what she says when she gets back!

 

So, that experience has got me thinking about handing my wife's August 2015 Polo in for a geometry check and printout as that could be very handy to have going forward as that car will no doubt need new wishbone rear mounting bushes some time in its life. When you buy a new car you assume a lot to be correct, and I would like to have a starting point for alignment for this Polo even although I've left it almost 4 years.  One issue that I have with KwikFit about this service is, it is only a geometry check, they will never, I'd think consider trying to correct the castor or camber even although their printout shows that both of these were outside manufacturer's specs, it will only be toeing that gets adjusted - though at £59.99 a pop, it is a lot cheaper than I've ever had a full geometry check and adjust in the past, okay most proper places allow an hour of labour to set everything up and that means almost £200 and I'd not pay that just for a "look - see".

Very informative answers. It is that my daughter picked up a 2010 Focus this weekend and the previous owner had every bill since new including print outs from a 4-wheel alignment check. It mentioned technical terms which are above my head but there were measurements shown in red for the rear wheels. Whether the corrections were done, heaven knows. Not digressing too much from the Skoda brand, I was wondering if a 4-wheel alignment check would confirm that my Roomster meets factory spec. Don't want to get too paranoid about it though. Thanks Rummo for your lengthy explanation and your personal experiences. As my rear tyres are wearing evenly I take it I have no worries. I have one rear original tyre still with plenty of meat but the walls are cracking so needs replacing before my continental road trip. Thanks Hankook but 6 years is the permitted limit for tyre life.

Edited 7 May, 20197 yr by edbostan