How is this done on a 2006 4 x 4 estate?

Eccentric bolts on the rear links. Slacken nut(s) and turn the bolt(s) to adjust, retighten.

 

https://workshop-manuals.com/skoda/octavia-mk2/axles_steering/rear_suspension_drive_shaft/summary_of_components_assembly_carrier_suspension_arm_track_rod_for_rear_axle_rear_left_vehicle_level_sensorg76_(vehicles_wi/

If they aren’t seized solid which I reckon there is a 99% chance they are. 

@ecr7 If you are taking the car to the garage to get this adjusted I would suggest making some kind of scribe mark on the bolt / link so you can see if an adjustment has been made or not........

 

Otherwise i fear you will be charged whether an adjustment was necessary or not..........

 

If you have a garage you trust then (maybe? fair enough.

 

As you are in France? i guess you will not be using Formula One in Nottingham. Big . 

Surely if you get a print out it will be obvious to see a change has been made?

Not if they alter it before the first print out.............and then put it back where it was.............so it looked like it needed adjusting

 

It's easy for them to do I think, and they don't like you watching, health and safety reasons as a good excuse!!!

 

There are a lot of dodgy places / people out there...

Normally you get one print out with a before and after measurements. 

Thats what he was saying, its just an extension of a tracking check is FOC and you only pay if they have to make adjustments which they always do surprise surprise 🙄

 

They put it on and all comes up within tolerance, switch machine off, make a couple of adjutments to the parts which dont seem too seized, switch machine on again and start test, a few parameters outside of tolerance, remake the adjustements to where they were and jobs a good un, money in the bank.

On 14/07/2019 at 18:34, Tech1e said:

Normally you get one print out with a before and after measurements. 

 

I know............. I've had it done..................and been robbed...................by Formula One in Nottingham................and had to escalate the problem to head office to get them to admit I had been overcharged....................and then had to redirect it back to the area manager to get an agreement of refund...............and then had to go back in to the garage to actually get my money back. About £40 iirc.

 

Bloody charges per adjustment.............ffs.

21 hours ago, J.R. said:

which they always do surprise surprise

 

And i'm not nodding to the surprise surprise, Lol.

You went to Formula 1, enough said. Might as well done it by eye anyway. 

On 15/07/2019 at 00:53, Tilt said:

Not if they alter it before the first print out.............and then put it back where it was.............so it looked like it needed adjusting

 

It's easy for them to do I think, and they don't like you watching, health and safety reasons as a good excuse!!!

 

There are a lot of dodgy places / people out there...

And a lot of dodgy customers too.

It's people like you that made me leave the trade I love.

 

I used to charge a flat rate whether it needed adjustment or not.  

Edited 17 July, 20196 yr by brad1.8T

10 hours ago, brad1.8T said:

And a lot of dodgy customers too.

It's people like you that made me leave the trade I love. hang on a minute Brad.  What have i done wrong??? If you are referring to Formula One I was overcharged, but they did not want to pay me back. they charged me twice and it took a lot of hassle to get my money back. I had already paid upfront online but I had to pay the second time or they were not going to release my car. And it was their own website.

 

I used to charge a flat rate whether it needed adjustment or not.  I would much prefer to do it this way / flat rate, and would happily pay that.

 

Bit personal mate. I am neither a dodgy customer or a dodgy person, thank you.

Seemed a bit extreme to me as well.

@brad1.8T I have a good working relationship with my local garage too.......Wilford Lane Auto's (not expecting you to know of them) but It is definitely not 'people like me' that made you leave the trade you loved.

More likely dodgy garages like Formula One giving garages a bad name and a reason for a lot of folk to distrust the trade in general, has made you leave the trade you love.

 

Been using Wilford Lane Auto's for years, looking after both of my vehicles in their time, and I trust them, but unfortunately they do not do tracking or alignment.

 

Everyone was going on about Hunter Alignment and F1 were the only place in Nottingham I could find that had the set up........Never again.

Edited 17 July, 20196 yr by Tilt

I personally can't see how any garage can make an adjustment without your knowledge as even with a full 4 wheel Hunter alignment the equipment is fitted to the wheels either with the ramp on the ground or at best around waist height .... To adjust anything they'd need to lift the ramp to around 6 feet and you'd see them doing that ....

Most alignment is simply toe adjustment. And usually putting your steering off centre by sloppy guys.

 

Problems start with, as Tech1e states bolts etc rusted solid, then wear and tear in suspension or steering will give a range of readings depending on what you wiggle , fitting and setting up the equipment relies on good well trained and scrupulous technicians. The car should be weighted correctly, an empty, fuel light car gives different geometry readings to a fully laden vehicle

 

Most fast fit places and dealer technicians are under time pressure and then there is the notorious "sales/production bonus".......

 

I have little faith in those 1/60th deg numbers on the printout.

 

I know fast fit places have a bad reputation, some well deserved. But from extensive experience I know dealers with access to factory specified alignment equipment are very often no better. They never give original printouts and the photocopies I have been presented with have often been obviously doctored (dates removed, some readings white out etc) or have been simply copies of last years report.  Identical readings to the last digit all round??? Highly unlikely

 

Call me a cynic if you like...🤔..I prefer the word skeptic....😉

 

 

Edited 17 July, 20196 yr by xman

6 hours ago, Tilt said:

 

Bit personal mate. I am neither a dodgy customer or a dodgy person, thank you.

 

Scribe marks on the bolts?  Such trust. 

Do you realise that a bolt always tightens to the same spot if the torque is the same?

 

On 13/07/2019 at 04:21, Tilt said:

If you are taking the car to the garage to get this adjusted I would suggest making some kind of scribe mark on the bolt / link so you can see if an adjustment has been made or not........

 

Otherwise i fear you will be charged whether an adjustment was necessary or not..........

 

 

And this little gem:

 

On 15/07/2019 at 00:53, Tilt said:

Not if they alter it before the first print out.............and then put it back where it was.............so it looked like it needed adjusting

 

It's easy for them to do I think, and they don't like you watching, health and safety reasons as a good excuse!!!

 

There are a lot of dodgy places / people out there...

 

Do you really think a workshop would bother to adjust the settings to something bad, take the readings and then adjust it to something good when we can just say

"Mate, you've got  a seized adjuster.  It's corroded solid and has to be replaced.  It will cost you $x.  Until it's replaced the wheel alignment can't be done properly.  No charge for today, when do you want to book the car in?" 

50% of the time they will book in the extra work.  If they don't then their tyres are wearing and it isn't your problem.

 

Sorry if I offended but your level of mistrust and generalisations  is why good techs like me pack up their tools and go and fix aircraft or get into I.T. (and also dissuade smart young people from entering the trade).

 

BTW:  We used to play mind games with people that put markings on parts.  We'd put the old parts in a plastic bag in the car (which saved us on waste disposal costs) and replicate the markings on the new parts.  It's just an insult to our honesty.

 

 

 

 

 

38 minutes ago, brad1.8T said:

 

Scribe marks on the bolts?  Such trust. 

Do you realise that a bolt always tightens to the same spot if the torque is the same?

 

 

Not an eccentric bolt, it has 360deg  freedom to vary adjustment. You tighten the nut.

 

I witnessed plenty of shenanigans with garages over the years and have no qualms in placing checks where I deem necessary and requesting inspection of removed parts.

 

Any mechanic who has a problem with this simply won't get my business and everyone I know will get my opinion.

 

I am a highly qualified engineer and ran my own company for over 30 years, QA and QC are important whether it newly manufactured product or servicing.

 

38 minutes ago, brad1.8T said:

 

BTW:  We used to play mind games with people that put markings on parts.  We'd put the old parts in a plastic bag in the car (which saved us on waste disposal costs) and replicate the markings on the new parts.  It's just an insult to our honesty.

 

 

Thats disgraceful behaviour, you illustrate perfectly why people don't trust some garages.

 

Edited 17 July, 20196 yr by xman

3 hours ago, xman said:

 

Not an eccentric bolt, it has 360deg  freedom to vary adjustment. You tighten the nut.

 

I witnessed plenty of shenanigans with garages over the years and have no qualms in placing checks where I deem necessary and requesting inspection of removed parts.

 

Any mechanic who has a problem with this simply won't get my business and everyone I know will get my opinion.

 

I am a highly qualified engineer and ran my own company for over 30 years, QA and QC are important whether it newly manufactured product or servicing.

 

 

Thats disgraceful behaviour, you illustrate perfectly why people don't trust some garages.

 

I'm a qualified engineer too (night school, experience and professional associations are wonderful things).  I've been in paid work in engineering of some form or another (currently large water assets) for 40 years and have run businesses.  Big deal.  I'm not sure what your point is.

 

What is untrustworthy about giving people back the parts that were replaced and re-instating the special marks they have put on their parts?  It's mischievous but not untrustworthy.  The playing of silly games works both ways.

 

3 hours ago, xman said:

Not an eccentric bolt, it has 360deg  freedom to vary adjustment. You tighten the nut.

So you agree that placing a scribe mark on a bolt  with a non-captive nut achieves nothing?  You'd also agree that not all bolts have a nut and that some nuts don't turn?

 

All this marking stuff is a waste of time.  Find a good mechanic, treat them as you'd like to be treated and life is much nicer than trying to out-think  and out-maneuver them.

 

PS: saw this.  Really?  get over yourself

Quote

So you admit you are a disgrace to your profession

 

19 hours ago, brad1.8T said:

Do you really think a workshop would bother to adjust the settings to something bad, take the readings and then adjust it to something good 

Yep, I do.

 

 No charge for today, when do you want to book the car in?" I would thank them and take it to my local garage.

 

 

(Sorry if I offended appreciated) but your level of mistrust and generalisations  is why good techs like me pack up their tools and go and fix aircraft or get into I.T. (and also dissuade smart young people from entering the trade). I do not see how this could possibly dissuade smart young people from entering the trade.

 

We'd put the old parts in a plastic bag in the car (which saved us on waste disposal costs) and replicate the markings on the new parts.  It's just an insult to our honesty. there wouldn't be any old or new parts with the job I'm referring to.

 

 

15 hours ago, brad1.8T said:

All this marking stuff is a waste of time.  Find a good mechanic, (I have) treat them as you'd like to be treated (and I do) and life is much nicer than trying to out-think  and out-maneuver them. (but unfortunately they don't do alignment so I had to go elsewhere, and i have decided I do not trust F1. as reasons explained above. It is not like I do not have reason to distrust....

 

Reinstating special marks, as you put it, is actually defacing customers property. 

 

I did say in my first post that if the Op has a garage that he trusts then fair enough.

 

I appreciate your apology brad and I respect a lot of advice that you give on other topics.

Edited 18 July, 20196 yr by Tilt