Hi Folks

 

Apologies if this has been asked an answered... I did a quick search but couldn't find the info I needed.

 

Car is as per title.  It's had Bridgestones on it from new and I've just had the front tyres replaced,  the rears have plenty of life in them.  I switched the rears to the front as I want the Bridgestones gone in place of the Goodyear Eagle AS5s all round eventually.   This was done at kwikfit and they did a free alignment check and dutifully advised me that both driver's side wheels are good but the the passenger sides are marginally out.  I said "fine,  do the alignment" to which the guy said words to the effect that I had lane assist and adaptive cruise so I need to take it to someone who is certified to make adjustments to the car's alignment that does not adversely effect these systems.

 

So question is who other than the Dealers are certified to perform wheel alignments on cars that have lane assist and adaptive cruise?

Hi, welcome to the forum.

Not especially surprising, I suspect Thick***t just are not particularly sure of what they are doing! - I think any competent alignment centre should be able to do, I have seen previous references to preference being for a 4-wheel rig such as Hunter. If only 'marginally out' was there significant wear difference between left and right tyres? If not, I'd be tempted to leave. If they don't know how to align, how competent are they on assessing the geometry?   

Edited 15 January, 20215 yr by Warrior193
Add welcome

7 minutes ago, Warrior193 said:

......If only 'marginally out' was there significant wear difference between left and right tyres? If not, I'd be tempted to leave. If they don't know how to align, how competent are they on assessing the geometry?   

 

Not significant but enough for their SW to highlight that it was out of tolerance but the thought did cross my mind about competence.  Though I can't fault their efficiency and pricing today.  Perhaps as you imply they just did not feel confident in doing the alignment.

I was also told by Kwikfit that if mine was out that I would need to go elsewhere. its not that they cannot check the geometry they have the correct kit to do that (mine certainly have a hunter system now), they just don't have the equipment to ensure your safety systems (front Assist, emergency braking etc) will still be correctly aligned too if they were to re-align the front geometry.  

 

If you Google "ADAS wheel alignment" you will find some places that now offer this. The reason is that the front RADAR could become out of calibration when the wheel alignment is changed. I can see why to a degree it has to "look" in the right direction and tracking/camber could alter this. 

 

Its quite an involved job (no doubt initial outlay of kit is not cheap either) with the Radar/ Car being all pointed at a target board and then hooked into diagnostics to ensure the X,y,x axis of the radar is in the right place. 

 

Your call I guess on how  far out it actually is from specified values. 

 

 

Edited 15 January, 20215 yr by paulski

Any adjustments made that affects the rear toe will affect how the ADAS system works and will require calibration of the sensors thereafter. 

 

Minor front toe adjustments will usually be ok. 

 

The equipment for ADAS calibrations costs £1000s and requires special training. 

 

The full process can take up the majority of a day if there are several sensors requiring calibration and possible adjustments.

 

Some systems associated with the alignment are:

 

Front radar

Front lazer (if applicable)

Front camera

Adaptive headlights 

G85 steering angle sensors 

 

It's all become a bit mental.

44 minutes ago, James@RRG_Skoda_Rochdale said:

 

 

It's all become a bit mental.

sounds like it!!!

Wow it does sound mental

If there wasn’t any abnormal wear on the old tyres, why do you need a realignment?

 

Factory settings are done on dynamic equipment far more accurate than what you can find in an average workshop or garage.

 

Unless the suspension has had a right clattering on rough roads or kerbing, the tyres wearing weird or the steering wheel is out of position straight ahead, I’d leave well alone. 

Edited 15 January, 20215 yr by BigEjit

Can I mention something about the OEM Bridgestone tyres. They are dreadful. I had a 2018 VRS Diesel TDI186 on 18" tyres. Lovely car but the handling was dreadful and it seemingly kept on having its alignment thrown out.

 

The Bridgestone tyres kept on wearing very badly and the handling was terrible. Several alignments later the problem was still not fixed. I had to sell the car with new tyres, but before I did this, I put on a set of 4 Michelin Pilot Sport tyres. What a transformation. The suspension relaxed and the driving experience got a lot better. I personally hate Bridgestone's....every car or motorcycle Ive ever had with them on has been horrible. Other tyre manufacturers are considerably better.

I bought my car back in July last year and it had done about 16000 miles give or take.  I think the Bridgestones are original that would make sense.  They have not worn badly.  To have a powerful fwd car wear through a set of front tyres in 17500 miles is not bad.  I could have dragged them further as they were not quite at their tread wear markers but I’m doing it’s first MOT this month.  I didn’t want to have any reason to fail and have to pay on the spot prices for tyres and I also wanted to move away from the bridgestones.... while they seem okish ... I wanted to get into a set of GYEF1AS5’s to see if they are better in the wet and also to see if there is any road noise reduction.  
 

Have not done any miles really since replacing the fronts and swapping them to the back so I expect I won’t really notice any real difference till the bridgestones are all gone.  That may be some time in our current situation 😞