'22 RS - is wheel alignment two-wheel or four-wheel?

[fistingdwarves]

Per title.  I just spoke with a tyre guy who didn't know.  No, I won't be going to them for my alignment...

[RADIOTWO]

7 hours ago, fistingdwarves said:

Per title.  I just spoke with a tyre guy who didn't know.  No, I won't be going to them for my alignment...

I would go for 4 wheel alignment 

[Ootohere]

I would want the Alignment check done on all 4 wheels by someone with the gear and the scores on the doors then the ability to make adjustments if required on front and back if required and on a car where the back can be adjusted. 

 

Once they have set up the check especially if FREE they do tend to want to make an adjustment so that they earn money.

I would prefer to be paying a professional to do the check, and then any adjustments required rather than a Tyre Fitting Centre with the gear but little idea. 

Edited 5 February by Rooted

[Sussex]

When I had mine done last year I was told only adjustment on the fronts was possible.

[Sussex]

I perviously posted a copy of the report here

[Ootohere]

You might be checking a vehicles alignment because it hit a pothole or the likes.

So it is not a matter of if you can adjust the rear alignment, because for some it might require replacing parts at the rear. 

[nidza]

Toe must be adjustable, at least, on all wheels.  The rest, depends. Only racecars have everything adjustable.

 

If you have no issues or haven't hit a pothole, why would you need an adjustment? 

 

 

[Gerrycan]

Octavia mks 3 and 4 with independant rear suspension (ie vRS and awd models) should get all wheels done.

Other 'lesser' grades have non-adjustable torsion bar rear suspension so only need the front done.

Mk2 octavia lower spec models had the independent rear suspension so also needed all wheels done.

[ApertureS]

4 minutes ago, Gerrycan said:

Octavia mks 3 and 4 with independant rear suspension (ie vRS and awd models) should get all wheels done.

Other 'lesser' grades have non-adjustable torsion bar rear suspension so only need the front done.

Mk2 octavia lower spec models had the independent rear suspension so also needed all wheels done.

Spot on.

 

Although with rear independent suspension, expect the alignment shop to land you with a big bill when the steel bolts are seized in the aluminium bushes 😞

The rear can be adjusted on toe, castor and camber by movement of the complete subframe and 2 eccentric bolts. 

 

The front can be adjusted on toe and camber by a tie rod and movement of the complete subframe. 

 

(Rear torsion bars cant be adjusted at all except for a very minimal amount of rotation to get the axle running straight ahead to prevent crabbing.)

[shempy]

Hi.     Rear thrust angle needs to be set first on the RS, then the front can be adjusted. My 19"  wheels caused trouble (had to find an aligner who used three arm or four arm sensors-I forget which one) 

[Ootohere]

You do not need adjustment if not required, and if you can not adjust the rear then you can not adjust the rear.

This has nothing to do with having alignment CHECKED to actually see if all is well and you want an adjustment done or a repair / correction.

You can require replacement of parts not just 'adjustment' or what can be adjusted.   Not rocket science really. 

[Felix2021]

21 minutes ago, Rooted said:

Not rocket science really. 

Unfortunately for many mechanics it seems to be rocket science.

22 minutes ago, Rooted said:

You do not need adjustment if not required

And how do you know it's required, is you haven't measured it? Usually measurements and adjustment are done at the same time. And i don't think i remember a single case, where no adjustment at all was needed.

Some misalignments might not be felt by most drivers, but some will still feel there's something wrong.

This is one of the things that it's good to do once in a while.

25 minutes ago, Rooted said:

if you can not adjust the rear then you can not adjust the rear

In case of multilink suspension, like in vRS, there's always some adjustment of the rear possible.

Even in case of torsion beam SOME adjustment is possible. E.g. if you hit a pothole, it's possible that whole beam will be misalligned a bit, as mounting points are kind of bean shaped, which means one side can move towards rear of the car. This can be adjusted.

I actually had this case in one of my previous cars (Leon 5F, so basically same rear suspension, as in "lesser" Octavia models).

 

In some cases, some cars, it's even possible to adjust angles, that manufacturer didn't mean to be adjustable officially. For example, as mentioned before in this thread, by adjusting whole subframe, but also using i.e. eccentric bolts for dumpers etc. Unfortunately there's very few mechanics that know how to do that and even care about proper allignement.

[Ootohere]

Many many cars when checked correctly are misaligned.  Sadly many are never checked correctly.

I had any used car i bought checked, even 'Much Cheapness' ones picked up to be flogged for a smallprofit.

People would be amazed how many 'Ex Management cars', Ex Demonstrators, what are sold after 3 months / 3,000 miles have alignment not as it should be. 

[Felix2021]

41 minutes ago, Rooted said:

People would be amazed how many 'Ex Management cars', Ex Demonstrators, what are sold after 3 months / 3,000 miles have alignment not as it should be. 

To be honest many cars have not correct allignment fresh from the factory.

And that wouldn't be an issue, if pre-sales maintenance would be done as it should be, but in majority of cases it's not. Hell, if they forget to remove transport blocks from the springs, how can we expect them to correct wheel allignment?

I'm one of those people who cares a lot about proper allignment. Because of that i'm having hard time finding mechanic that would really know what he was doing and would adjust allignment correctly. Most will just correct misalignment to be more or less withing tolerance, which is not good enough really...