[mdg]

After changing the rear shocks for SG type i never had the wheels aligned, and now I'm noticing a certain amount of scrubbing on the rear tyres. + the bottom of the wheels seem to be tucked in when looking from the rear of the car. So how much is a 4 wheel alignment? 4 new tyres 20,000 miles ago and i'm gonna need 4 more soon. :huh:

Thanks.

 

[mykp]

depends on who you take it too.

My local place who are more a body shop than a wheel slignment place chanrge £85 however if you take it some where performance related expect around £200. Depends on the setup and whether they need to add extra parts or mess about with stuck bolts, etc.

 

[mdg]

Don't want anything fancy. Just want 'em pointing forward.

 

[stockcar]

if you put later shocks on its possible to end up with little or no camber on the rear due to the different methods between the 2x chassis in achieving the factory settings (approx -1.5deg)
to solve this you will almost definately need a set of rear camber bolts to be able to dial in the correct amount of negative camber

alyn

 

[Neil8p]

I took mine to a garage in Grimsby and had the wheel alignment done for £45, then went to cleethorpes for fish and chips :biggrin:

 

[mdg]

I took mine to a garage in Grimsby and had the wheel alignment done for £45, then went to cleethorpes for fish and chips :biggrin:

Sounds like the next run out then. Was thinking £30 to £50 is enough to pay.

 

[fpan]

You can waste 50 pounds and achieve nothing (then have to redo it) or pay up to 125 and come out with a totally different car. Which one would you prefer?
I have tried both so speak from bitter experience.

 

[Gigsy]

Best thing is to phone around locally... I just paid £58 inc VAT for mine but it does depend on how much they need to adjust. As for camber, mine was out at the rear after changing the shocks and even though there's no adjustment at the rear, when they sorted the toe, it pulled the camber back into alignment.

Well worth getting it done though - will drive better and should reduce tyre wear - could even improve MPG, though not by a lot ;o)

 

[Neil8p]

You can waste 50 pounds and achieve nothing (then have to redo it) or pay up to 125 and come out with a totally different car. Which one would you prefer?
I have tried both so speak from bitter experience.

Or you can spend £50 wisely with someone you know and trust to do a proper job. :biggrin: It's a fair comment though, I've paid out for poor service in the past and cannot find anyone local I trust so I have to travel.

 

[Gigsy]

Or you can spend £50 wisely with someone you know and trust to do a proper job. :biggrin: It's a fair comment though, I've paid out for poor service in the past and cannot find anyone local I trust so I have to travel.

Too true.

Have a look at www.AlignMyCar.co.uk

AFAIK, all or the garages listed use the Pro Align, Hunter equipment which is very good (and expensive) kit.

 

[tess daz]

Im still looking for someone to do this for me as i have also changed the shocks for wrx ones, whilst i was doing this i noticed that the top bolts on the hub side were camber bolts???? so how do they work???

 

[Gigsy]

Im still looking for someone to do this for me as i have also changed the shocks for wrx ones, whilst i was doing this i noticed that the top bolts on the hub side were camber bolts???? so how do they work???

They're like an eccentric cam... depending on their orientation, they change the camber angle of the hub.

 

[Legacy]

however if you take it some where performance related expect around £200. .

Jeebus ! £200 ?? I can't think of a single shop here that would charge that much, even if you include a set of $50 camber bolts. It should not take more than 1hr to do it but my mate from the UK has told me serving over there is sometimes 2x what it costs here even for simple things like an oil change.


I looked a that link and have an issue with this statment:

How much can I expect to pay for a Four Wheel Alignment?

The general rule of thumb is that the total cost of a four wheel measurement and adjustment will be similar to the cost of a tyre for the car in question. Clearly a performance car or one with many more adjustments becomes more involved and takes longer..

IMO the 2 are completly unrelated. An alignment is an alignment, it has nothing to do with the cost of a tire which can be an expensive or cheap tire. At least for a Subaru, there is no difference between setting up an STI vs a base Impreza or Forester. The adjustments are done the same way and take the same amount of time. The pictures below are from an STI Impreza, my Forester XT looks exaclty the same underneath

There's only one bolt to adjust in the rear (per side)

And in the front its loosen the 19mm nut on the tie rod then adjust the tie rod to increase/decrease toe.

If you have a few simple tools you can do it in your driveway with a high level of accuracy.

-22mm Combination Wrench
-19mm Combination Wrench (or large crescent wrench)
-17mm Combination Wrench
-13mm Combination Wrench
-Rubber Mallet


HowTo: 4 wheel alignment (toe and thrust angle) - NASIOC

 

[Elmy]

Over here they just charge you for 1.5h work for a 4wd alignment. :shrug:
Since most shops takes around 150$ per hour here you can imagine it's not very cheap. :crazy:

 

[Gigsy]

HowTo: 4 wheel alignment (toe and thrust angle) - NASIOC

Just a quick note, whilst this link is an excellent write up, it only covers adjusting the alignment of the wheels front to rear (thrust angle) and across the track (toe angle)... it doesn't cover camber adjustment which is also important for tyre wear / handling.

The prices mentioned above are for a full geometry set up in most cases (mine is at least) so will be a bit more involved.

I think we're guilty over here of using the wrong terms... we use "4 wheel alignment" when we mean "full geometry set up" and "tracking" when we mean doing the alignment.

 

[Legacy]

Just a quick note, whilst this link is an excellent write up, it only covers adjusting the alignment of the wheels front to rear (thrust angle) and across the track (toe angle)... it doesn't cover camber adjustment which is also important for tyre wear / handling.

The prices mentioned above are for a full geometry set up in most cases (mine is at least) so will be a bit more involved.

I think we're guilty over here of using the wrong terms... we use "4 wheel alignment" when we mean "full geometry set up" and "tracking" when we mean doing the alignment.

We just say "alignment" here, you get a front alignment for $50 or 4 wheel for $80-100. What is a full geometry setup ?

That is correct, it doesn't describe setting up camber but that is even easier. Each strut is attacehd by 2 bolts at the base near the axel. In the front the top bolt is the camber bolt, the rears don't have camber bolts from the factory. ( I use H&R camber bolts in the rear.) Anyway, you loosen the nuts on both bolts (otherwise the camber bolt won't turn) and adjust the camber bolt to give the desired camber. Tighten the bottom nut then hold the camber bolt with a wrench (if it moves you change camber and have to start over) and tighten the top nut. Presto !

Truth be told, there's not a whole lot of adjustability with the camber bolts so I always max them out negative. That is to say if you were looking dead on from the front you'd see the top of the disc brake lean towards the car. That's negative camber. There's maybe 1-1.5 degrees of adjustiblity with camber bolts. Thats why I run camber plates. I can dial in another 3 degrees with them.

Again, adusting camber is a cinch and is part of the 1 hr job alignment shops do here in town. The sequence is : install suspension, adjust camber, thrust angle and then toe.

 

[Gigsy]

We just say "alignment" here, you get a front alignment for $50 or 4 wheel for $80-100. What is a full geometry setup ?

That is correct, it doesn't describe setting up camber but that is even easier. Each strut is attacehd by 2 bolts at the base near the axel. In the front the top bolt is the camber bolt, the rears don't have camber bolts from the factory. ( I use H&R camber bolts in the rear.) Anyway, you loosen the nuts on both bolts (otherwise the camber bolt won't turn) and adjust the camber bolt to give the desired camber. Tighten the bottom nut then hold the camber bolt with a wrench (if it moves you change camber and have to start over) and tighten the top nut. Presto !

Truth be told, there's not a whole lot of adjustability with the camber bolts so I always max them out negative. That is to say if you were looking dead on from the front you'd see the top of the disc brake lean towards the car. That's negative camber. There's maybe 1-1.5 degrees of adjustiblity with camber bolts. Thats why I run camber plates. I can dial in another 3 degrees with them.

Again, adusting camber is a cinch and is part of the 1 hr job alignment shops do here in town. The sequence is : install suspension, adjust camber, thrust angle and then toe.

Full geometry setup is camber, toe, thrust and, if adjustable, castor.

As you say, adjusting the camber is quite easy but to set it accurately, you need a gauge really - you could do it with a spirit level or a plumbline but it's a lot easier with a proper gauge. Also, just maxing the bolts out doesn't necessarily result in equal camber on both sides.

The guys that do my geometry use a system that mounts to each wheel and measures all of the above and allows them to adjust very accurately. Once it's all done, I get a nice printout of the before and after measurements to take home with me :biggrin:

To be honest, for the £60 they charge, it's a lot let stress to have them do it - plus I can leave the car there all day and save myself the cost of parking which offsets the £60 a bit, they make a mean cup of tea too! :biggrin:

 

[deebom]

I paid £30 for mine in Brockley South East London. They give you a before and after print out so you can see the difference.

 

[jdmforest]

this is an interesting thread, and makes me wonder if i cn hav a go myself.......
would you put a spirit level across the face of the wheel?

 

[Gigsy]

For camber? Yes you could but you'd need to be sure the ground was exactly level or work out the amount of compensation you'd need to allow for in order to take accurate measurements