Wheel alignment in the North East

[mcmaddy]

I paid £90 at Richard Martin and they've got the full daddy works Hunter Laser machine thing. The touchless I was talking about was a tyre removal machine at Tyre Spot when I got my tyres fitted and they managed to still scratch them. I'll definitely be using the mobile chap previously mentioned in this thread for next tyre fitting and not tyre spot, they just can't be trusted.

[Peter_S]

mkviken, ok it was the Cupra with DCC, got it.  That's good that they knew what DCC is :-)

If you're going to trust them with your wife's car, you must really like them!   That's good enough for me.

I suppose " R tyres" might have been mobile-tyres2U that Snoopy used?

Anyway it doesn't matter, you, Snoopy and the others have given me confidence to give the mobile outfits a try.

Peter_S

mkviken, I meant to ask - did/does your Clubsport S/GTI 7.5 230 have DCC ?

Peter_S

I was my Leon cupra that I took there and they used a hunter machine and they had the settings for DCC (which mine has)

Car was definitely better afterwards I’ll take my wife’s GTI in I think as I’ve just fitted 4 new tyres to each car


I got the tyres fitted by a mobile fitter - think it was we R tyres or something and he was excellent. Comes to your house or work

[Peter_S]

mkviken, that's great thanks.
The fact that they " ...did it without having to make an appointment" is important to me.
When I took the car in for its Express Visual Check the dealer quoted me £85, which at the time I thought was high.
Until now, I assumed that it was for the rears only as the fronts were ok.
I now realise that it might have been for all four.   
I'll check tomorrow and ask what equipment they use - I'd guess its Hunter because of the way they spell "tire".

Peter_S

mkviken, thanks that's really helpful.

Durham is only 24 miles from me and my son takes his Clio RS to the Renault garage so I know exactly where you mean.

As I asked mcfaddy earlier, is there anyone senior there you could reccommend I should ask to speak to/request to carry out the job?
Can you recall what alignment equipment they use?
Do you remember what their charges are?

Peter_S

No sure what the bloke was called but he was spot on. I think it was about £100 or so but can’t remember to be honest but it was about the same as anywhere else for a hunter alignment and they did it without having to make an appointment

[Peter_S]

mcmaddy, thanks for sharing that costs information with us.  Always useful to know.

I suppose the Durham TyreSpot fitters might have moved on since you had yours done (and better more considerate ones replaced them, hopefully).  It is still a concern though, I totally agree.

Peter_S

I paid £90 at Richard Martin and they've got the full daddy works Hunter Laser machine thing. The touchless I was talking about was a tyre removal machine at Tyre Spot when I got my tyres fitted and they managed to still scratch them. I'll definitely be using the mobile chap previously mentioned in this thread for next tyre fitting and not tyre spot, they just can't be trusted.

[Peter_S]

In the end I decided to take the car to a local VW dealer yesterday for the 4 wheel alignment (Hunter).

It was in fact £85 incl VAT for the alignment of the 4 wheels.

Thanks to everybody for their help and advice.

The steering wheel is very slightly off-centre to the right, which is annoying.

I've seen on another forum that says it's an easy diy fix. 
Apparently you need to screw the driver's side track rod out a bit and the other side track rod in a bit the same amount so it does not upset the wheel alignment until the wheel is straight.

Is it really as simple as that?

I'm taking it back to the dealer for them to fix and I'd like to be ready in case they say "that's tricky/costly to fix" or similar!

Peter_S

[mcmaddy]

If the alignment has been done correctly you shouldn't have an offset steering wheel. If you start fiddling with track rods then it was pretty pointless paying them for a 4 wheel alignment. Out of interest which dealer did you go to?

[Peter_S]

Let's see what their excuse is when I take it back next week.

I'll send you the dealer's name by PM if you don't mind.

Peter_S

If the alignment has been done correctly you shouldn't have an offset steering wheel. If you start fiddling with track rods then it was pretty pointless paying them for a 4 wheel alignment. Out of interest which dealer did you go to?

[Peter_S]

Just to let everyone know, I went back to the dealer yesterday and they had another go at a Hunter alignment, including taking it for a 7 mile test drive.

It seems ok now, the steering wheel seems nicely centred and the printout is showing all greens.

Peter_S