Kwik-Fit Wheel Alignment - Can it be Trusted

[sharpie]

i guys

on the off-chance i called my local kwik-fit about getting much needed wheel alignment done, expecting them to be unwilling, however the guy found the alignment data on his system so its booked in for this week on the laser system ... i asked him if this was for LHD on uk roads but he didnt know, basically saying hed just set up as per numbers on system and thats that

anyone had this done, is it trusted data ? i told him i could supply the correct settings but he said if its on the system he would just use that

[SAV@RPM]

I wouldn’t trust them to service a wheelbarrow.

[Pete]

In a word "No!"

I bet they do not even know what Imperial measurements are! Let alone how a LHD car drives on roads with a different camber.

On a Road car, I would personally set the Front suspension for max Caster, Ignore Camber, and about 1/8" Toe in.

Depending on how well the car was built back in the day, you may get excessive tyre wear with that set up, so you may have to back off the caster to improve the camber, but it will make the car less stable in a straight line.

You will get next to no Caster on a Mopar. I was amazed to get 3 degrees both side on the Super Bee.

It's a bit like choosing Oil - everyone will have an opinion on what is best...

[Super Sloth]

Mate of mine took his car to Bananarama!-fit for tyres...
The fitter puts the tyres on and says "you need rear shocks as the old ones are worn out". My mate then gets this idiot to write this information out in the form of a quote. He then says... "right now you can put it up on a ramp and show me why it needs new rear shocks." Bloke agrees... at this point he points out the shiny new shocks that he had installed them himself only a week ago.
The manager was called and faced with the possibility that it was going to get very grown up... he ultimately left with free tyres.

[Dave81]

Kwick Bananarama!.

I'd not let them near anything with wheels or a motor.

Specialist American place is what i'd be looking for.
I would also get the facts and figures myself and provide them, so at least i know they are looking at the right car/era.

[autofetish]

Where are you based ?

[Blue]

I wouldn't trust Kwik fit to tell me what day of the week it was...

[latil]

Kwik fit? The manager at our branch was a McDonalds manager in his last job. Wouldn't go near them for anything.

[sharpie]

Where are you based ?

manchester !

seems to be a consensus here ...

[autofetish]

I would give Duncan a call as closer to you

I’m In Shrewsbury and if you can make the trip Mike evans is the man here.

Wheel alignment full 4x4 1000hp dyno you name it

Don’t be fooled by the fancy website its a down to earth honest garage where you can sit in the workshop watching what they are doing they will happily teach you how to do it.

Tell him Will with the fuel injected 68 charger sent you.

I’m 1mile away and pop in weekly he dynos and tracks all my stuff.

PM me if your coming we can take charger out and go find vauxhall Corsa‘s to feed it


https://mikeevansmotorsport.com/

[MrNorm]

Kwik-Fit Wheel Alignment - Can it be Trusted?

OK.....looks like that would be a 'No' then

[Dave999]

Or
do it yourself.

drive it back and forth along a curb to get the steering centred not the steering wheel the steering. if you can go back at forth at will and not have to correct to avoid hitting the curb eventually....its centred
now sort the steering wheel
add or remove the same amount from each track rod until the steering wheel is where you want it.
and check that the inner track rod ends are same distance from the chassis rail each side

drive to a flat level and beautifully smooth place

put your spirit level or plumb bob against the wheel and check it is upright it probably won't be
put a blob of white at the fattest bit of the front upper control arm adjustment cam, and wind it round so that the fat/white blob bit points directly in to the centre of the car.
do the same on the back but wind it so the fat bit points directly out at the interior of the wing.

The aim here is to get the upper control arm to swing the upper ball joint back a bit so that if you draw a line through the upper and lower joint it would hit the road in front of the middle of the contact patch of the tyre. this is to provide shopping trolley wheel, style castor action

bounce the car up and down.. stand on then lift from the front bumper 3 times each side

check how bad the wheel camber is with your spirit level/plumb bob i bet the top of the wheel sticks out while the bottom seems tucked
if the top of the wheel sticks out and the bottom seems tucked in start turning the cam bolt at the back a bit until its fat side starts to push out the back mount a bit, then the wheel starts to get more upright
do the same on the other side.
you want about the same degree of in-out top to bottom for both sides... but if stuck if one has more top in and bottom out let it be the kerb side

get two thin sewing needles
push them into the centre of the tred, one on each tyre at the back and just below the sill facing rear of car. you will want to run thread from 1 to the other
pull cotton through one needle eye and knot one end. pull it through the other side and slightly taught under the car but not touching anything put a felt pen ink blodge on it where it passes through the other needle eye

pull out cotton
carefully roll car forward so that your needles point forward and just below the bumper/ valance
repeat the process
if the ink blodge is 1-4 mm outside of the needle eye all good
if it is inside the needle eye
twist each track rod 1/8 of a turn to push the rear of the wheels out a tiny smidge (draw a line on the track rod sleeve directly down and use it as a marker and draw the direction you need to turn it increase toe in on there as well)

check again if too much its back the other way

repeat until the front of the wheels point in a bit, and the difference on your thread is, ink mark more than 1mm past the second needle eye aim for 2-3

go for a drive

check
1) if you let go of the steering does it self centre...?? Important. it should. if it doesn't the rear cam needs to be adjusted back again a bit which will make the top of the wheel stick out and the bottom tuck in slightly. stand on the bumper and lift the bumper again 3 times to settle it after change and measure again
2) check the steering wheel is centred... if not you need to add to one track rod and remove from the other
3) if it pulls to one side you may well have more camber on 1 wheel and less on the other adjust the side that it pulls to.

better than kwick fit but not as good as having a camber castor and tracking set.

But only worth doing if the bushes are good
worn out upper or lower bushes means the set up you do today is only correct up to the point you drive it...then its anybody's guess

keep an eye on the edges of the tread on the front. if it looks scrubbed too much toe in and the needles and thread check will be needed again.

it takes about 70 miles to ruin a perfectly good set of front tyres i found that out after rally X ing my car across the field at santa pod. cam bolts at the top twisted round and my wheels were set up all squinty for the drive home. i wondered why i had to hang on to the wheel so tight.... absolutely bloody terrifying when it rained...shoulda just stopped and fixed it

i.e you will know pretty instantly if your work has had a positive effect on driving pleasure


Dave

[Motorama]

interesting read, ive got a 2004 SRT10 Ram, the previous owner had the alignment done over here, i can only assume its been set neutral rather than for our cambered roads as you always have to keep it right or it pulls left, looking for someone knows what they are doing to adjust it

[JinxJay]

i guys

on the off-chance i called my local kwik-fit about getting much needed wheel alignment done, expecting them to be unwilling, however the guy found the alignment data on his system so its booked in for this week on the laser system ... i asked him if this was for LHD on uk roads but he didnt know, basically saying hed just set up as per numbers on system and thats that

anyone had this done, is it trusted data ? i told him i could supply the correct settings but he said if its on the system he would just use that

hey Henry. let me know and i'll do it for you.

[sharpie]

cheers men, all good responses, ive canned kwik-fit and followed up a few of the posts on here (can you its believe fourth year of my three grand import as a daily driver ! crazy)

thanks