Wheel Alignment Truths??

[vnsmanual]

Hey everyone ive got a vn sedan thats sitting on 18inch wh grange wheels. I have only put these on in the last few days, with brand new tyres. I also have changed my steering rack recently.

Doing all this menat i needed a wheel aligment so i booked it into the local place i always do it at. left it there all day, went to pick it up at 2pm like they said only to be told they couldnt do it.

Turns out they can only do wheel aligments on 15 inch and smaller wheels, for cars with larger wheels they usually take the larger wheels off (my case the 18's) and put 15's on. then carry out the aligment then swap it back.

The reason they couldnt do this today was because they couldnt find my lock nut key. ive booked back in for wednesday and will provide them the key. However im skeptical about how good of an aligment i will be getting. I was always told that bigger wheels menat aligment, so how can aligning with smaller wheels make a difference?

Should i allow them to do the aligmnet with 15 inch wheels like they say they are suppoused to, or should i take it somewhere else? will having the aligment done with 15's make a difference when the 18's are put back on?

THanks!

[hakhawk]

yeh..... id be finding another place to do wheel alignments.

[thewheeldeal com au]

The Alignment will make little difference with 15's or 18's if it is done correctly ..... however...if their alignment machine doesn't accept anything over 15" wheels I would be questioning just how old the alignment machine is and how often it is calibrated. Modern wheel alignment machines are highly sophisticated pieces of scientific equipment which need to be calibrated regularly to maintain accuracy.

Personally I would not want my vehicle aligned with wheels that aren't on the car regularly. Since the measurements are so precise I wouldn't trust even the slightest change in setup to give an accurate alignment.

[vnsmanual]

Alright looks like i will be booking it in else where, better to get it done right i think. Theres just gonna be a wait of a few days to get it done! Thanks for confirming what i suspected.

[vn_v6]

dont, DONT DONT DONT do it with stockies then go to rims, i did that mistake and now cause of my rim width offset ect it has to much neg camber, and toe in, wearing inside of my tyres out, and FIDGETY AS HELL, hits bumps and pulls toward them really ahrd,

[delcowizzid]

toe in and camber wont change with bigger rims and on a vn there is bugger all adjustment on the front for camber and caster anyway .normally just turn the strut tops to the full caster position and do toe or if you ask they can slot the holes and get it closer or you are stuck with having to fit adjustable strut tops to get it perfect.

[vnsmanual]

Well ive got adjustable strut tops already. i agree with vn_v6 about bigger wheels upseting the aligment. just upgrading from the 16's to 18's made it heaps worse. the aligment is worse since upgrading, alot more steering wheel viubration and movemnet, especially around 60km up. Think its best to find a place with newer machinery that accepts 18's.

[delcowizzid]

1 degree of toe in is 1 degree of toe in wether you have big wheels or not same with camber the degrees never change its more the rolling unsprung mass of the bigger wheel

[Maxxiz]

Yeah go somewhere else. I got mine done a month or so back with my 19's.

[10WVN]

kinda same issue i went from 15's to 17's they did an alignment with 17's but it just doesnt feel as right as it did with the 15's . . got a new steering rack put on as well but yeh seem to feel better with a ****ed steering rack and 15's lol

[Adds_05]

what a load of shit,their alignment machine must be atleast 50 years old if thats the case,go somewhere else

[vnsmanual]

knowing the place it is probably abiut 50 yeras old, glad i asked, and glad ithey couldnt find my lock nut key lol

[vnsmanual]

anyone whos interested this is the place lol

[Maxxiz]

Looks farkin dodgy as hell lol

[Macca86]

Yeah I def wouldnt be takin my car there. lol. Jesus, I work at a workshop and none of us have ever even heard of a wheel alignment setup that only goes as big as 15" :O lol

[vkberlina]

To align to factory specs a good opperator on an old machine can do simple or factory specs quite well. Having said that I know my local tire guy really well and have often assisted him doing alignments on my car. He does my work ute and my wifes car fine which are both standard run of the mill cars on a very old machine. But when it comes to my VK I dont believe its up to scratch with adjustable camber & caster I go to a place with a computerised machine that gives me a readout before and after and they can set it nearly exactly to what I specify. This also costs more money for the alignment nealt 3 times what i get charged for the cfheaper machine, but in my view its worth it.

cheers
Scott

[vnsmanual]

Ive booked it in at bob jane in traralagon. $55 bucks compared to the $40 that i was gonna pay at the dodgy joint but the difference is easily worth it. lol at all the commments about the place, its old as the hills, bloke who run it is to. mums always used him for alignments over the years, ive told her not to from now on lol

[vnsmanual]

yeah id rather get it done to spec with the 18's on so i dont end up with un even wear ect. Ive got adjustable strut tops so that so assist them a bit further. Goes in on friday morning, ill let you all now how it goes.