Four wheel alignment
 

Had my car in at www.mrctuning.com today for a health check and a new lambda, the only thing wrong with it is an off side track rod end which I am having replaced on Wednesday with a new one from Audi. I need to get the four wheel alignment (tracking) done after this. MRC wanted £95 which I thought was a little to much, so I asked the local tyre place and they said £45 and Kwick fitt want only £27.50. Audi want £250 :ROFL:

Will Kwick Fitt be okay to do this? They also quoted me £5.50 each for wheel balancing which I will get checked when there too..

Anyone used Kwick fitt for four wheel alignment before?

£27.50? for 4 wheel alignment? sounds far too cheap to me, are you sure thats not just for 2 wheel? I've never heard of 4 wheel for that price! I paid 80 squids for a laser 4 wheel alignment (which i still thought was expensive but now looks reasonable) but it took them a good 45 minutes. I suspect the cheaper price is for the old fashioned mirrors on a stick front end only, which having had it done (unbeknownst to me) on a car that need a 4 set up had it crabbing in a most disturbing fashion, scaring me half to death :D....they use the backs to set the fronts...if the backs are bandy the fronts are made miles out!

Yeah, I mentioned it was quattro a few times and he said yeah that £27.50 is still corrrect and he had all the details for the car. Just need to know weather I should trust Kwick Fitt or go elsewhere...?

yup, sounds like its not laser alignment. although mitcheldever tyres in winchester did my old A4 in 30mins, and i think it was about £40-60. but i had already payed out for a local place to set it (£25), and it then went on to eat a set of tyres, i was not impressed. to be fair, it took them over an hour to do as they couldnt get some of hte adjusters to move, which is probably how the second place did it so quickly!

if they wont give you a print out, and dont use laser kit, dont bother.

Amar,

You'd probably do a better job yourself with a pole and a couple of mirrors than giving it to Twit Fit, and you'll save £27.50.

Take it to a professional who has a good rep on the forums. Ask around on TSN.

Steve

Its a case of you get what you pay for I think.....

I would avoid Kwik fit with any car I liked, never mind loved. They're used to doing Ford Escorts and Vauxhall Astras - Not sure they've even seen anything with 20" wheels before....

I paid about £250 for a full 4 wheel suspension levelling and laser alignment on the RS6. It was worth every penny. 4 hours of adjustment later It came out like a totally different car. It was doing by a proper racing specialist, not a tyre place who are used to making a fiver for fitting valves and balancing when they occasionally see an alloy....

The £95 you were quoted could well be reasonable......

The '4-wheel' alignment that the likes of Kwik-Fit do doesn't take into account the whole car, it just alignes the front wheels to the back ones and each other, your car could still appear to crab, etc.

A proper place will align the wheels with the chassis, etc and let you know if they're out.

you could always try www.AlignMyCar.co.uk gives you the low down on what is what in wheel alignment and give location of peoples that have 4 wheel equipment in you're area..........it's only for 1 manufacturer of wheel alignment equipment but its a start!

I knew it was worth asking here, I just thought that seeing as Kwick Fitt were such a big company they might have the right stuff but I will have a look around now and I will NOT be using them. They did tell me at MRC it would be Lazer and they would give me a print out of what it was like before and after. Ian, that £250 one is interesting. I have some KW Coilovers, but I won't be fitting them till later on in the year (don't ask why!) so will leave an expensive option like that till after then if I think I need it. Will have a look around otherwise I'm happy to let MRC do it.

Thanks for the link, nearest one is 1.68 miles away. Will give them a buzz. One of the local tyre places that is huge in Warwick took one look at it and said 'nah, we don't want to do that. Had to do one before and its too hard'.