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Originally Posted by Ravindra M Last month I got the front wheel alignment done at Madhus ( Langford Rd) for my Ford Ikon. Rear wheels adjustment not possible I was told.
Everything went well, job done quickly.
However I have an observation. I read the instructions which were displayed on the screen. It suggested to bounce the front of the car a few times inbetween the adjustment process ( to settle the new adjustment properly ?) ... but the guys did not follow that. Upon prompting, they nodded it is not needed. Somehow I am not convinced. |
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Originally Posted by sagarpadaki Even I have observed this and have got the same reply when I pointed it out to them. My question is why would a manufacturer include this step if its not important?Surely everyone wants as minimum steps to finish the job. Hence if the manufacturer has included this bouncing the wheels step it must have some significance .
Maybe Nikhil can throw some light on why its skipped ? |
Jouncing is to be done when the car just been jacked up and the suspension has been unloaded. In our case, because we drive the car (for a few metres) from the tyre changing/balancing area to the alignment area, the suspension would have already settled into it's normal position so jouncing is not really required.
Jouncing is useful to make sure the suspension is settled in it's normal/default position while it is being aligned.
In any case, if you have any doubts, you can always insist on the jouncing to be done but given what the suspension goes through while it is being driven in for an alignment, it doesnt matter.
Jouncing is more useful in foreign countries where they do a lot of work on the alignment pit/alignment scissor lift. They lift the car to check various things. Sometimes they even remove the tyres to check the brakes. So, the vehicle is lifted with a jack and this causes the suspension to be in an unloaded position. Then when they lower the vehicle, the suspension would not have settled completely. To make sure it settles, the software recommends that the technician jounce the car.
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Originally Posted by shankar.balan Not able to understand this. My vehicle is an AWD and every time I go for wheel alignment and balancing, I have to perforce get all 4 wheels aligned and balanced. |
As Vidyuth has mention in the posts above mine, 4WD and 2WD have nothing to do with the alignment.
If the manufacturer has designed the suspension in such a way that the toe, caster and camber are adjustable, then we can do it.
For most cars in India, only front toe is adjustable.
Some cars (like the Civic) have front toe and rear toe adjustable.
Some older cars like the Lancer, Baleno, Esteem had front toe and camber and rear toe and camber adjustable. On these cars we can do a Total Wheel Alignment.
To adjust camber or caster where it is not adjustable, most mechanics dismantle part of the suspension and work on it. They either use shims or camber bolts. This work usually takes a couple of hours and mechanics charge a good amount as well.
We dont do this at our showroom as we feel we are not qualified to do this. Any mistake made by our technician could lead to further problems and cause problems with the manufacturer.