Team-BHP - Wheel Alignment & Balancing

Quote:

Originally Posted by Simple_car (Post 3236999)

2 places near Juhu that I frequent, both are in santacruz:

1. Saifee tyre shop. Does the balancing on machine, but alignment by HAND. Don't know why, but it works very well.. Premium cars are often seen there for their alignment purposes. I get my premium car done there as well. No issues till now in my alignment. Issue: pricey in my opinion, especially when you consider the other guy.

2. Straight line: The shop is in a sort of shabby area and first impressions are not going to be good, but the job done is very good. Most of my cars get the alignment done here due to the reasonable rates and a good job. Issue: the grease-monkeys will spoil your interiors somehow. You need to be stern with the guys there and tell very clearly that you will not like anyone entering just for their entertainment. Otherwise, they do an excellent job and will persist till you are satisfied.

Don't know any good shop in the lokhandwala or malad region. You can find both of these shops in the directory section.

Thanks,
Simple_car

Which one does an overall better job? Can you let me know the exact location over the PM? Thanks!

Guys, need your help in deciphering attached wheel alignment reports

1st three are wa reports from mrf tyredrome chennai, who said that my front rhs tie rod was jammed, which resulted in me losing the front two tyres to uneven wear.

They swapped my rear tyres with my fron tyres & adviced me to get the tie road set right at a MASS

I went to Maruti service master's in guindy chennai & attachement 1 005 is the report after alignment..

i feel that the car pulls to right when i center my steering wheel, so i tilt to left to correct this..

please advice on how i should go about correcting it, i dont want to lose two more tyres.

thanks

Did wheel alignment, balancing and tyre rotation on My 2010 Fiesta on saturday. I am facing an increased trye noise and slight vibration in steering wheel. Will bad balancing or alignment increase the tyre noise? This is the second time that I am facing this after doing wheel alignment & balancing at Metro Ford. This time it was done at Quick Lane and I could see them doing it. What I found that even after balancing there was around 20 -30 gms imbalance in the rear wheels. I found this after asking them to take a reading of the wheel after they stuck the weight (which they normally don't do). Then they argued with me that the rim has wobble and they cannot correct this. I am planning to take it to a wheel alignment center. Question is should I do only balancing & alignment or balancing alone would do?

The reason why I did it in Metro Ford is that the car is company leased. They will pay only for routine service. If I have to get it done outside, I have to pay (which I did last time).

The tyres are 34 K Kms old and do not have unever wear. The front tyres have 4.5 mm tread depth and rear tyres have 3 mm tyre depth. When should I replace the tyres. I am a spirited driver and drive at 100 - 140 KM/H on express ways.

I have Michelin XM1+ 185/65R14 in my Ford Figo and it has done 40K KMs now. A months back i have done tyre rotation. After that, i am seeing the tyre noise increased. Will tyre rotation be the reason for this? I am planning to do wheel alignment and balancing soon to check if there is any problem and any reduction of tyre noise.

Hey Team,

When we get our wheels aligned what is the allowable differential between the reading of the left & right wheel??

I have been made to understand that if we have a 4.0 reading on one of the wheels we cannot expect to have the exact same on the other, and hence would like to understand how this actually works..

I did alignment at Tire Empire HSR which is close to my place. Bot the front lower arms are changed and alignment done after that. The car pulls to the left slightly. I am attaching the toe values here. Can someone tell me whether alignment is correct? Both tires are of similar condition.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kutlee (Post 3391093)

Your front camber is off.

The left wheel has -12 mins of camber and the right wheel has -39 minutes of camber.

This is causing the car to pull left slightly. (Negative camber means the wheel is tilted inwards. In your case, the right tyre is leaning inwards causing pull to the left).

Did a wheel alignment, balancing and rotation (X) on my 48000+ kms run Vista with 5500 kms run Michelin XM2s at Tyre Care. After the rotation and alignment, car started pulling to the left. The technician took nearly two hours for the job as against the normal 15 mins. I think he messed up with the settings. Even changing tyres to different position didn't solve the issue. In the process one wheel nut got damaged. He put the car couple of times on Hunter and Hofmann machines, still pulling persisted. At one point he tried to swap the edges of the front tyres. I asked him the purpose of "Outside" mentioned on the sidewall and said big no. Then he consulted another technician, both took a trial and worked together on the car. Finally the pulling issue was solved. Albeit there is no pulling, I feel the difference in steering response at slow speeds. I need to turn the steering more than usual at slow speeds. Steering lacks response till 1/4th of the turn.

Moreover after the wheel alignment, I noticed the difference in the steering left and right end positions. Left spin takes a 1/4th spin more than the right spin to reach the far end. Does that mean left and right turning radius is not same? Is it something to do with Tie-rod adjustment? Experts, what needs to be done? TIA

Quote:

Originally Posted by kutlee (Post 3391093)

I think your car is pulling to the left because the road is crowned towards the left and your toe values are 0, hence the car will pull to which ever direction the road is crowed towards. If there was a slight toe in, the car would not pull, Whats happening now is normal. The camber values are within specifications so nothing needs to be done to the suspension at all.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arun.K (Post 3426816)

Albeit there is no pulling, I feel the difference in steering response at slow speeds. I need to turn the steering more than usual at slow speeds. Steering lacks response till 1/4th of the turn.

... I noticed the difference in the steering left and right end positions. Left spin takes a 1/4th spin more than the right spin to reach the far end. Does that mean left and right turning radius is not same? Is it something to do with Tie-rod adjustment? Experts, what needs to be done? TIA

Free play, and non-symmetric L to R articulation indicates that the problem could be with your steering assembly or suspension or both.
It could be indicative of worn ball joints, center link, idler arm, loose tie rod ends , steering column flexible couplings, steering box gear is worn etc.
You need to put the vehicle on a lift, and have the mechanic try to locate the reason by pushing/pulling each junction in turn to see if there is something off.

Quote:

Originally Posted by joybhowmik (Post 3426872)

Just before alignment my Vista went for scheduled service to TASC. I asked them to a do a complete suspension checkup. They said everything is normal. Even the alignment guys checked for any suspension shake by pushing/pulling the wheels.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arun.K (Post 3427257)

If they did all this on a lift, and still found nothing, then I guess by process of elimination it would seem to be the steering itself.