Tracking ???

theclonetrooper

I have a question about "Tracking" on a car
short story first so please bear with me...thank you.
Was in Bathwick tyres first thing on Friday morning having a new NSF tyre fitted due to finding a rather nasty "bulge " on the side wall when doing my weekly fuel fill up & tyre pressure checks on Thursday evening and the "bulge" wasn't there the week before. When the wheel was taken off the young chap said "your tracking is out & your CV gaiter is split", "oh " I said, "how's that?"
"there is wear on the inside edge of the tyre & there is grease on the tyre".
Sure enough there was a small split in the gaiter, found it after getting grease on my hand & also there was a 1/2 inch smooth band right on the in-side edge of the tyre, (bit of a !!!!!! as the tyre was only 6-7 months old & done about 8000 miles).
He offered to do the tracking for £34.50, but there would be a 30min wait as the tracking bay had a car on the ramp & 2 more waiting in the queue, I politely said no as it would be a waste of time, (& money), if I was going to put the car in the garage to get the CV boot changed they could do the tracking then.
The car upon the ramp having it tracking done was a Volvo estate & the mechanic said to the oldish chap who's car it was, "Your tracking is 2mm out"
Here is my question, what would happen to the car if the tracking was left "2mm" out ?, would it just be uneven tyre wear ? or something more serious ?

theclonetrooper

theclonetrooper wrote: »

I have a question about "Tracking" on a car
short story first so please bear with me...thank you.
Was in Bathwick tyres first thing on Friday morning having a new NSF tyre fitted due to finding a rather nasty "bulge " on the side wall when doing my weekly fuel fill up & tyre pressure checks on Thursday evening and the "bulge" wasn't there the week before. When the wheel was taken off the young chap said "your tracking is out & your CV gaiter is split", "oh " I said, "how's that?"
"there is wear on the inside edge of the tyre & there is grease on the tyre".
Sure enough there was a small split in the gaiter, found it after getting grease on my hand & also there was a 1/2 inch smooth band right on the in-side edge of the tyre, (bit of a !!!!!! as the tyre was only 6-7 months old & done about 8000 miles).
He offered to do the tracking for £34.50, but there would be a 30min wait as the tracking bay had a car on the ramp & 2 more waiting in the queue, I politely said no as it would be a waste of time, (& money), if I was going to put the car in the garage to get the CV boot changed they could do the tracking then.
The car upon the ramp having it tracking done was a Volvo estate & the mechanic said to the oldish chap who's car it was, "Your tracking is 2mm out"
Here is my question, what would happen to the car if the tracking was left "2mm" out ?, would it just be uneven tyre wear ? or something more serious ?

SHORT VERSION OF ABOVE POST
If a cars tracking is "out" by 2mm, what would happen to the car?

closed

uneven wear, possibly pulling to one side, or not going in a straight line when steering wheel is straight.

It's generally a good idea to check the gaiters, before letting a mechanic near them

forgotmyname

Tyre wear, Steering wander and it will use more fuel because its scrubbing the tyre.

The 2 tyres are not pointing the same direction. When one is going straight ahead the other one is trying to make a turn.

Tiny amounts but its there. Depends where they took the 2mm measurement from, Rim or tyre.

Ive seen tyres scrapped with less than 1000 miles on them.

Also because of the extra wear your losing grip much faster on that tyre.

theclonetrooper

closed wrote: »

uneven wear, possibly pulling to one side, or not going in a straight line when steering wheel is straight.

It's generally a good idea to check the gaiters, before letting a mechanic near them

Thanks for your reply.
I did have a feel of the gaiter and it has a small split in it, I would do it myself but quite a few years ago I had a Renault 5 and did the gaiters on that with my brother-in-law and boy was it a pig of a job to do on the side of the road, I can remember the gaiter being thrown down the road a few times because it would not go onto the drive shaft !:rotfl::rotfl:

Ultrasonic

Get the gaiter replaced then get the wheel alignment done. It would be daft to ignore it.

Check what adjustments are possible for the suspension of your car, and then get it aligned at a garage that will make all of the adjustments required. I say this as Kwik Fit wouldn't adjust the rear camber on my car (said it wasn't possible) but a 'proper' garage adjusted this no problem.

This is one site to help find garages that do proper 4 wheel alignment:

http://www.alignmycar.co.uk/

Richard53

I had a Mini back in the early 80s, fitted new tyres all round and had the tracking checked and adjusted at the garage's recommendation. 1000 miles later, I notice that the inner edge of one front tyre was down to the metal cords. I took it straight to the nearest garage (not the original one) who found that the track rod was loose, with only about one turn on the adjuster before it fell off. The wheel was basically pointing sideways, and ready to let go at any minute. Got a new tyre and the tracking adjusted right, no further problems.

Moral - if it's steering or brakes, get it checked and fixed. Don't leave it because "it's probably OK". It may not be, and the consequences could be serious.

worried_jim

Richard53 wrote: »

Moral - if it's steering or brakes, get it checked and fixed. Don't leave it because "it's probably OK". It may not be, and the consequences could be serious.

....and for God's sake don't take it to Kwik Fitt!

Richard53

worried_jim wrote: »

....and for God's sake don't take it to Kwik Fitt!

Goes without saying

EdGasket

I had 'tracking' done once at a tyre place; never again; terrible job. Car pulled heavily to the side. I reversed what they had done myself so that I could at least drive in a straight line and then just tweaked the track rod end adjustment until uneven tyre wear was eliminated. (wear on outer edge = too much toe-in and on inner edge = too much toe out). Best to get a good garage to do it rather than the apprentice at a tyre shop.

colino

Depends on the car, whether its FWD or RWD, was it 2mm out or was it 2degrees, and being, "out" was that measured from the central figure or the extreme + or - figure for tolerance. Could even depend on the rack and tre threads, a fine thread would take more turns for say a 2mm difference to be taken up. In general, with front wheel alignment; be there, make sure its not the apprentice looking slack jawed at the equipment and ensure, after "adjustment" that not only is the car settled again, but the figures are checked (and of course there are tool marks on the car).