Tracking/alignment worth it?

leitmotif

Hi all. My car just had it's MOT and the recommendation was that tracking needs to be done for the wheels, at a cost of £78. Having done a bit of research online, I've seen various opinions, ranging from 'best money I ever spent' to 'this is a well-known con'. Any thoughts?

Inner_Zone

Two wheel, four wheel, car?

cb1979

I take it the MOT station want to do the wheel alignment, £78 is far too much to pay, My local Tyre place do a proper 4 wheel alignment for £32.50 plus vat

If you tyres are show a funny wear pattern or you have hit a kerb/pothole with one of the front wheels it will possibly need doing, Just find somewhere decent to do it...ie not Kwikfit

reeac

Most likely the MOT tester has observed uneven wear across the width of the tires although no sufficient to lead to a fail. This uneven wear can get expensive ... far more than the cost of wheel alignment.

System

leitmotif wrote: »

Hi all. My car just had it's MOT and the recommendation was that tracking needs to be done for the wheels, at a cost of £78. Having done a bit of research online, I've seen various opinions, ranging from 'best money I ever spent' to 'this is a well-known con'. Any thoughts?

If the tracking is out then you'll end up with abnormal tyre wear, usually with the inside or outside 25% of the tyre wearing far faster than the rest. In extreme cases it can be down to the chords rendering the tyre illegal with the rest of the tyre still having several millimetres of tread left. £78 for that kind of tracking is ridiculous, ATS charge £45.

On my Mazda MX5 it has fully adjustable suspension front and rear so you can get an alignment done with specialists (usually motorsport, not Kwik-Fit, ATS or anyone like that) that will make it handle in very different ways depending on how you want it setting up, anything from doing long cruising down motorways and the like to setting up for racing tracks. Mine is currently set up for B road blasting and corners like you wouldn't believe but isn't the best on a motorway as it'll tramline more than it would if it was set up just for everyday use. Even with this specialist tracking at Roddisons Motorsport who are considered one of the top 3 for doing it on the MX5 I paid less than £50.

Crabman

Some places will let you view the current condition of the alignment (they'll have a system called Hunter alignment or similar) and then you can choose whether to go ahead.

EdGasketTheSecond

I had alignment done and it was terrible afterwards. Now I just do my own; if the tyres wear on the outside, toe it out and vice -versa if they wear on the inside. My tyres last ages now with even wear and no pull to the side unlike when I paid for an alignment!

I guess you can get good alignments if you know where to go and it isn't the saturday boy doing the job.

irc

How would they know? If they can point to uneven wear then possibly.

If the tyres have worn evenly, the car doesn't pull to either side on a flat road, and you haven't kerbed it hard then I wouldn't bother.

leitmotif

Thanks for the advice, all. The MOT was done with an official Honda dealership. Still, the tyre report says there's 3mm of tread (78% wear) on outer, middle and inner for near-side and off-side front tyres and 6mm of tread (31% wear) on outer, middle and inner for near-side and off-side rear tyres. I'd call that even wear. I'll just stick to the £390 for the big service and £144 for the new front tyres. Don't need to be parting with an extra £78 for something that doesn't seem necessary.

[Deleted User]

Run your hand along the tyre across the tread , not around the circumference. If it feels smooth in one direction and you feel raised edges moving your hand in the opposite direction then you have alignment issues. This is called feathering. It's hard to explain but you'll know if it's there.

ohreally

Deleted_User wrote: »

Run your hand along the tyre across the tread , not around the circumference. If it feels smooth in one direction and you feel raised edges moving your hand in the opposite direction then you have alignment issues. This is called feathering. It's hard to explain but you'll know if it's there.

Many individuals seem unable to detect this even when hand holding them through it.