A Class Wheel Tracking/Alignment

[520se]

I put up a thread here a few days ago about my wife's A Class pulling to the left and the fact the wheels were corroded on.

I talked to our local tyre place on the phone and they said it would be OK to take it over to them to remove the wheels and grease up the joints. I got down there and they pointed out some cracking in the tyres on all four (something which I had already noticed) and they suggested I replace the tyres as they were the originals from manufacture and the car was now 4 years old. The fronts have uneven wear and the vehicle pulls to the left.

I asked about tracking because of the pull and after a quick consultation between them and many sharp intakes of breath they announced that they couldn't do it (something to do with the body shape?) and told me to contact the dealership.

Dealership said they want the vehicle for 4 hours at £90 an hour to do the tracking!!!!!!! The tyres are costing me £220, and they want another £360 for the tracking??????? The most I've ever paid for tracking was a tenner before now, the question is what the hell is going on? Surely this can't be right? Please can someone confirm what sounds like a shaggy dog story to me or tell me where I could get it done where they don't charge £90 an hour for this clearly high tech job. I am based in the West Midlands. :-|

 

[jonnyjohnson]

Your right it sounds like a rip off!!!!!! Why don?t you have a ring your local tyre dealers, try independents as opposed to nationals, ask them for a price for 4 tyres and would they do a wheel alignment check and adjust for free if you buy from them?

 

[EuroCLK320]

Body shape.... haaaa right! Tell 'em to get some proper up to date equipment.

The Merc dealership sound like they aint got a clue either if they think it takes 4 hours to track your vehicle... they must work very slowly!!

 

[OlafMaxwell]

I had mine done recently, just had new ball joints fitted, Merc main dealer charged ?80 [about £53] for checking and adjusting tracking, alignments, camber, toe in etc.....You get a computer print out showing design settings and recorded settings.

The labour charge here is ?80/hour too.....so that's one hour not 4!

 

[jberks]

There are different ways to track a Merc I believe. The menu price at my dealer is £220.

I tried qwikifit and they said they couldn't do it as the car needed to be weighted down.

I then took it to my local tyre fitter who happily did it for £25 !

I asked the fitter about weighting (which he didn't do) and he said it depends on the equipment used. I was suspicious at the time but it doesn't shake at 70 any more and stays solid and stable in a high speed sweeping bend (which it didn't) so I guess he's right.

 

[TimN]

It costs so much from MB because they have to run the car down to KwikFit with 4 mechanics in it. Weighting down sounds dodgy to me. Most journeys are done with one person sat in the driver's seat. Wieghting it evenly sounds like a wate of time. Are they saying that the car will only drive properly if you stick a bag of sand in each corner bar the driver's?

 

[EuroCLK320]

It costs so much from MB because they have to run the car down to KwikFit with 4 mechanics in it. Weighting down sounds dodgy to me. Most journeys are done with one person sat in the driver's seat. Wieghting it evenly sounds like a wate of time. Are they saying that the car will only drive properly if you stick a bag of sand in each corner bar the driver's?

ep.. German/MB efficiency as ever. They have to have the weights of all members of your family as well so i guess 4 hours aint so bad considering they have to ship in 4 goons of the correct weight so they can carry out the tracking.

What happens if you have your fat mother in law in the back some days and other days she sits in the front i wonder.. I think there should be extra settings on the memory seasts control that adjust the tracking for different loads too.. :mrgreen:

 

[SLinKyjoe]

i always have the fat monster-in-law in the back seat of my SLK......well i would have if i hadnt moved the wife on to pastures new 11 years ago....

i need to know what happens.....it seems that tracking can be anywhere from £5 a wheel up to what looks like £70 a wheel. there must be someone with proper knowlege....i cannot belive that you have to take your merc back to a main dealer to have it sorted.....its mechanical isnt it?

 

[520se]

LOL. Excellent posts - you put a smile on my wifes face AND mine. I'm going to phone around some local tyre places tomorrow to see what they all say. I will let you know what they reported in a day or so.

 

[pascal]

The labour charge here is ?80/hour too.....so that's one hour not 4!

Not quiet as dear as UK. £55 versus £90.

But an hour, that is how long it takes 'Advance' to do a tyre alingment on a W124, with their laser system. They have all that info up on the screen also, so I'm sure it could be printed out.

 

[mattwrigg]

There are different ways to track a Merc I believe. The menu price at my dealer is £220.

I tried qwikifit and they said they couldn't do it as the car needed to be weighted down.

I then took it to my local tyre fitter who happily did it for £25 !

I asked the fitter about weighting (which he didn't do) and he said it depends on the equipment used. I was suspicious at the time but it doesn't shake at 70 any more and stays solid and stable in a high speed sweeping bend (which it didn't) so I guess he's right.

JBerks: Can you let me know where you had this done please! I'm near Leeds too. I had the wheels tracked 5 months ago by a local garage, but it didn't do much for it, I should have gone back and complained but I didn't, damn.

Matt

 

[jberks]

Pop into Alba Tyres on Geldherd Road and speak to Tony. Amusingly the car park is usually full of Mercs from Derwent's, waiting for new tyres etc !
Phone no is 0113 2444462

He's pretty unbeatable on tyres too.

To be fair, this is the 3rd time he's done it, 1st time was spot on, second done as a precaution when I had 4 new tyres recently but it wasn't right after so I took it back a couple of weeks later and he went through it again - full re-balance and retrack all round (no charge) and all well again.

Anyone can make a mistake, its how they put it right that matters and full marks in his case. They have a laser kit, though no digital readouts and probably not as comprehensive as some, but I travel back and forth to Manchester every day and I'm happy with the results.

Alternatively Merc-Care in Pudsey do it for about £50.

 

[520se]

Well, after 10 minutes of calling round, found Britannia Tyres who will do A Class tracking with lasers for £15.99. Makes a mockery of the dealership prices. I'm taking it in tomorrow so I'll let you know if it turns out to be cool or not.

 

[SLinKyjoe]

do....and call it at your dealers afterwards...see if they will refund the difference! that will get the petrol tank full too. doesnt matter that you didnt have them do it...just ask nicely saying how disapointed you are....at worst they will say no. at best you get a free service.....try it.

 

[philharve]

Coincidentally I called into my local tyre fitter today for a quotation and noticed they had a new piece of kit, a 3-D laser wheel alignment system. It had pulsing red lights (lasers) and a visual display unit that simultaneously displayed 4 views of the vehicle undergoing wheel alignment. The owner of the establishment informed me that this equipment is much more capable and versatile than just performing wheel alignment.

There was a BMW Mini Cooper S on a hoist and attached to each wheel were large, flat, rectangular, reflective panels with a series of reflective dots on each. The system operator was beneath the Mini adjusting the geometry of each wheel and the changes he was making were accurately displayed on the screen. He could see the relative effect of his adjustments on the wheel being aligned, the other 3 wheels and the chassis of the car.

After he had finished with the Mini I asked him to explain how the 3-D system worked and the purpose of the panels attached to the wheels. I asked whether this system could be used on any vehicle irrespective of its shape and he confirmed that he had yet to encounter any passenger car or light commercial vehicle upon which it wouldn't work. They had a set of reflective panels for any vehicle they were likely to encounter.

I inquired how long it takes to perform a wheel alignment and was informed it could take up to an hour, rarely longer. The cost of wheel alignment varies depending upon the degree of misalignment. It can be a few tens of pounds but well inside 3 figures for all 4 wheels. The degree of misalignment is usually very small and easy to rectify.

I concluded that there was no reason, with the right equipment, why any vehicle cannot have its wheels aligned without breaking the bank.

However, with MB manhour rates at around £90 per hour and without investing in the latest wheel alignment kit, I can easily see why costs can be in hundreds of pounds. If you add in the cost of new tyres as well then you might be facing a bill close to 4 figures.

I have heard of the process of preloading a vehicle with passengers prior to wheel alignment but I have never actually seen it done. I would have thought that bags of sand (or equivalent) would be a cheaper option than having 4 MB technicians sit in the car for up to an hour, or however long it takes. Its unbelievable that such practices are still in use!

REGARDS Phil

 

[pascal]

Yes Phill,

Thats the type of system I've been banging on about on threads for the last month. Amazing bit of kit.
So for someone to say that only MB can do a proper track doesn't warrant an answer.

Funny, All our top tyre fitters have this system for years. But some cars like W124s still take a lot of time to do. This is because of how the various adjustments are made. These machines get all their software from the car manufacturers. MB uses a similar system.

But as I said earlier, the machine is only as good as the person using it.

 

[jberks]

I had a look at the charts when I was in last. It seems a lot of cars 'need' weighting down. I believe this simply involves putting the appropriate weight (they should have a set of different weights) in the footwells. Some were quite simple with 50kg back 70kg front etc , but the merc were 'refer to manual' so I guess its more involved.

 

[520se]

Further update - I got the car down to Britannia Tyres adn guess what - they couldn't do it after all. God damn time wasters. Back on the phone on Monday........

 

[520se]

I've done some serious research now - today I'm going to be speaking to these guys:

http://www.tyresgalore.co.uk/alignment.htm

If they can't do it, no one can!

 

[tom7035]

Took mine to local Kwikfit several months ago to price tyres (only 2) for fitting in the near future. "I'll just run it on the ramp and do a quick tracking check just in case" says he. Took about 15 minutes, "no problem, spot-on" he told me. AND NO CHARGE! Was this all 'flannel' or was the experience one for the book?

(Or do you you think my being 6'2" and 19 stones had something to do with it!)