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Wed 19 Sep 2018 12:31

ALL - Tracking cost - barney100

Just had four tyres fitted but the tracking on top always bumps up the total bill. What is the price of tracking in your area? you get it done, hit a few potholes and speed humps etc and it's out again, tyres get uneven wear and you are back to square one.

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Wed 19 Sep 2018 12:44

ALL - Tracking cost - craig-pd130

IIRC the tyre place I usually go to does the check for free, and charges £20 to adjust it if needed.

They don't push it to customers unless there is evidence of it being out (uneven wear on the fronts, etc).

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Wed 19 Sep 2018 14:00

ALL - Tracking cost - Engineer Andy

Locally, the charges range from about £60 for just the fronts (many tyre outfits cannot provide 4 wheel alignments - 'tracking' is only the front two wheels) and £85 - £110 for all four, knowing that few offer this service. My local dealer (shared with three other brands) charge a whopping £100+ for all 4 to be done.

I find that doing a check yourself beforehand is far cheaper. i.e. checking on a completely flat bit of road (or carefully driving down the centre of the cambered part, e.g. on a side road when its not busy for a short distance) that the car doesn't skew the left too much (it will a bit as they are set up that way on RHD cars) and not to the right at all, and to check that all four tyres have worn evenly across their width.

Tyres that are too low pressure will wear more on the inner and outer edges, over-inflated ones down the middle, but wheels out of alignment will wear a lot more on one side of the tyre than the other, as the steering correction needed to overcome this means that they get worn more and far quicker than if they're ok.

I probably would have mine checked a bit more often if it wasn't so expensive compared to my spend on tyres, given I'm light of wear anyway and don't do sufficient mileage to require regular tyre changes. Being sensible and doing your best to avoid potholes (safely) and kerbing/speed hump damage will help enormously to reduce the need for getting a 2 or 4 wheel alingment done.

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Wed 19 Sep 2018 14:28

ALL - Tracking cost - corax

The alignment machines are expensive, but they probably need to cover the cost of any problems that crop up, usually seized track rod ends, making the job longer than it needed to be. No amount of plus gas will shift them if seized and the blow torch needs to come out with some gentle persuasion.

Edited by corax on 19/09/2018 at 14:29

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Wed 19 Sep 2018 14:44

ALL - Tracking cost - craig-pd130

I find that doing a check yourself beforehand is far cheaper. i.e. checking on a completely flat bit of road (or carefully driving down the centre of the cambered part, e.g. on a side road when its not busy for a short distance) that the car doesn't skew the left too much (it will a bit as they are set up that way on RHD cars) and not to the right at all, and to check that all four tyres have worn evenly across their width.

Exactly this.

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Wed 19 Sep 2018 17:33

ALL - Tracking cost - bathtub tom

I find that doing a check yourself beforehand is far cheaper. i.e. checking on a completely flat bit of road (or carefully driving down the centre of the cambered part, e.g. on a side road when its not busy for a short distance) that the car doesn't skew the left too much (it will a bit as they are set up that way on RHD cars) and not to the right at all, and to check that all four tyres have worn evenly across their width.

I understand that tracking won't affect the pull of a car to either side, as regardless of toe-in or toe-out the steering will self centre. A simpler way to check tracking is to measure the tread depth across the width of the tyres.

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Wed 19 Sep 2018 18:27

ALL - Tracking cost - RT

I think basic tracking is a waste of money - if there's an alignment issue, get full 12-axis laser alignment done, once it's done it lasts many 10,000s of miles - if there's no alignment issue do nothing.

You don't need the tracking done just because you've had new tyres.

Edited by RT on 19/09/2018 at 18:28

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Wed 19 Sep 2018 18:36

ALL - Tracking cost - Chris M

£14.50 with the usual 50% off voucher at National. Used them several times before and am again Friday as son's tyres are starting to wear on the outside edge.

Edited by Chris M on 19/09/2018 at 18:38

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Wed 19 Sep 2018 18:58

ALL - Tracking cost - gordonbennet

Always aligned my own wheels, for years i used tow thin copper pipes, one a sliding fit inside the other, and used this to measure the distance between the wheels.

Mislaid or summat, so a few years ago i invested a few quid in www.trackace.co.uk/ which whilst taking a bit of working out how best to use it is astonishingly accurate, just about copes with my Landcruiser wheels so would be fine for almost any car.

You can tell over undulating ground if the wheels are out of alignment, and you can use continuous white lines and other surface changes offering different levels of grip to work out if the problem is toe in or out....ie if when running along the road your car drives straight, but when the ground is wet if you run the nearside wheels along the white line and the car pulls slightly right then it points to the wheels toeing out (due to the offside wheels having better grip), and vice versa.

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Wed 19 Sep 2018 19:10

ALL - Tracking cost - skidpan

I understand that tracking won't affect the pull of a car to either side, as regardless of toe-in or toe-out the steering will self centre. A simpler way to check tracking is to measure the tread depth across the width of the tyres.

Had more than a few cars that pulled one way or the other depending on road camber yet they never wore their tyres unevenly. Some cars do this, its a feature. Some brands of tyre are worse than others for doing this as well, very low profile ones tend to be worse.

Last time I needed the tracking sorted was on a Focus. Mr Ford wanted £70 to check it and £70 to adjust it if required. I already knew it was out since the inner tyre edges were wearing faster than the outer. So I said no thanks.

Possibly against my better judgement I phoned KwikFit who quoted me £0 to check and £25 to adjust, went immediately, took a risk.

They did a proper job adjusting both sides and charged the quoted figure. Kept car another 3 1/2 years and no more issues.

Edited by skidpan on 19/09/2018 at 19:14

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