You need to take your car to a specialist that has the latest proper full laser alignment kit. It's wall mounted and they hang these large plates on the wheels and the lasers continually flash light at them - this is not just putting those small frames on the wheels and doing it by eye. All this costs about £25 inc.

I've had both our cars done by these experts and the improvement is significant - sharper, centralised and the steering feels 'even' and actually lighter too. Tyre wear is even. They also provide a print out of the whole car's geometry and the before and after picture. Whenever I get a new car, I arrange for this early on and the print out always shows it's miles off manufacturers spec before it goes in.

Don't give up on this - I can recommend somewhere if you like but that might be against forum rules.

see

TRACKING AND ALIGNMENT: Where can I have my car’s suspension properly laser aligned?

in honest johns FAQ list

Many modern cars do not have adjustable rear suspension(twist beam etc.).A GOOD garage should know which ones have this and not charge for rear alignment.Anyway,I'd rather use an experienced man with basic equipment than a kid with a computer.Remember,if you pay peanuts,you get monkeys.

Exactly;if your tyres wear evenly and the handling is OK-it's a waste of money having it checked.

Assuming all is right at the front end as far as you can tell i.e, steering linkage, ball joints, tyre pressure, even tyre wear etc, you have had your car "wheel aligned" at a tyre fitters and you drive off only to find it's still pulling to one side did they check all the following? www.familycar.com/alignment.htm, (A Short Course in Wheel Alignment). No? Well that's what it takes to get it right.

Edited by pullgees on 17/07/2010 at 17:04

You mean the steering wheel is crooked after having the tracking set?

This is because the steering wheel wasn't held straight when the tracking was adjusted, so now although the tracking is correct, it has been set with the wheel crooked. This is not the same as having a crooked steering wheel because the tracking is out.

The usual reason for this is they do all the adjustment on one track rod instead of half on each - a lazy short cut I've caught them doing a few times.

Took the works van to kwik fit they had it on the ramp 2x front tyres on then let it down and put the gauges on!

I said are you not going to level the suspension before you do that ie: drive it off the ramp then back on?

The guy looked at me like a moron till his supervisor said he was the apprentice! old apprentice.!!!!

I stopped paying for tracking checks when I caught a clown at a local service provider who had put gauges on my wheels with a contact pin sitting on one of the lead balancing weights, he had completed adjustments and then refused to recheck when I raised it with him that he had not located the guages properly on my rims, Steering wheel was off centre.

Went back a week later and another guy agreed with me about the balancing weight and rechecked then adjusted it again, steering wheel was still a bit off centre. I also asked when were the laser gauges last calibrated and he said they had not had to calibrate them for the 3 years they had them, so that was that, diy method used since, bit fiddly and time consuming but I know its set right.

OOPS, didn't say where it is, www.trackace.co.uk

This is my point, I know in the past I have paid for a poor service, either a bad mechanic, poorly calibrated gauges or both. Laser and optical commercial gauges us the same calibration principle that is error prone even with the most conciencious mechanic, Calibration process can be completely missed out and often is as when they rely on the last calibration. The trackace calibrates to zero by laser over a very long distance and is aways carried out automatically as an integral part of the tracking check process. The confidence that can be had in this diy kit is plain to see.