Tracking device

[Mottie]

I genuinely don't think any shop centred the steering rack before adjusting mine.

Before the pandemic, I was running my own motor vehicle training centre. Just entry level stuff for school students - all City & Guilds accredited. In 20+ years of training, I’ve never seen one garage carry out a correct basic wheel alignment check. Things like centering and locking the steering wheel, carrying the check out on a level floor area, checking steering joints and wheel bearings for play, checking tyre sizes, checking tyre pressures, settling the suspension after having the wheels off the floor, having the engine running etc. and only THEN can you carry out a basic alignment check. Failure to carry out those basic checks and you’ll never get the basic wheel alignment settings correct. If you wanted to be super accurate, the alignment data even shows how much weight should be placed in each front and rear footwell to load the suspension although I admit, I’ve never gone that far!

 

[Old Salt]

I am not sure a diy system would work for me as my drive is on a slope. Nice and level side to side but no where near flat.

 

[Keithmac]

Before the pandemic, I was running my own motor vehicle training centre. Just entry level stuff for school students - all City & Guilds accredited. In 20+ years of training, I’ve never seen one garage carry out a correct basic wheel alignment check. Things like centering and locking the steering wheel, carrying the check out on a level floor area, checking steering joints and wheel bearings for play, checking tyre sizes, checking tyre pressures, settling the suspension after having the wheels off the floor, having the engine running etc. and only THEN can you carry out a basic alignment check. Failure to carry out those basic checks and you’ll never get the basic wheel alignment settings correct. If you wanted to be super accurate, the alignment data even shows how much weight should be placed in each front and rear footwell to load the suspension although I admit, I’ve never gone that far!

Many a time I came home and adjusted the tie rods equally to centre the rack, this is on £70 alignments back in the day.

I did my own last few times and it's been fine (Mitsubishi GTO and my MK2 Golf). Nothing p1sses me off more than someone doing half a job.

 

[DIYspanner]

Nothing p1sses me off more than someone doing half a job.

Scrubbed off tyres and off centre steering wheel are the bugs in the system for me.

By the way, does doing tracking on a very slight incline such as a driveway really effect a tracking job that much?

 

[Keithmac]

Can't see it affecting the toe readings.

For camber I set my angle finder across the strut towers to account for ground not being perfectly level before measuring.

 

[Avocet]

Is the slope "up-and-down" or "side-to-side"?

 

[Old Salt]

My driveway slopes up and down

 

[Avocet]

My driveway slopes up and down
View attachment 227101

That's more of a slope than I thought. If you put (say) a football at the top would it roll down by itself? IF so, I agree with Keith, not likely to hugely affect toe readings, but not ideal. Will the car (or at least the front half of it) fit on the flat bit next to the house at the top?

 

[Old Salt]

Okay, just measured it and its about 1 in 12. The car would fit on the almost flat bit but wouldn't leave much room to get past or work from underneath along the sides. A football would roll down on its own no bother!

 

[Avocet]

Okay, just measured it and its about 1 in 12. The car would fit on the almost flat bit but wouldn't leave much room to get past or work from underneath along the sides. A football would roll down on its own no bother!

Personally, I probably wouldn't, in that case. Most cars have pretty squidgy rubber bushes in their suspension systems, so on a slope, the wheels might not adopt precisely the same angle as they would on the level. Assuming that (like almost all cars) the handbrake works on the rear wheels, this effect should be absolutely miniscule on your front wheels, so if you wanted to give it a go, you'd get a pretty close figure, I think. However, for a "pukka" reading, it's best done on the level with the car having rolled forwards to a gentle stop in the position where the measurements are to be taken.