Tracking: How Much...?

[S3PEG]

Hi all,

I've just got off the phone to my local Audi dealer. They are charging in excess of £250 to carry out a "full alignment" of the tracking on my S3. This seemed like a lot, but I have heard that it's best to get this done by Audi rather than any old garage...

Any thoughts?

Regards, Chris.

 

[jonS3]

take it to a specialist mate

 

[ash_s3]

A specialist will do it for less than £100 im sure

 

[voorhees]

A specialist will do it for less than £100 im sure

thats spot on Ash

 

[simch]

£250.......wtf!!

ONe of the best places in UK is Wheels in Motion in Chesham, they charge £60 and have some top notch gear there! Worth atrip.

 

[j4jon]

But is the £60 at Wheels in Motion tracking, or a full geometry setup, which I believe can take a while?

The £250 at Audi will be for a full geometry setup

 

[S3quatt]

Last time i had mine done, was full geometry at my local garage for around 50 bucks, Didn't take too long either

 

[Dave B]

Genuine Beissbarth 4WA

APS are able to offer four wheel alignment checks and adjustments using the very accurate main dealer spec Beissbarth 1813F alignment system as used for professional measurement in line with demands set by the automobile industry with original VAG test routines.
We regularly receive software updates enabling us to cater for all the latest VAG and Porsche cars. For fast road, trackday and race car applications we can also offer corner weight setup and measurements for individual requirements.
The Beissbarth system allows us to:
At front axle:

Toe-in (Single and overall toe-in, in relation to the geometric driving axis)
Camber (When driving straight ahead, or aero toe-in)
Wheel offset
Caster. Inclination and toe-out on turns. (Measured together using a steering lock routine) At rear axle:

Toe-in (Individual and overall toe in, in relation to central longitudinal plane of the vehicle)
Driving axle angle
Camber And in addition to this:

Rear wheel offset
Wheel base differential
Offset right
Offset left
Toe-in differential
Axle offset From £70 INC VAT

http://www.autops.co.uk/html/workshop.html

Probably less than £70 on an S3 IIRC

 

[GT130]

Must admit I paid 200 through Audi at Crawley.....costs a lot but you do get a great service, hire car etc and I like the idea that if they 8uck up then they are big enough dealership to put things right etc...

 

[bantam1]

£200 plus - you've got to be jesting. Just because they have your car for hours doesn't mean they're working on it for long!

Had my car 4 years and had 3 alignments. 2 at APS (charged £45 plus VAT) and last one at a chemix autocentre in the mids (spent ages going through possible geometry set ups with me and what impact they would have - charged me £55 inc VAT IIRC).

Audi are having a laugh - why the hell in this day and age does anyone use them. Hire car - job takes an hour tops with several adjustments required.

Sheesh.

 

[GT130]

They are expensive for some stuff and cheap for other stuff eg cam belt etc was replaced for 450 all in so it's gotta be worth it for the no hassle free car which means my working day does not suffer and the stamp in the book....

Pretty much got the tracking done by them as i ran over a ladder on the motorway from a nice builder - knew i could claim back the cost in the long run...as it turned out they could not get the car within tolerence and it still pulled to the left so they suggested it needed full specilist work - gig etc....with that written on paper I got my Ins company to agree to me putting my car in an Audi approved garage - Tonbrifge Coachworks who r approved for Mercs, Aston Martins, Bentley and Audi etc

They dont muck about and r replacing pretty much all the suspension barring the shocks and springs - if it had gone through a cheap place it would have ended up eing tracked to hide the fault......and I would not have been on such strong ground with the Insurance company if APS had diagnosed im sure.......

The free car is a real result if you need it to get kids round or have work commitments.....agreed though it does cost more and if it was my money and i did not need a car daily i'd search out a specialist...

 

[S3 Rav]

anyone know of anywhere good in the west midlands for this?

 

[simch]

But is the £60 at Wheels in Motion tracking, or a full geometry setup, which I believe can take a while?

The £250 at Audi will be for a full geometry setup

Its a full check and adjust, but it depends what needs changing.

On your s3, you have v lkimited if any front camber adjustment, (depending on where your ball koints are already) and unless you have adjustable rear wishbones, you cannot do much on the rear camber anyway!

F|ront and rear toe and camber, thrust angle, steering agle etc etc are all measures, if out of tollerance, and its not adjustable, it means something is worn or bent!

The £250 from audi is a load of bull, WIM gear is pretty much the best in the country and better than the drive on drive of gauges at a dealer, which are poor and inaccurate.

 

[Clach]

I hate to say it, but I am getting to the stage where I just won't pay that sort of coin for an older car to be aligned.

 

[NHN]

I dont have alot of faith in Audi & tracking/alignment, they set it to as every S3 should be but if it does pull to left/right they dont seem to know how to adjust it so it doesnt pull, yes maybe somethings out of wack but mostly that can be corrected by slightly altering the alignment etc the most minute amount to bring her in straight.

As for £250, way over the top even for a full on head to toe job, even the best ones on the market dont charge anywhere near that amount, its just the stealers hourly rates huh guys.

I always used external companies never stealers & you tend to find the externals do the better job & also are considerably cheaper, I mean £100 I would consider as been the most if not a bit dear TBH.

I know my S3 always had something out, Audi made a mess of it when it was in for something or other, took to local & they straightened her up.

Simch is right though, the rear had hardly anything you could adjust so it was always out to a degree but we are talking minute amount that didnt make any difference to the drivability/tyres etc etc.

I try at best to avoid using Audi for anything but parts of course, even buying cars, it would never happen.

 

[bantam1]

anyone know of anywhere good in the west midlands for this?

Try these - took mine to Stourbridge and they were really good and all for less than £60.

http://www.chemix-autocentres.co.uk/

 

[1animal1]

i paid £50 @ a decent garage in Chesterfield...... excellent job....well isay that...the car handled like it should have done after