I’m not finding the S4 as much fun as my old ED30 through the twisties as much heavier. Don’t really want to mod the car too much so not looking at coil overs. In terms of the geometry - I presume none of it is adjustable like with the TT alloy wishbones so you can adjust camber and toe? Is it just a case of checking the alignment meets factory specifications? cheers, Andy
4 Wheel Alignment
- Thread starter Berg
- Start date
I have never checked, but the rear should be adjustable, the front will rely on the springs being the correct length.
Maybe to start with, get the geometry checked, even KwikFit can carry out a full geometry check at most of their branches and adjust only the toeing it seems, for £59.95, which sounds like a good starting point.
The only reason that I know this about KwikFit is that I replaced the steering rods ands and TREs on my daughter’s late 2009 Ibiza and did not ask the price etc, just handed it in, 20 mins later it was ready with a full before and after geometry print out showing the toeing only correction, that might have impressed me enough to hand in my wife’s August 2015 Polo to see how it looks right now, maybe handy to have a set of readings early in a car’s life once the suspension has settled down?
My S4 has had its front lower arms reported for being slightly ragged looking wrt bonded bushes, so I’ll leave that one for later once I’ve greplaced these lower link arms.
Maybe to start with, get the geometry checked, even KwikFit can carry out a full geometry check at most of their branches and adjust only the toeing it seems, for £59.95, which sounds like a good starting point.
The only reason that I know this about KwikFit is that I replaced the steering rods ands and TREs on my daughter’s late 2009 Ibiza and did not ask the price etc, just handed it in, 20 mins later it was ready with a full before and after geometry print out showing the toeing only correction, that might have impressed me enough to hand in my wife’s August 2015 Polo to see how it looks right now, maybe handy to have a set of readings early in a car’s life once the suspension has settled down?
My S4 has had its front lower arms reported for being slightly ragged looking wrt bonded bushes, so I’ll leave that one for later once I’ve greplaced these lower link arms.
https://www.alignmycar.co.uk/
I think the Hunter alignment system is still considered the best to use. As soon as my new tyres are on that's where I'm going.
Though I'm not sure alignment is your issue. They are heavy cars but stage 1 and sports diff means I don't have an issue.
I think the Hunter alignment system is still considered the best to use. As soon as my new tyres are on that's where I'm going.
Though I'm not sure alignment is your issue. They are heavy cars but stage 1 and sports diff means I don't have an issue.
Heard Beissbarth rigs are the best but not sure how many places have them. Yeah am thinking alignment is not the issue - it’s just a bit soft body roll
Wise so need ohlins/kw/bilstein
Wise so need ohlins/kw/bilstein
Try the canyon Run CR-15 strut thing.
Make your own, easy to do and I believe it did do something to mine. Defo worth the £20.
Also upgrade the anti roll bars another easy and pretty cheap mod.
I think they did leave the cars pretty soft to differentiate against the RS model?
Make your own, easy to do and I believe it did do something to mine. Defo worth the £20.
Also upgrade the anti roll bars another easy and pretty cheap mod.
I think they did leave the cars pretty soft to differentiate against the RS model?
Last edited:
There are some used RS anti-roll bars on eBay, I'm pretty sure they are thicker than the S.
Or H&R do adjustable'ish ones. There are Eibach and ARB and KW and......
Https://eurozonetuning.com/products...nt-strut-tower-brace-b8-b8-5-a4-s4-a5-s5-rs5#
Some guy on Facebook sells them in the UK for £100 plus but if you have a drill and a small amount of DIY skills then make one yourself.
£10.50 for the metal. £1.50 for 4 M8 nyloc flanged nuts, 1 M8 penny washer and some paint. There is a post somewhere on here that I got the info from but can't find it to give due credit to the guy I copied from.
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/270954529113
I made my own so any questions just ask and hopefully for not to much money you can sharpen up your S4.
Or H&R do adjustable'ish ones. There are Eibach and ARB and KW and......
Https://eurozonetuning.com/products...nt-strut-tower-brace-b8-b8-5-a4-s4-a5-s5-rs5#
Some guy on Facebook sells them in the UK for £100 plus but if you have a drill and a small amount of DIY skills then make one yourself.
£10.50 for the metal. £1.50 for 4 M8 nyloc flanged nuts, 1 M8 penny washer and some paint. There is a post somewhere on here that I got the info from but can't find it to give due credit to the guy I copied from.
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/270954529113
I made my own so any questions just ask and hopefully for not to much money you can sharpen up your S4.
Last edited:
I also heard that Beissbarth benchs were the best but that was some years ago, I'm willing to believe that they are still the best but that maybe Hunter benches are easier to use in a fool proof way, and at the end of the day, if you don't have an operator that knows how to use these things then you are wasting your money and it sounds like a chump relatively speaking, could get "good" and repeatable figures from a Hunter bench - note that KwikFit are moving to fitting Hunter benches to back up my theory?
So what sort of place did you take your car to Berg for an alignment check, do you know which alignment bench/rig they have and how much did it cost just for a full geometry check?
Where are you based? Wheels in motion are people to speak as they can recommend a garage in your area who they have trained up re alignment
South of Scotland - Edinburgh - Borders area.
I might look into this, I was just asking as out of the blue I needed to get the toeing carried out on my daughter's Ibiza, used KwikFit and then that revealed that they carry out a full geometry check, which I considered to be handy to have as a record for the future for any car - note while KwikFit at their usual outlets seem to have the kit to carry out a full geometry check, they don't seem to be able or willing to correct anything other than the usual toeing, now that lets them crank the price for that toeing service up, but if the geometry measuring is accurate then its something extra that I don't mind having on record for the future. I still have to get this done to my wife's 2015 Polo 1.2TSI 110PS, for my S4, maybe somewhere "better" after I replace the lower suspension links!
I might look into this, I was just asking as out of the blue I needed to get the toeing carried out on my daughter's Ibiza, used KwikFit and then that revealed that they carry out a full geometry check, which I considered to be handy to have as a record for the future for any car - note while KwikFit at their usual outlets seem to have the kit to carry out a full geometry check, they don't seem to be able or willing to correct anything other than the usual toeing, now that lets them crank the price for that toeing service up, but if the geometry measuring is accurate then its something extra that I don't mind having on record for the future. I still have to get this done to my wife's 2015 Polo 1.2TSI 110PS, for my S4, maybe somewhere "better" after I replace the lower suspension links!
I slight necropost but, it maybe useful nonetheless.
Whilst Hunter and Beissbath alignment tables are equally revered and accurate, the operator plays a huge part in the equation and that can often be the shortfall.
Case in point, I took a car to a Kwikfit with a Hunter table and the operator was useless and thus, I had no confidence in the alignment he did. Fortunately now, I have a very local place that also has a Hunter table and the chap there is great and willing to experiment. They're also dirt cheap, charging just £35 for a recent check on the S4.
Paul
Whilst Hunter and Beissbath alignment tables are equally revered and accurate, the operator plays a huge part in the equation and that can often be the shortfall.
Case in point, I took a car to a Kwikfit with a Hunter table and the operator was useless and thus, I had no confidence in the alignment he did. Fortunately now, I have a very local place that also has a Hunter table and the chap there is great and willing to experiment. They're also dirt cheap, charging just £35 for a recent check on the S4.
Paul
Your experience at a KwikFit outlet with a Hunter alignment bench rather backs up my gut feeling that while I'd trust them to use that type of kit for a simple toeing check/adjust, I'd think that castor and camber measuring might not be so accurate and someone reported that when a workshop, franchise unknown, carried out a full geometry check on his car, measuring the castor did not involve turning the steering wheel - that confused him and it also confuses me, and I'd doubt if my local KwikFit outlet would allow me to witness them giving my wife's 2015 Polo a full geometry check so that I could see if they used that kit in the way that it is meant to be used to minimise errors and maximise repeatability.
It has to come down to laziness as the machine will tell the 'technician' exactly what to do and lets be honest, it's not exactly rocket surgery.
As you point out, the only way to measure castor is to turn the steering wheel (fully) lock to lock and it should be obvious if they've either not measured it at all or not measured it properly from the report the machine spits out.
Whilst I think of it, another factor to consider is tolerance. A lot of places will state that if the measurement is in the green, there's no need to make adjustments. Whilst this is techniclly true and I'll fully admit that I can't tell the difference between 'well within tolerance' and spot on to withing 1 minute accuracy, if you're at the very limit of tolerance, you could still suffer odd/ excessive tyre wear/ handling traits when pushing the car. The modern 'S' cars are quite 'sturdy' after all.
I don't think the stance that green equals no need for adjustment is one of laziness or ignorance though. In the vast majority of cases, it'll be true (look at the ditch finders people fit to their cars...) and save the customer money. Referencing my chap again, this is his stance but, he'll happily humour me and adjust the car to within 1 - 2 minutes of bob on, across the board. At £15 per axle adjustment, that would end in a bill of about £80 for the S4 which seems very good value to me. It's certainly on my list.
All that aside, you seem to have a good selection of Hunter equipped places in your neck of the woods, so now you just need to decide who you can trust. Good luck.
Paul
