Tracking?

[marcou]

Hi there,

I hit a curb last week, while giving a coach too wide a birth and scratched my drivers side alloy!!! Since I have noticed a slight pull to the left. I phoned up the dealer and he said that it's the tracking and that Laser Tracking will be required, approx 170 pounds. What is the generally opinion here shall I take it elsewhere (ie KwikFit) and get a non laser (but cheaper tracking done) or should I stick with the BMW engineers?

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Marco

[pocketrocketowner]

Tracking, particularly the front is the easiest job you can imagine and can be accomplished, accurately with a lot less complicated set up than the lazer bed. Any professional repair shop with wheel alignment capability can do it, lazer or no lazer.
Hope this helps

[-=cHiLli=-]

where abouts in the uk are you?

i only ask because i can recomend a company based in the SW called "ProTyre" (www.protyre.co.uk) they have depots in Bristol Enfield, Exeter, Fareham, Gloucester, Plymouth, Poole, Slough, Westbury.

I do not work for them but have been a very grateful customer of theirs, as they are by far the cheapest for tyres that i know, and as far as i can remember the tracking (full lazer, all 4 tyres) is around the £30 mark.

V.V.Good place!

MD

[notts04chillimini]

bmw wanted to charge me 250 plus vat for a geometry test as mines pulling to the left! can get the same laser wheel allignment elsewhere for 30 quid or less! if your car has done less than 12,000 miles and is less than a year old, bmw should do it for you under warrenty if you just tell them its pulling to the left! they are allowed to do 1 geometry test before 12000 miles or 1 year old, dont tell them about u whacking a kurb tho

my tracking is being done by laser for 30 quid inclusive this week! at a place called formula one autocentre.

hope this helps

chris

[s_and_m]

I get my tracking and alignment done at Just Tyres for £15 a time.

Mind you I have spent a fair bit on rubber with them in the past

S

[Andy @ The Pit Stop]

Hello.
Sounds to me like the dealers are robbing people blind, and I do say that as a professional in the job. I actually charge £16.00 inc VAT to do a 4 wheel laser tracking. I used to work for Just Tyres myself where their charge is suppose to be £22.99, which is a fairly average price for most "fast fit" tyre bay/garages.
The job is quite straight forward and takes aprox 20 min to do, some times a bit longer if track rods are siezed/stiff etc. However to your problem, tracking does not cause a car to pull unless it it really miles out of plum. The camber angle always self centres the steering, and thus your steering wheel may end up out of centre. This is often a good sign that the tracking needs attention. The resulting tyre wear is then often responsible for the car not running straight. to knock the tracking out you would have to hit it fairly hard, and you would know you had done that at the time.
Take it to somebody that has a 4 wheel laser set up and ask them to just check it before making a decission. A standard "super tracker" does the job just the same, only the laser
easier to see and is more customer friendly in that way. More important is that the operator knows what he is doing !. Make sure you watch what they are doing if you let them do it so you can see the ajustment being made. It may help you understand what is happening. Any good operator will explain and show you.
Hope this helps. Andy.H.
Ps , a full geometry check may pay, as un-equel camber angles will make it "pull", Caster may need checking aswell. KPI (King pin inclination sould be ok)

[marcou]

Thanks for all your advice...

As it happened the dealer had forgotten to hand over the MOT document to me when I brought the car - and as my tax is due I noticed this fact only last week!! Luckily he was very nice about it and said he couldn't locate it so recommended a service and they would cover the cost.

They have just phoned me back to say that the pull to the left is due to the struts - and these need replacing - and better still under guarantee!!

So fingers crossed all will be ok when I pick it up tomorrow.

Marco