DIY wheel alignment

[wookie]

I've done mine in the past by removing both front wheels and then sitting the car back on it's suspension with a block of wood under lower ball joint, then by measuring across the brake disc faces, a little bit of trig later and you have the angle.

As my MOT was due I asked them just to check it for me after doing the MOT and they were happy to do that for free and it was spot on.

Do you actually need 4 wheel alignment on most cars ? I'd have thought unless you had fancy rear steer or perhaps you car has had a shunt and the chassis was twisted it's just an overkill?

 

[optima21]

that reminds me,I once went to kwik fit to have my exhaust replaced,and they advised me that I need to have the tracking on the back of my car done, this beam axle is the same as the one fitted to the back of my car

and there is no adjustment on it. I'd just rotated my tyres to equalise the tyre wear, but still they shouldn't have been trying to sell me a service which they couldn't possibly have done.

 

[Bill Edwards]

Kwik Fit...
I don't have the imagination to picture a scenario where I could be in such a hopelessly desperate situation that I would choose to take my car there for 'repairs'.
Walking any distance in any weather conditions suddenly don't seem so bad!

I've heard plenty of rather special tales of them, including from my Snap On dealer where there are tools they refuse to sell to Kwik Fit, and he's told me about things he's known them to find ways of breaking.

 

[optima21]

I only go to kwik fit because they sold me a lifetime warranty on my exhaust for £25 in 1998, so being from Yorkshire, I need to keep going back to get my monies worth out of them.

 

[wookie]

that reminds me,I once went to kwik fit to have my exhaust replaced,and they advised me that I need to have the tracking on the back of my car done, this beam axle is the same as the one fitted to the back of my car and there is no adjustment on it. I'd just rotated my tyres to equalise the tyre wear, but still they shouldn't have been trying to sell me a service which they couldn't possibly have done.

I'd have been tempted to tell them ok do the rear tracking, then when the bill came refuse to pay as they are trying to charge for work that they did not and could not do, then get on the phone to the BBC's Watchdog program.

 

[Bill Edwards]

I only go to kwik fit because they sold me a lifetime warranty on my exhaust for £25 in 1998, so being from Yorkshire, I need to keep going back to get my monies worth out of them.

Understandable.
I wonder if they're still sticking screwdrivers through CV boots to then tell the customer they're damaged and need replacing...?

 

[brightspark]

that reminds me,I once went to kwik fit to have my exhaust replaced,and they advised me that I need to have the tracking on the back of my car done, this beam axle is the same as the one fitted to the back of my car

and there is no adjustment on it. I'd just rotated my tyres to equalise the tyre wear, but still they shouldn't have been trying to sell me a service which they couldn't possibly have done.

I never swap my tires round. there best left where they are once run in I swapped them on my stock car and the handling was sh.it and I crashed it on the bend

 

[the snooper]

I never swap my tires round. there best left where they are once run in I swapped them on my stock car and the handling was sh.it and I crashed it on the bend

bad workman always blames his tools

 

[Bill Edwards]

Re: kwik fit...

They aren't all a bunch of cowboys, but unfortunately the one or two higher profile ripoffs have given them a bad name.

I used to work in one, I took pride in what I did and I did it properly.

Honestly, the bad service is just as prevalent (if not more so) but less hyped in all car places, from 'some' small garages right through to main dealers (and yes, I have experienced it as a customer as well as witnessed it from both sides of the counter).

Some are good, but gone are the days when I trust a 'professional' mechanic to tinker with my vehicles.

Of course, and this applies to a very large number of places.
But Kwik Fit do seem to be known and remembered far more for various reasons than any other places I know.

 

[brightspark]

kwik krap fitters used to squirt your shockers with wd 40 and say they needed changing cos they were leaking then sell em on or use them

 

[123hotchef]

yeh they also fitted an incorrect sized oil filter to my passat that then allowed the oil to overheat and block the oil pick up with carbon!

 

[123hotchef]

 

[123hotchef]