Wheel Alignment

S

scottie1979

Member
 Glasgow
I have a pull to the left on my M Coupe. The dealer want to charge me £130 for a "KDS" alignment.
Im not really prepared to pay that much so was hoping some of you lot knew of somewhere else in the Glasgow or surrounding area? Dont really want a Kwik Fit job. Am i being fussy?

To be fair to the dealer they did give me a great price on my 1st oil service £155 +vat. I had it quoted elsewhere at £250!
 
what is a KDS Alignment?

Had mine checked at the weekend when they put new tyres (and wheels) on. Was told it was fine. This was at a local tyre place (not Kwik-fit) called Watling Tyres.... they didnt charge as they didnt have to do anything, but it would have been £23.50 if they had.
 
plenty of places have full laser alignment facilities. the pro-tyre group have them in there tyre fitting establishments. av price is £7 per each adjustment made (camber, toe etc).

id find an alignment specialist. pro tye charged me £130 for my track car. this included each and every single adjustment needing to be done. i had fitted new toe arms, camber arms, coilovers etc

the average car needing an adjustment will just be tweaks so 40-60 quid.

most alignment places have the factory settings available to them and or can dial in extra camber toe etc if you have certain requirements.

my only concern with kwik fit is the employees. the machines all give the same out come. its only a matter on getting the car sat on the machine and using a spanner to move a few nuts until the machine tells them they have the correct angle.

maybe your dealer is quoting the max price in case everything is out but will charge you less if they have less work to do. bmw ocean her in the s/w used to do this
 
If your car is under 3 years old i would argue with the dealer did mine for 50/50 slit :)
good luck.
 
You know some of these German cars are a pain in the ass in things like this. I took my Zed to a tire company that does alignments for commercial fleets, school buses, and is probably the largest tire store in the state and they told me thy do not do BMWs. They needed special tools which they did not have nor do they want to buy. :thumbsdown:

Years ago I went to another national chain to get new tires and have my Mercedes aligned. I had to wait until the one mechanic who had the correct tool could be located and came in to do the work. :thumbsdown:

So these dealers kind of have you locked in and can charge what ever the traffic will allow…too bad. :evil:
 
Mine was £170 recently so your price sounds a pretty good one. Small price to pay to resolve something that sounds minor but totally spoils your driving enjoyment.
 
plowy said:
How "Adjustable" is the set up on the Z4 ????, does anyone know..
Click to expand...

I have no idea, the dealer mentioned weighting down the car to take account of the driver when they do it though.

Also i'd expect non M-sport suspension and sport suspension to have different settings. Do Z4's with sports suspension run a bit of negative camber at the front?
 
Apparently the KDS alignment used the small holes that sit next to the wheel nut holes. Always wondered what they were for.

So any recommendations for a good place to go in or around Glasgow?
 
I had mine done by Pro Tyre and it cost me £40 I think, may be a little less, made a big difference to the way the car drove.

Scottie are there any indipendant tyre specialists near glasgow as I would have thought that would be your best bet.

J.
 
Hi, I'm a newbie, we have had the '03 2.5 auto for 5 weeks now and love it. I tried to get my car tracking checked the other week because of "tram lining" on bad road surfaces. I tried a couple of well known tyre retail chains outlets and they said they do not do BMW's because they have to be checked under load. Then I found an independent who said he could do BMW's, but his equipment did not go up to the 18 inch split rims on my car. Phoned my local BMW dealer who said what I needed was a KDS alignment at £250 +vat :( . I told them my concern over the tram lining and was told "Oh they all do that" and I should check the tyre pressures first. I took the pressure on the front up from 30 to 32 psi and it has improved things a little.
John.
 
Depending what car you had before you will notice a more lively front end. Tyre pressure will effect how it handles. But I always know when my tyresa re getting low as it tramlines like a git!

J.
 
The other cars are a Range Rover and an AC Cobra (no it's not a kit car). The Cobra has wider front tyres but doesn't tram line anywhere near as bad. I've just spoken with a very helpful guy at TyrePro in Hampshire, said he can check the tracking for about £30. I'm based in London / Surrey so it will be a bit of a drive. He also said a lot of people swap out the RFT, but I don't want to start that topic on the forum again until I've read through the other threads.
I would describe the front end as being a bit more than lively, on a rutted road or the inside lane of the motorway it pulls all over the place.
Will post again once I've had the tracking done.
Have a list of things to get done to the car and many of the ideas and solutions have come from this forum - it's great.
Thanks - John.
 
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