Wheel alignment

[Mainframe_Module]

Well its been over a month and around 800km's later and im loving my car.

the only thing i've noticed that slightly annoys me is ever since i got the car it's seemed to slightly pull to the left a little, it feels as if the steering/wheels are out of a alignment a tiny bit...like the weighting isnt equal each side.

the guy from the dealership has rung me to see if im happy with it and ask how things are going and i forgot to mention it.

im wondering whether if i got it aligned by holden whether it would still be a little out, as i recall someone saying that holden don't usually do the best job of stuff like wheel alignments..

are there any places in sydney that specialise in steering/wheel alignment? and is it expensive?

thanks!

oh and if you think its something else let me know..thats the only thing i can think of as sometimes it feels like it eagerly turns into left, but i need more muscle to pull it into the right....its nothing bad or serious, just enough to annoy me a little.

cheers

[DirtyHarry]

this whole problem is related to wheel alignment. your toe is probably out which is why its abit harder to to turn to one side than the other.
take your car to a professional wheel alligment place, which gives you a printout of the before and after. i can recommend ace tyres in smithfield if your in the area. its not cheap about $65 i think but they always do a good job.

[rjastra]

this whole problem is related to wheel alignment. your toe is probably out which is why its abit harder to to turn to one side than the other.
take your car to a professional wheel alligment place, which gives you a printout of the before and after. i can recommend ace tyres in smithfield if your in the area. its not cheap about $65 i think but they always do a good job.


$65 to do a front wheel alignment! rip off! All they can adjust is the toe.

[dustbug]

the only place in sydney that can do a real wheel alignment is jax quick fit in kingsford on anzac pde sorta diagonally opposite kingsford maccas.

the guy to speak to is darren. i think its around the $45 mark for an alignment.

i got my tyres rotated and alignment done for around the $70 mark at least 6 months ago and my alignmnet is still perfect with 20's.

[DirtyHarry]

there really is no rear wheel allignment on these astra's.
however the 6 bolts that hold the rear axel in place, can be loosened and the whole axel moved in one piece, but this is really is not an alignement. plus you can imagine how difficult it would be to move the whole axel while you have all the weight of the car against it.
white line i believe supplies brakets which make this task easier, but its still not the same.

[SKM_87]

$65 to do a front wheel alignment! rip off! All they can adjust is the toe.
a proper wheel aligment does rears too. even though there isnt to much in the way of adjustment. still about 20bucks over the mark though.

if the amount of effort you put into it changes as you drive its cause of the crown in the road. your left wheel wil be toed out a bit more than the right causing it to try and pull you down the crown.

btw, holden cant wheel align for their life (in my experience too)

[rjastra]

a proper wheel aligment does rears too. even though there isnt to much in the way of adjustment. still about 20bucks over the mark though.

if the amount of effort you put into it changes as you drive its cause of the crown in the road. your left wheel wil be toed out a bit more than the right causing it to try and pull you down the crown.

btw, holden cant wheel align for their life (in my experience too)

I think you will find there is no alignment adjustment for the rear suspension in an Astra.

[xplosv57]

Before you spend your cash on a wheel alignment, first check all your tyre pressures, i've seen it before when a front tyre has a slow leak, the car tends to turn towards the low pressure side!!!

Simple check which can save you a few bucks and time w/o your car!!

[platypus]

could it be possible that your car is fine and the roads run off to the left? (for water etc?)

roads arn't level or they would flood!

[Mainframe_Module]

i know the road tends to slope towards the gutters, but it doesn't seem like that.
like the weighting of the steering wheel seems stiffer to turn right a than left even if perfectly flat....yet sometimes its fine...im not sure if its me or the car or what, and if im on a perfectly flat road and i let go of the wheel it might stay straight for a little while but it eventually curves to the left.
but the second i put my foot down or any power goes to the wheels, and im not holding on, it pulls to the left.
again its only slight...but just enough to irritate me at times.
its not the tyre pressure either - that was the first thing i thought of hehe.

[platypus]

then you'll need a thrust alignment

[Greg K]

Heasmans Steering and Suspension @ Sydenham... the only place i will ever take my vec for suspension adjustment and wheels alignments etc.

[entice]

and for those of you in Melb, TruTrack suspension in North Melbourne.. they transformed teh way my Astra Wagon drove. Never got to take my SRI there... perhaps the replacement vehicle will get the treatment.

[Wraith]

and for those of you in Melb, TruTrack suspension in North Melbourne.. they transformed teh way my Astra Wagon drove. Never got to take my SRI there... perhaps the replacement vehicle will get the treatment.

Thanks Bill :)

I'll have to give this place a go for my Cali.....even after having all four wheels checked balanced and aligned elsewhere, I'm sick of the way it 'tram lines' every groove, nook and cranny, it has a rear camber kit fitted as well, so there'll be plenty of adjustment to play with - hopefully this mob can sort it out :)

[entice]

No Sweat,

Ralf at TT works a little differently. Usually you pay an amount, and you get an alignment and a re-alignment 5000km or 3mths later.

He use to set up my STI based on how I wanted it to drive (not by manufacturer's specs) or, if required, to minimise tyre wear. He did teh best he could with the wagon but advised me some better shocks would prevent the extreme change of toe under load shift (Braking) that was throwing out the handling severely. Front end on those is very soft. He also setup the coilovers on an MX5 for me brilliantly. Usually he takes it for a drive, asks what you want, hooks it, drives it after tweaking, and so on and so on.

Not Cheap, but very, very good.

www.trutrack.com.au