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[markomega25]

Hi,

Advice on here is that a 4 wheel alignment check should be done given that I have just replaced the front wishbones (and drop links) on my 2.5.

The nearest place to me doing 4 wheel alignment (and MoT’s) appears to be a company called “Merityre” in Kingston who have a number of garages in the south (some 20 or so) and advertise they use the Hunter DSP 600 alignment system.

As soon as I have replaced the exhaust I will need to get the car MoT’d so would prefer to go to a place that will do both at the same time. Does anyone have any experience of using these people, and are they any good? Any idea how much the alignment might cost?

Ta!

[albitz]

many people on here would reccomend wheels in motion,you might have to travel a bit tho.

[Marks DTM Calib]

Hi,

Advice on here is that a 4 wheel alignment check should be done given that I have just replaced the front wishbones (and drop links) on my 2.5.

The nearest place to me doing 4 wheel alignment (and MoT’s) appears to be a company called “Merityre” in Kingston who have a number of garages in the south (some 20 or so) and advertise they use the Hunter DSP 600 alignment system.

As soon as I have replaced the exhaust I will need to get the car MoT’d so would prefer to go to a place that will do both at the same time. Does anyone have any experience of using these people, and are they any good? Any idea how much the alignment might cost?

Ta!

The hunter system appears to be pretty good......in the right hands!

[alexandjen]

Hi,

Advice on here is that a 4 wheel alignment check should be done given that I have just replaced the front wishbones (and drop links) on my 2.5.

The nearest place to me doing 4 wheel alignment (and MoT’s) appears to be a company called “Merityre” in Kingston who have a number of garages in the south (some 20 or so) and advertise they use the Hunter DSP 600 alignment system.

As soon as I have replaced the exhaust I will need to get the car MoT’d so would prefer to go to a place that will do both at the same time. Does anyone have any experience of using these people, and are they any good? Any idea how much the alignment might cost?

Ta!

You're not that far from Wheels inmotion, just a short jount around the M25..........
http://www.wheels-inmotion.co.uk/
http://www.multimap.com/maps/?hloc=GB|HP5%201SD#t=l&map=51.47863,-0.29022|11|4&loc=GB:51.69933:-0.6102:16|HP5%201SD|HP5%201SD
 

[TheBoy]

I wouldn't bother with 4 wheel alignment, rather get a full geometry check done.

Wheels-InMotion come recommended by me, but won't be open to public until 21st - www.wheels-inmotion.co.uk

[davlad22]

Tony from wheelsinmotion has said that if you send him a cheeky message, he may be willing to share accurate geometry settings (through personal message) for your omega and may be able to advise on the suitability of the company. The omega isn't particularly complex, it's just some garages can be lazy when it comes to adjusting.

[Kevin Wood]

The hunter system appears to be pretty good......in the right hands!

There's the catch. The equipment just has to measure some angles. How the operator interprets what it says, and what you say (about tyre wear, etc) and turns that into a course of action is what makes the difference between a watse of time and money and a sweet handling car that doesn't eat tyres.

It isn't even enough to take it to a reputable place. If the experienced guy is on his lunch break and you get the YTS lad... :-/

The machines come with tolerances for each vehicle based on the manufacturers specifications but as the suspension settles these go out of the window. It then takes a lot of experience to decide how to set the car up. In any case, the tolerances on the machine are so wide as to be useless.

The best you can do is:

A) Go to wim

or

B) Arm yourself with as much information as possible, talk to the guy who is actually going to do the alignment and walk away if he doesn't seem to talk sense.

These places are used to people who just chuck them their keys and ask them to "do the tracking" so they can get lazy.

Kevin

[markomega25]

The hunter system appears to be pretty good......in the right hands!

There's the catch. The equipment just has to measure some angles. How the operator interprets what it says, and what you say (about tyre wear, etc) and turns that into a course of action is what makes the difference between a watse of time and money and a sweet handling car that doesn't eat tyres.

Kevin

Thanks all,

Kevin, the problem is the car was fine before the MoT, no uneven tyre wear, no pulling to the side etc. it was just that the vx garage I took it too for the MoT failed it for wishbone bushes etc. so I have no symptoms yet to speak of.

I just thought that my changing the wishbones would necessitate an alignment check.

Maybe I should just get it going (once I have finished replacing the exhaust and sorted the other niggles) and go get an MoT then run it for a bit and see what happens. Who knows maybe everything will be ok.

Mark

[Kevin Wood]

It is likely to shift a little when the wishbones are changed. As the old bushes sag, the suspension gets adjusted to compensate and then when you replace the wishbone its' effective length decreases and you have to undo all the adjustment.

A couple of things you could do:

If you're happy with it now, find a place that'll do a check cheap, measure the current settings and after the wishbone change, go back and get it set up as it was before.

Take it in after the wishbones have been done and see what it's like. Chances are it'll reduce the camber angle slightly as the new bushes pull the suspension in, and the main problem with shoulder wear is through excessive camber angle.

Allowable camber angle for the Omega on most machines is up to 2^o30' or so, which will give you nasty shoulder wear IME. Mine ended up at about 1^o10' IIRC, and it seems to be wearing evenly, although every car is different depending on how it has settled and worn.

So, ideal scenario, take it to WIM. I would get it checked after the work though. For the price of a knackered pair of front tyres you can get several alignment sessions done!

Kevin

[ffcgary1]

Hi there mark ,i am local to you, and i had mine set by WIM at hemel hempstead, I would also NOT reccomend merityre in kingston, i took my estate there and it was a tale of disaster, first they put my car up too high and struck the tailgate spoiler on the roof, then they swore blind that the spoiler was broken before they hit the roof, then said that all the settings were correct, they were  not, they will only set it to factory spec and they are no use to anyone after the car has covered a few thou miles.  So if you can make the trip to WIM new site when he opens, tony knows how to set up the omega.

[markomega25]

Thanks again kevin and to sir ff,

Sir ff, I will steer (sic) clear of merityre then. Their website looks good but the picture of the Kingston site looks like Steptoe's yard and we all know what happend to Hercules (Steptoe's horse)!!!

Kevin, good advice so I hope other readers take note, but I can't take a before reading, I have already put the new wishbones in!.

My plan of action then is twofold. First is to simply get the car back on the road with an MoT (it's been off road since December!). A combination of seriously cold weather, getting the parts, correct tools to do the job and only having sundays to work in my garage on the beast has meant it has taken this long. Then secondly sort out some other probs with it (these will i'm sure be the subject of further posts or pleadings for advice on here), then maybe go to wim.

Incidently, I hope to write up a few tips on doing wishbones on a facelift soon, based on my experience of doing it alone and in my domestic garage, hopefully to add to the excellent guide vectrolysis has posted on here.

In brief I found that you cannot undo the wishbone pinch bolt without taking the brake caliper holder off. There is no room to get a socket on the pinch bolt nut. And you need the excellent Draper extending (400mm - 600mm) half inch drive wrecking bar, a big can of Plus Gas, a can of Freeze Spray, tube of Copper slip (for putting the new wishbones in) a 3 foot piece of 2*2 softwood to press the new wishbone down to get the new ball join in the knuckle. Ingenuity to torque the front horizontal wishbone-to-frame-bolt up, because there is not enough room in the recess of the subframe to get a norbar style torque wrench in (the head of the torque wrench is too wide). etc. etc. Oh, and a ready supply of 40 watt bulbs for when the inspection lamp gets broken  

I am hoping to finish taking the centre and rear exhaust boxes off on Sunday and fit the new ones. Incidentally I am lucky here. The previous owner (fleet owner i guess) must have had the exhaust replaced before, cos the studs on the flanges on the cats have already been drilled out and bolts been put in place. These came of easily!  

Mark

[markomega25]

Sorry, one more question whilst it is in my mind and apologies in advance for any ignorance on my part.

I have never before had a car with such wide tyres (these are 225's *45s * 17 inch on alloys, with Continental sport contact 2's) and although I noticed that the tyres are marked with an "outside" indicator on the sidewall never gave it much thought until I took the wheels off and noticed there is a definite and substantial camber already built into the tyre!

In other words the tyre has a slightly lower profile on the inner side presumably to compensate for the natural camber of the road. The wheel naturally leans in at the top when on the flat (positive camber i think). It is just that is was so pronounced when I saw the wheel standing free on the garage floor (in fact it had so much lean that it would not stand up and fell over inwards). Is that the same for all tyres?

I have done lots of reading about tyres, their equivalence, sizes etc but never seen anything about this in built camber before. (ps the tyres are pumped up to pressure, are nearly new and are seated properly on the rims etc).

Mark

[Kevin Wood]

Oh, and a ready supply of 40 watt bulbs for when the inspection lamp gets broken

Thought I'd solved that one. Put a low energy bulb in mine, but I managed to break that last week.

Are you sure the tyres have built in camber of have they worn in a taper due to the camber of the suspension?

Never really paid much attention to it, TBH.

Just keep an eye out for uneven wear once it's back on the road.

Kevin

[ians]

I would get the MOT out of the way before getting the geomoetry done.
If it fails on eg track rod ends you'll feel pretty pissed having to do (at least some of) the setup all over again..

[markomega25]

I would get the MOT out of the way before getting the geomoetry done.
If it fails on eg track rod ends you'll feel pretty pissed having to do (at least some of) the setup all over again..

Ians, Too right. Exactly why I want to get the MoT done first, then geometry checked after. I was thoroughly burnt by VX as they did the MoT, failed it then did the service irrespective!!!

Track rods and steering idler look ok, and were not failed by vx four months and 4 miles ago. So I guess these should pass but we wait and see. I will take it to my local garage for MoT - they already know what vx did!

Kevin, re tyres and camber, the front tyres are evenly worn, plenty of tread left on them too, I will check the rears tomorrow when I take them off when jacking the rear up to put new exhaust in.

After that its sorting out the rear number plate light which was an MoT fail. I have replaced the bulb (blown) but still now't.  Must be the contacts, I hope the positive contact (tang) in the holder is not so weak it snaps off!

Mark