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[jereboam]

Will definitely check tyre pressures, but I really don't think that is the problem.

I've decided that, for the sake of marital harmony, it is not a good idea to stop for car maintenance en route to our holiday destination, so I've been trying to find a specialist steering geometry company in the Ipswich area.  There don't actually seem to be any, although Rackhams Auto Body Centre seem to offer "wheel alignment" as a specialist service.  They don't appear to be Vauxhall or Omega specialists, but they do have the huge advantage of being a mere ten minutes away!

Anybody got any experience of this company?

[feeutfo]

They need to be able to set camber, at the very least.
Minus 1 degree 10 minutes. On the front.

Or save your money.

[Kaycee]

Do a quick measure of the lean in at the top of the rim with a straight edge 8mm difference between top and bottom  is 1.10min if the outside tyre is more it will act like a bike and try to turn you to the kerb ensure car is on level ground . if it is not in the 8mm area it will have to be done at a specialist like others have  said like WIM
my local tyre fitter does mine but i tell him the measurements 1.10mm
OTH

[Kaycee]

Thats minus 1.10mm

[jereboam]

Thanks for all the advice.

Rackhams have my car now.  It seems they had specialised equipment for this sort of exercise installed last year, and they seem to be very proud of it.  They are accident repair specialists rather than a general garage, so they need to do this work frequently.  Several of the main dealers in the area use them for wheel alignment and steering geometry jobs.  They don't need to know the settings, as it's all stored in the computerised equipment, and anything that isn't can be obtained by phone from the manufacturer.  Their workshop looked absolutely spotless and very well equipped. 

Apparently their standard charge is £120 + VAT, but since I'm a member of the public rather than trade, they're only going to charge me £72 + VAT. 

[Kevin Wood]

The critical thing is that the camber is set to around -1^o10', not just checked against the limits on the machine.

Alignment machines have tolerances that are very wide, so if they tell you that it's "in the green" and therefore doesn't need adjusting  you will continue to have problems.

You should get a printed set of "before and after" measurements. Have a look at the "after" measurements and if the camber is not as advised, ask them to set it properly.

[Osprey]

Agreed - when I visited WIM last year with excessive wear on the front inside edges, my cambers were within Vauxhall spec but not within WIM's own -1deg 10' spec. 

They explained that the Vauxhall spec is on the loose side in any case but, more importantly, is only applicable to new cars in which every rubber bush and moving part is in pristine condition.  The WIM figure is one they have worked out from experience of real life Omegas that have "settled" over ten or more years of use. 

[Kevin Wood]

Agreed - when I visited WIM last year with excessive wear on the front inside edges, my cambers were within Vauxhall spec but not within WIM's own -1deg 10' spec. 

They explained that the Vauxhall spec is on the loose side in any case but, more importantly, is only applicable to new cars in which every rubber bush and moving part is in pristine condition.  The WIM figure is one they have worked out from experience of real life Omegas that have "settled" over ten or more years of use. 

Even then, WIM don't use the same setting on every car. They will look at previous tyre wear, suspension type and condition, etc,. and set it accordingly.

[VXL V6]

If only I could remember the name of Marks (DTM) recommended set up place.

Fleet Fit in Loughborough and after a using them a couple of times, I can confirm Marks positive comments about them.


http://www.fleetfitloughborough.co.uk/
 

[feeutfo]

Thanks for all the advice.

Rackhams have my car now.  It seems they had specialised equipment for this sort of exercise installed last year, and they seem to be very proud of it.  They are accident repair specialists rather than a general garage, so they need to do this work frequently.  Several of the main dealers in the area use them for wheel alignment and steering geometry jobs.  They don't need to know the settings, as it's all stored in the computerised equipment, and anything that isn't can be obtained by phone from the manufacturer.  Their workshop looked absolutely spotless and very well equipped. 

Apparently their standard charge is £120 + VAT, but since I'm a member of the public rather than trade, they're only going to charge me £72 + VAT. 

It seems we're having trouble getting through JB. I guarantee they won't have a setting specific enough on their database. The manufacturer tolerances are too wide. WAAAAAY to wide. Tell them to use a base setting on the front of the previously quoted -1.10.

We have almost all been down this road and heard that "factory settings" 'dangle berries' before.


For info -1.10 is a base setting. Minimum amount of camber required. For most that setting is fine. Add in Sport suspension and they will increase that to -1.20. Mine has some outside edge shoulder wear, so due to my driving I suspect Wim will further increase that setting when seeing the evidence on the tires. Irmscher recommend -1.40 if using their springs. So Wim may use  setting approaching 1.30 or 1.40 perhaps. I'll see what Wim say next time.

Compare that to factory settings which have a tolerance from, iirc, something like- 1.0 to 2.30??? Someone correct me...? Then you start to see how bloody useless the data base info is for this car.

Can't put it any more plane than that, sorry.

Hope helps.

[jereboam]

Thanks very much, all of you, for the advice.  You are, of course, perfectly correct in everything you say, and I've just wasted £86 to get crap settings on my steering geometry.  To be honest, I'm not even sure that the the pull to the left (which is what started me off on this quest) has been eliminated.  It's definitely been reduced, but since I haven't been able to find a road near here which is (a) straight, (b) untroubled by potholes and (c) corrrectly cambered, it's a bit difficult to tell if it's all OK.

The main problem has been that (as has been pointed out) you really weren't getting through to me.  It wasn't till I actually saw the before and after readings printout, that what you were all saying finally clicked.  By which time it was too late.  The service manager at Rackhams made it quite clear that if I wasn't happy with the results, there wasn't any point in bringing it back, as everything was now set up within the prescribed tolerances, so he couldn't improve on it. 

Clearly, had I understood the points made here about the inappropriateness of the Vauxhall-supplied settings, I might have been able to get the garage to use better values.  Instead, just telling them that I could supply the settings to use if that would help when I didn't really understand what I was talking about proved to be a waste of time and money.

I'll try to post a copy of the before and after sheet they gave me as a warning to others, but it wasn't very clearly printed, and I'm not optimistic about a scan being readable.  I haven't got a lot of time at the moment, as we're desperately trying to get everything ready for the holiday.  It may have to wait until the end of the month.

I wonder what state my tyres will be in by then...

[feeutfo]

No worries JB. It's not until we go through these things that the fill picture becomes clear. Although, without trying to sound too "smack botty time" the guides do help... I hope.

Plus, with any pull, left or right, if the tyres are unevenly worn due to a set up issue, the effects of that wear may well be putting the car off line, correct settings or not.

Without seeing the current corrected set up it's difficult to advise. But it may be that rotating the wheels can help. Fronts to backs. Or one side to another, depending if the tyres are sided or directional.

If we bump onto each other at a meat perhaps we can go through it. Unless you an quote the front axle before and after settings? Perhaps...??

Mean time, happy Holls. 

[jereboam]

Tyres on the front are about 11 days and 300 miles old!  So whatever else is screwing it up, it won't be uneven tyre wear.  The rears are in reasonable nick, so I didn't replace them. 

What's worrying me (not hugely, but enough to be an annoyance) is that if there is something wrong, these tyres are going to go the same way as the last lot.  The outside of the old front tyres looked absolutely fine - all the wear was on the inside, where I never look.  As I don't do very much mileage these days, and as the car was driving fine, and as I'm not much of a mechanic, I had no idea there was a problem.  It's only because I'm expecting to do 1500 - 2000 miles on holiday that I thought I'd better get the car serviced and have everything checked out.

[feeutfo]

Ok, can you tell what the front settings are?

Camber
Caster
Toe
?