Hi all

I’m struggling to understand the way in which garages charge for Hunter 4 wheel tracking.

I have changed the 2 front lower arms on Sylvia due to worn ball joints, so I want to get the tracking checked and adjusted. This morning I have phoned 2 local garages offering Hunter tracking. Both gave me a price for the tracking but then added “Oh and for every adjustment it’s an extra £20”

When questioned they couldn’t really explain to me what counted as an adjustment, but one did say it could take 6 adjustments in some cases to get the alignment right..

The last time I had a car tracked I paid a price and the tracking was adjusted. Simple as. What am I missing with 4 wheel alignment?

Jim

I had this experience too I don’t understand either way they charge per turn ???

It makes no sense does it Ian?

It’s like putting your car in for a service, paying the price of the service, but then being charged £5 for every clip opened and then closed on the air filter housing?

Jim

Modern vehicles are adjustable in many ways. The standard adjustment we all think about is the steering track rod ends, but there are also adjustments that can be done for castor, camber, rear toe in/out etc etc (depending on the vehicles). Its inevitable that most of the adjusters will be seized and will require work to free them off too.

I know a good Hunter kit is £35k or more, plus a technician to man it, training, servicing/calibrating the kit etc.

So they usually quote for a basic tracking but will warn that if further adjustments are needed, additional costs will be incurred. That said, if it costs much more than £60 to £80, then they might be pushing it (or have extortionately high unit rental charges they are trying to cover ).

I'm not in the trade, but do like to ensure that my wheel alignments are done on a well maintained Hunter kit by someone who knows what they are doing. They also need to know how the vehicle should be configured (fuel load, suspension position, ignition on/off and so on). Always worth doing properly when tyres are north of £600 a set!

Rob 05 L322 4.2SC
2016 Discovery 4 Graphite
Lotus Carlton
Ascona 400
Volvo V70R AWD manual
Suzuki 1200 Bandit
Velocette Venom
BMW R80/7
Daimler V8 250
Mini Cooper S Works 2006

I never thought I would ever recommend Kwikfit but I can’t fault them for tracking.
They do a free check on the Hunter kit then if it needs adjusting they charge £60 or alternatively you can pay £130 for 2 years of free adjustments. This is limited to a maximum of 8 visits in the 2 years. Considering how quickly these things eat front suspension components I recon this is a bit of a bargain

Wow that's impressive. thanks for sharing.

I bought some Scorps from them as they came to my office to fit them. Service was great. Formerly happymadison1978

Tracking is as good as the operator. If Kwik Fit has a good chap or chapette then why not.

Personally I take mine to Chesham, one of the best in the business and doesn’t just follow the official guides but actually pays attention to the vehicle. There was a real issue with the AMG GLC models from Mercedes and these guys went off piste and demonstrated to Mercedes U.K. for me why they were wrong. Mercedes accepted their result. The car was still as it has a design fault for RHD vehicles, but a lot better than the factory specification.

As an example of why trained operators are absolutely essential :
I took our Discovery 2 to a local, normally reliable, garage for a front tracking check last year.
They said no problem, we'll give you a free 4 wheel alignment check & only charge £40 if we have to adjust it.
The operator wasn't the one I'm used to seeing in there & came back with the result that the tracking was OK, but the rear camber was out - being 1 degree positive on each rear wheel.

I started to explain to him that wasn't possible as the Disco 2 has a solid rear axle - ie 0 degree camber & toe, but he wasn't accepting it.
It couldn't be positive even if it was bent. They'd obviously just not installed the probes into the rear wheels correctly.
Needless to say, I gave up & went elsewhere for another check. Paul,
2001 Discovery 2 TD5, 211,000 miles & climbing
2006 FFRR TDV8 Vogue 145,000 miles & climbing
Member of Midland (Land) Rover Owners Club, www.mroc.co.uk

I originally used the specialists at Chesham for my Lexus Sport Cross due to the recognized, less than optimal, factory settings.
I was so impressed I had them check the geometry on my'72 RR Classic after they fitted 4 new Michelins.
Another retail tyre chain had previously suggested the front and rear axles were misaligned after offering a 'free' check.
Much to my surprise, exactly to specification, no adjustments needed.
Knowing how to use the technology is clearly more important than just having the equipment.

The 4.4 Westie seems to have even tyre wear at present. The RRs are Chalk and Cheese to drive but I love them both.
(Lexus for everyday commute/runabout) Forty years of progress. 1972-2012

The true test is see if they lock it into Tight Tolerance Mode and ask for a fairly full tank. That’s what the workshop manual says if I remember correctly... 2011 4.4 TDV8 Vogue SE Buckingham Blue with Ivory and clear glass = "Rory"
New Defender D300 90 on order so "Rory" will be going to a new home....!
1974 Series 3 Lightweight = "Millie"
My preferred specialist: www.glenrands.co.uk
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Tracking setup is adjusting the toe angles

Alignment is adjusting camber/caster/toe angles, where applicable

Tracking is quick and easy, providing nothing is seized

Alignment is not, and does take much, much longer to do

jim4244 wrote:

Hi all

I’m struggling to understand the way in which garages charge for Hunter 4 wheel tracking.

Jim

Our local main agent charges £235 for a hunter setup on a 405 sir...