VIC: Good wheel alignment places in Melbourne

[Buzy_Robot]

HI Guys - can anyone recommend a good wheel alignment place in Melbourne for my B7 Passat?

[brad]

TruTrac - Ralf

[Buzy_Robot]

Thanks Brad. I called and Ralf answered. Had a jovial chat and I'm booked in for wheel alignment this Friday morning. He knows his stuff, so I'm confident he'll do a great job.

[brad]

He usually get good reports. Every now & then somebody isn't happy.

[Johnbu]

Trutrac certainly do a good job. Most complaints are about the cost!

I use Tyres Plus (Swan Street tyres) in Richmond (close to work) and Traction Tyres in Rowville (close to home). Both do great work and also set up race cars.
Swan St tyres also do the tyres and wheel alignment work for a Porsche dealership. Can't feel too sorry for the Porsche owner when the dealer charges 3-4 times what I pay.

[Buzy_Robot]

Trutrack certainly do a good job - my B7 Passat is gliding along Melbourne streets very nicely indeed!

It cost me $187 and the one small criticism I can make is they forgot (or didn't know about) resetting the tyre pressure monitor.

[Felixrising]

Johnbu, thanks for the tip. After a trip to Canberra over the long weekend, I noticed a small steering wheel shake around 110kmph+ and figured I'd best get the wheel balance checked. Swan Street Tyres picked up a 50 or 60g out of balance apparently (?!) so I'm surprised it wasn't more noticeable, they appeared to do a good job (I have no way to check their work, but the shake is gone). They had it sorted in about 45 minutes and for a four wheel alignment and front end wheel balance he rounded it down to $100 even... they also replaced the valve caps with metal ones.

I'm not sure why, but they set the tyre pressure to 36psi all round, the placard on the inside of the fuel flap states 270 kPa front & rear for partial loading (39psi), and 320kPa front with 340kPa rear on full loading.. that upper loading seems very high though! Generally I'd run around 280 to 290kpa (40-42psi) for highway cruising and for about town.

[Johnbu]

Good to know.

I think 36psi is a good all round figure, especially if you drive around town.

Maybe 40+ is better for autobarn speed

I set mine at 34psi.

[Felixrising]

Well, I don't know what the deal is, after taking the car for another highway cruise, I noticed a small shake again. So back to Swan Street Tyres I went and they re-checked the wheels. around 10g off this time (they think it might have dropped a weight).. but straight back onto the highway and I still feel a slight shake. I don't know what the deal is but it bothers me whenever I'm doing a 100+ that there is a small shake there... having taken it to Swan Street twice, I'm unsure whether I should be bothered again.. Am I making a mountain out of a molehill? It feels like a pretty consistent (but small) wobble but if they reckon the wheels are pretty true, am I imagining it?!

[brad]

How many km has the car done?

What brand of tyres do you have & how worn are they / how many km have you done on them?

Are you running OEM wheels or aftermarket?

Are the wheel bolts being torqued to 120nm or are they using a rattle gun or polite gorilla to tighten them up?

Has anyone checked your tyres for tread run-out, edge feathering, flat spots, etc. (had a real good look)

What settings did the aligner set the car to?

What type of machine is he using?

[snerlo]

Also, is there a build up of rust on the face of the hub? Did they wire brush that immediate area to clean as the wheel might be on properly but the face of the hub might be the issue. Just a thought.

[Felixrising]

Hi,

The car has done ~96000km. It's got Michelin PS3s on original factory rims. I bought the car second hand with the tyres on them - purchase date of the tyres was 12 Jul '14...

I didn't hang in the shop while they were removing the wheels and re-tightening... so I expect it was a pneumatic rattle gun.

They didn't mention anything about issues with the tyres themselves, they had them off twice already so I can only assume they had a look at them...

I really don't know anything else about the equipment they use at Swan Street tyres.

They did tell me to come back if the shake was still present...

any suggestions on how to proceed?

[Notso Swift]

Do they do the alignment dynamic?

Other wise could be issues above or something like a diff bearing. The wheel is only one thing that rotates!

[Dan199]

What is a 'alignment dynamic'?

[Felixrising]

He is referring to a Dynamic Wheel balance, I think that's pretty much the norm in all "real" tyre places these days. Although I'm sure there are variations in the sensitivity and calibration of machines.

I think it's more likely that I've got a tyre with a bulge or some other imperfection is becoming apparent at higher speeds. I don't notice it at all until I'm going faster that say 80-100kmph.

What surprises me more is that generally the electric power steering makes this car feel very isolated (numb?) from the road (at least compared to my old hydrolic assist in my old mazda 323 v6, yet this wobble is most noticeable in the steering wheel.