I’m trying to get the car booked for a 4 wheel alignment here in Kent, and I am massively confused on the pricing structure and time I’ve been quoted. I’ve had alignments done on other cars before but with the NC is a different ball game, I know it has multi link yes yes but why the massive price difference and time to do it?
I had 3 quotes all laser alignment
£95 whilst I wait, estimated max 1h
£175 minimum 2h
£265 for 4 hours
I genuinely need an explanation if anyone knows.
Are they corner weighting and setting up ride height? If not that’s a rip off
ATS Euromaster are currently charging £81.99 for 4 wheel alignment. I have no experience of this service although I have found them to be a decent outfit for tyres, ac regas & tyre pressure sensor replacement.
At ATS it only mentions ‘tracking’. There is no mention of camber or caster measurement and adjustment.
It would be wise to see what you will get for your money. It is likely that they will not have the expert knowledge to do anything but set it to ‘factory’ settings.
If you want say a ‘fast road’ set up you will have to pay for someone’s knowledge and experience to achieve this. If you know what you want and tell them to adjust to the settings you give them it could possibly be cheaper. There will be a reason for the price differences and the OP needs to investigate to make sure he gets what he wants.
I didn’t ask for a fast road, I’m just interested in close to factory as possible considering I have lowering springs.
OK, no need to be rude, just trying to help you understand the possible reasons for the difference in price.
I will point out that the £265 quote does state ‘fast road’ so it is reasonable to assume that this is what you discussed with this garage.
There’s tracking and there’s alignment.
Tracking, are the wheels basically all pointing in the same direction.
Alignment, adjustment of camber, caster and toe to achieve a desired handling/steering response outcome.
I suspect you’ve been quoted for both options by different people so it’s difficult to say whether one or the other offers value.
You’re probably right, I wanted a 4 wheel tracking done basically so maybe the cheaper was just an alignment.
Don’t worry it’s all good. I only messaged the garage online for full wheel geometry.
Anything over £100 for a full alignment is having you on. Just front wheel tracking (toe) should be £30 at most as it’s 15 minutes work.
The issue is, what state your adjustment bolts are in. It’s quite common for the bolts to have seized. We had to cut out the old bolts on the front lower wishbones and replace them, the 4 wheel alignment then took an hour at Vincents Motor Works at Stradbroke. It transformed the car, so it was definitely worth all the aggro.
I hear you, I have all new bolts basically which are covered in copper grease. I think for them to assume it’s bad from the get go and charge that much is not right.
Oddly myself recommended a place here in Kent on another post someone was asking, and they have massively increased their price from the last time I’ve been there.
I had an alignment done last week on my nd.a short conversation about what I was wanting my car to feel like and collected two hours later and car is exactly as I wanted.this sort of service is a result of years of knowledge and skill.£150+ vat.use a specialist is my recommendation.
I’ve had my MX-5 for 12 years now and have had probably 7 to 8 4 wheel alignment due to suspension changes over this time.
Back then the full alignment for fast road was £90. This cost has increased yearly to approx £125.
However the last alignment I had a year ago was £180 and that was because I asked for the specific settings recommended by Goodwin racing (these are my favourite settings) my car is just a daily drive car and want it to be as an enjoyable drive as possible.
What settings are those?
One of the garages I’ve been before advised they won’t do anything custom.
