[SmartCat]

Close to my home, there is a wheel alignment shop with bland/simple frontage (no large signboard & glitzy colorful lighting). Usually, I see Innovas or Etios or small commercial vehicles getting alignment done there. But today, I saw an Audi Q7 guy inside! Since my BRV had a minor alignment issue (steering would not self-center "smoothly"), I ventured inside. To my surprise, this shop does not have a modern computer system for wheel alignment. Instead, he has this gadget:



Made in Australia by a company called SERVEX:



Normally, I would not take the risk of getting wheel alignment done at such a place but Q7's presence there boosted my confidence. It also helped that while I was waiting, a Range Rover rolled into the shop!



This shop is so busy that the shop owner says there is a minimum wait time of 30 minutes anytime of the day. So finally, it was the turn of my BRV's wheel alignment:



A few things I noticed:

- These machines are attached to the front wheels only. Nothing is mounted on rear wheels
- Steering wheel is straightened and held in place. But the vehicle is not rolled forward/backward like with computerized wheel alignment.
- In modern systems, the technician selects make/model on a computer, loads the camber/caster/toe-in settings for that particular model and then goes under the car to make adjustments. None of that stuff here. The technician makes adjustments using the gauges on the Servex machine
- After that, he asks another person to move the car forward/back and asks him to turn the steering left and right. Some more adjustments are made.
- Takes the car on a test drive and comes back. A few nuts and bolts are tightened now after which the car is ready.

And yes, my wheel alignment issue has been resolved. I was chatting up with the owner and he says premium car owners visit his shop because many modern wheel alignment shop technicians don't have good knowledge about rear wheel alignment (which is needed for AWD/RWD vehicles or cars with fully independent rear suspension).

So how does old school wheel aligners work? How does the technician carry out alignment without knowing the manufacturer settings or range for camber/caster/toe etc? This Youtuber says wheel alignment can be done using just a tape:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wab8IcOQvQw

[shankar.balan]

This is very interesting indeed.
Can you please share the details of this place?
Thanks!

[crdi]

Maybe!
And, the guy has an aquarium in the middle of all his machinery & tools, which looks like a glass one and on a flimsy-ish looking metal stand!

[Jeroen]

A mechanic with solid knowledge and experience working with these simple tools is likely to be able to do a better job than a mechanic with little knowledge working the most advanced digital 3D alignement rig.

All these modern allignement tools don’t make the process of alignment any better. Just quicker and more convenient and it requires very little knowledge or understanding of a cars suspension and set up. The mechanic will look at a computer screen which will tell him/her what to do.

It works well for most jobs. BUT most of these so called high tech allignements actually work by working towards an acceptable average value between left and right suspension. Much better, but it takes longer is to adjust every aspect on every wheelcorner to the smallest possible exact tolerance.

I am having my Alfa Spider aligned in two months time. And it will be done by a real expert using something very similar to this set up. Very basic and very simple. It’s not the machine or tools that make the difference but the competence of whoever does the job.

Jeroen

[Shreyans_Jain]

Old fashioned manual wheel alignment has been done many times of my Hexa. Especially during the early days when most tire shops did not have the data for the vehicle. You can’t go wrong with manual alignment under the supervision of a skilled technician. It takes more time but the result is always there.

[Kosfactor]

I too prefer this Manual wheel alignment - even for modern cars with EPS and ESP etc, once the wheel is aligned properly and the vehicle is out on the road for a test drive, the EPS seems to calibrate itself to the new 'Straight', so no worries there about the lack of computer wizardry.

The Australian made alignment scale is probably the same you`d see in most of these shops, perhaps due to technicians being trained by someone who originated from Vijay Wheel alignment itself, they are one of the oldest shops.

Needless to say all vehicles in our group goes to Vijay (JP Nagar) or Royal (Jakkur).

They do rear wheel alignment if they feel its necessary during a test drive or by looking at the wear pattern on the tyres. They can do alignment for Torsion beam rear end also by heating \ welding etc.

Edit : adding a picture of the same machine in Vijay.

[SmartCat]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

This is very interesting indeed.
Can you please share the details of this place? Thanks!

Looks like he has his own website: https://karnataka-wheel-alignment-na...business.site/
Google Maps link: https://goo.gl/maps/uc8pP47mekRPm9uQ6 (or type 'karnataka wheel alignment' in Google Maps)

Originally Posted by Jeroen

I am having my Alfa Spider aligned in two months time. And it will be done by a real expert using something very similar to this set up. Very basic and very simple.

I guess all 80s cars or classic cars wheel alignment is done this way? It's unlikely such car models' data is listed on modern wheel aligner's computer. But I'm surprised Europe still has garages equipped with such old school machines.

[condor]

This method is not as old as the one where they used threads - IIRC, as done on our Padmini back in 1999. I have used these manual systems as in this thread, and have got good results.

All these shops look to have the same Servex make from Australia.

Unless it is shops like Madhu's, where they focus solely on alignment, the technicians at many a A.S.S dont often have the experience to get the alignment right. The computerized readings are a tool, but what is to be done is something the technician should know.

Also, havent seen rear wheel alignment being done. At least none of our cars have needed that.

[SmartCat]

Originally Posted by condor

This method is not as old as the one where they used threads - IIRC, as done on our Padmini back in 1999.

Yes, I recall getting wheel alignment done on my Optra (sometime in 2005 perhaps) where he used a string around the car. Similar to this (image from Google), but not exactly. That guy had mounted the string on a device attached to front wheels, and string goes all around the car. But I faintly recall him using an old computer for this setup too (but I'm not 100% sure)

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by SmartCat

Looks like he has his own website: https://karnataka-wheel-alignment-na...business.site/
Google Maps link: https://goo.gl/maps/uc8pP47mekRPm9uQ6 (or type 'karnataka wheel alignment' in Google Maps)



I guess all 80s cars or classic cars wheel alignment is done this way? It's unlikely such car models' data is listed on modern wheel aligner's computer. But I'm surprised Europe still has garages equipped with such old school machines.

Thanks for the details.

Indeed all our cars and jeeps in the 1980’s and even early 1990’s were done manually. It is only in the late 1990’s that this computerised wheel alignment and balancing and all became more common. In Madras it was only available at MRF tyredrome, for example.

As I’ve posted on the gypsy queries thread, I am being advised even now, to have my Gypsy alignment and balancing done manually!

[Chhanda Das]

Originally Posted by SmartCat

This Youtuber says wheel alignment can be done using just a tape

We used to do wheel alignment using strings on some of our family vehicles back in my ancestral village in a nondescript part of Upper Assam in North-East India. This trick was taught by my Grandfather who was a medical doctor by profession. I recently saw this trick being done by a professional mechanic on Youtube and that made me very nostalgic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwoDq0o5XjI

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by SmartCat

I guess all 80s cars or classic cars wheel alignment is done this way? It's unlikely such car models' data is listed on modern wheel aligner's computer. But I'm surprised Europe still has garages equipped with such old school machines.

In Europe it is not a problem as far as I have seen, heard and experienced. All the computers seem to have just about any car more or less ever made in its database. Anything post WW2 is unlikely to be a problem.

I have not seen these old school machines for some time. My guy uses even something much more basic!

Jeroen

[rayjaycleoful]

If the attachments are only for front wheels, how do they do it for independent rear suspension cars?

EDIT: Have never seen anything like this in Delhi NCR!

[SmartCat]

Originally Posted by rayjaycleoful

If the attachments are only for front wheels

I was just referring to what they did with my car (FWD, vanilla torsion beam suspension) and also with respect to modern wheel aligners that have attachment on the rear wheels too. I did not notice what they did with the Q7 (Range Rover came later).

[zeng]

Originally Posted by SmartCat

I was just referring to what they did with my car (FWD, vanilla torsion beam suspension) and also with respect to modern wheel aligners that have attachment on the rear wheels too. I did not notice what they did with the Q7 (Range Rover came later).

With gadgets on the front wheels only method of alignment, do you find the steering wheel slightly off centre to one side (left or right) whislt driving straight ahead with hand input holding on to the steering wheel?

Without steering wheel input, any drifting/pulling to one side whilst driving straight ahead in your car?