Aygo Wheel Alignment

[mrb338]

Does anyone notice any issues with their Aygo's wheel alignment? I've been having issues for nearly 6 months and it has become a complete headache.

In March when my Aygo was 10 months old with about 9000 on clock I had a puncture on front driver side. My local Toyota dealer in Dundonald had to replace the tyre as the position of the nail meant it couldn't be repaired. I asked if the two tyres should be replaced together to keep the treads the same on both sides but they said replacing the one would be fine.

Shortly after I noticed the car pulling to the right. The dealer said they were unable to do wheel alignment so I took it to a local tyre centre instead.

After this, the car wasn't pulling anymore, but the steering wheel was off centre to the right when going in a straight line and the steering was lighter to the right than to the left. I also noticed the wheel would not self centre from the right but it would from the left.

I took the car back to the centre, who did the alignment again. This time, I experienced the same problems as above but to the left instead of the right.

I lost faith in the tyre centre, and reported my problems to another Toyota dealer in Belfast. They checked the car and reported that the threads on the track rods were uneven (6 on the drivers side and 11 on the passenger side). They sent the car to their tyre people for wheel alignment. The bill was £73 for assessment and alignment which I thought was excessive! They also damaged one of the wheels in the process, which they agreed to replace, though I still had the hassle of bringing the car to them again on my day off.

I expected after all this the alignment would be sorted, but it was back to the original problem of off centre to right, not self centering from the right and heavier to the left. I probably should have taken the car back to Toyota but due to a holiday and being busy I never got around to it. I also wasn't sure I wanted them trying to fix my car again after my negative experience.

I eventually had the car checked by an independent garage who told me nothing was wrong with any of the suspension or steering components.

Most recently, I went to another tyre centre for new tyres on the front (needing replaced after only 13000 miles) and decided to give the alignment another go. Same problem again, this time its back to the left! This was after me checking the wheel was centered and clamped before the mechanic did the job. I have since checked the track rods and the passenger side has 9 threads wheras the driver side has 6.

Maybe I am being a bit fussy, but when you are paying for a brand new car with a 5 year warranty, you don't expect to be spending over £100 in 6 months to make the car drive in a straight line with the steering wheel centered! I enjoyed driving the car until this started but for the last 4000 miles I have hated it.

If anyone has experienced similar issues or has any ideas on what might solve the problem I would appreciate your input!

Many thanks

Michael

[MikeSh]

I've had this on other cars in the past. Sadly most of these problems do occur when the car is 'fixed' by someone as most fitters seem to have absolutely no idea about the theory of wheel alignment - they just wiggle the nuts and threads until the machine shows the right number.

I found a local place that did fix this same problem on my previous vehicle. They clamped the steering wheel and then used a laser on each front wheel targetting a scale hung on each rear wheel to set them individually to the correct angle.

All I can suggest is you keep looking to find a place that has someone who actually seems to know what he's doing and gets the right result - especially if they'll let you watch.

Many years ago I found a tyre centre where they had an old bloke who actually understood camber, castor, etc - and if the car had the facility could adjust it. Sadly they don't make 'em like that anymore (cars or fitters).

[Cyker]

Yeah, hopefully someone can suggest a fitter who knows their **** near you; It's quite depressing how many tyre-fitters have popped up yet don't know anything beyond removing a tyre and replacing it!

[eygo]

the kwik-fit by me has a bluetooth geometry bay it is absolutely fabulous

4 wheel transmitters are fitted and from there the system knows

the caster,camber and toe in / out ,if the car needs to be weighted to have the

tracking completed it tells them how much weight has to be loaded.

you can see all of the results in the reception on a screen so you can see

the settings of your car before they start and then you can see them making

adjustments on the screen as the arrowe move towards the central position(green area)

would recommend to anyone

[mrb338]

Thanks for the responses. Been on holiday so sorry for the slow reply! I've started adjusting the track rods myself on the car and by trial and error seem to be making progress. Wheel alignment is a hard thing to get your head around at first but I'm learning. So far I've managed to get the steering wheel centred when the car is going straight but by the way the car is driving I can tell that I haven't managed to achieve zero toe yet. The wheels either toe in or toe out.

I totally agree it is very hard to find a professional who actually knows what he is doing when it comes to wheel alignment. Very frustrating!

[eygo]

gunsons used to make a tracking kit,in the kit you had two guages one for each wheel these where held on by a strong rubber belts with a hook on each end,

the guages had a slot in the front and back and in here you put a tape measure and measure across the front and behind the wheel taking a measurement

each time then take the smallest from largest ( if the larger size is at the front then your toe out ,and larger at the back toe in) if the difference was 3mm then

that equated to 3 degrees of tracking,

i.e. if your tracking should be set to 2 degrees toe out then the front measurement would be 2mm bigger

if your tracking should be set to 0 degrees then both measurements should be equal

[mrb338]

I've given up fiddling with it. Took it to another garage and its still not perfect but probably as good as its ever gonna be. Car will drive straight but wheel is slightly off the left and steering is lighter to the left. All our vans in work drive the same if not worse so I guess its just something that happens that you have to live with. Maybe I'm just too fussy!

[eygo]

you're not being fussy you just want it right as it came from factory nothing wrong with that,as i have said in an earlier post i have used kwik-fit for many years and never had any problems steering wheel in the centre and drives as straight as an arrow