Failed NCT. Tracking Way Out

zenno

Failed the NCT this morning. It passed everything except for the tracking is way out the tester said.

Anyone know how much it costs to get the tracking done ? and what would be the cheapest place in swords co. dublin to bring it to get fixed ? thanks.

Mitsubishi colt gl 1999

ABajaninCork

Given the state of the roads, I would've thought it would be sensible to get the tracking done BEFORE the car goes in! I always get mine done just before the test.

Doesn't cost much. I paid about E25 for mine, but this was in Cork.

zenno

ABajaninCork wrote: »

Given the state of the roads, I would've thought it would be sensible to get the tracking done BEFORE the car goes in! I always get mine done just before the test.

Doesn't cost much. I paid about E25 for mine, but this was in Cork.

Ah great stuff, that's cheap. I really thought there might be more wrong with this car as it's old and i was amazed that it only failed on the tracking, that's why i didn't get it looked at.

Any decent cheap place in swords that will fix this tracking ?

shooter88

Bout the same round my way 25e

zenno

I rang advanced pitstop on swords main street and they quoted me €55 :eek: i obviously declined.

Muckie

If your over near Tallaght.

Used this place myself.

Square Tyres
Square Motor Centre
Tallaght
D-24

€30 to get the car, tracked, mines was in a bad way, then flew thru its NCT

zenno

Muckie wrote: »

If your over near Tallaght.

Used this place myself.

Square Tyres
Square Motor Centre
Tallaght
D-24

€30 to get the car, tracked, mines was in a bad way, then flew thru its NCT

Thanks will keep that in mind if i'm out that way over the next 2 weeks.

Nissan doctor

@OP, your car has front and rear alignment adjustment so no reputable place with decent equipment will do it properly for €25. You can expect basic front wheel tracking for that.

The €55 that was quoted above is a perfectly reasonable price for proper 4 wheel laser or infrared camera alignment with upwards of €65 being the norm for cars with full alignment adjustment for camber, castor etc.

dr.fuzzenstein

Muckie wrote: »

If your over near Tallaght.

Used this place myself.

Square Tyres
Square Motor Centre
Tallaght
D-24

€30 to get the car, tracked, mines was in a bad way, then flew thru its NCT

Square tyres? Wouldn't that be horrendously uncomfortable?:D

dr.fuzzenstein

Nissan doctor wrote: »

@OP, your car has front and rear alignment adjustment so no reputable place with decent equipment will do it properly for €25. You can expect basic front wheel tracking for that.

The €55 that was quoted above is a perfectly reasonable price for proper 4 wheel laser or infrared camera alignment with upwards of €65 being the norm for cars with full alignment adjustment for camber, castor etc.

What he said.
OP, don't skimp on the alignment, if all four wheels don 't point in the same direction, your car is not stable and will eat tires. It's false economy. Would not recommend Advance, though. There may be one guy there who knows what he's doing, but if he's off and you get the new guy doing it on his first day there, you might as well get a dog to do it.
Go to a reputable place that does the proper 4 wheel alignment.

Nissan doctor

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

Square tyres? Wouldn't that be horrendously uncomfortable?:D

Couldn't be any worse then triangle tyres:P

BorneTobyWilde

zenno wrote: »

I rang advanced pitstop on swords main street and they quoted me €55 :eek: i obviously declined.

What they quote and what you pay is another thing

'' 55''
''aw ok bye'

me
'55'
' you're having a laugh,just tracking, not a full valet''
'' how's 40 sound'
' I'd pay 30 tops''

'bring her in''

Nissan doctor

BorneTobyWilde wrote: »

What they quote and what you pay is another thing

'' 55''
''aw ok bye'

me
'55'
' you're having a laugh,just tracking, not a full valet''
'' how's 40 sound'
' I'd pay 30 tops''

'bring her in''

And how much more technical is wheel alignment then valeting? How much more training is required for competent technicians to carry out wheel alignment then for someone to do valeting? How many times more expensive is good wheel alignment equipment then valeting equipment?

If you go in to some places with your attitude, you'll just get the young fella thrown onto it who won;t have a clue what he's doing.

If you want a professional job done, you pay for a professional.

JohnBoy26

BorneTobyWilde wrote: »

What they quote and what you pay is another thing

'' 55''
''aw ok bye'

me
'55'
' you're having a laugh,just tracking, not a full valet''
'' how's 40 sound'
' I'd pay 30 tops''

'bring her in''

I think it's advance pitstop that'd be hanging up the phone in that situation :-)

George Dalton

BorneTobyWilde wrote: »

What they quote and what you pay is another thing

'' 55''
''aw ok bye'

me
'55'
' you're having a laugh,just tracking, not a full valet''
'' how's 40 sound'
' I'd pay 30 tops''

'bring her in''

We see plenty of this type of attitude from people in our place. I normally try to stop them before they even get as far as their favourite saying "there's a recession on you know"

Do you employ the same tactics when you go to Tesco to do the weekly shopping as well?

Ronnie Beck

Well worth spending a few quid on proper 4 wheel laser alignment. Car will feel much nicer to drive and you'll reclaim alot of the money on fuel and tyre savings. Cost me 45 euro here, but he probably shaved a few quid off as I was getting tyres too.

Seweryn

Ronnie Beck wrote: »

Well worth spending a few quid on proper 4 wheel laser alignment. Car will feel much nicer to drive and you'll reclaim alot of the money on fuel and tyre savings. Cost me 45 euro here, but he probably shaved a few quid off as I was getting tyres too.

In most tyre places with full laser equipment I find annoying practice, which is "we do not do camber". I don't know why they even put all the equipment on four of my wheels, if they are not going to do it properly. What is the point?

zenno

Thanks folks for the information. My mechanic is on holidays but his son said he does tracking so i have 4 weeks to get it done and he is back in 2 so i'll get him to do the front and back tracking.

Nissan doctor

Seweryn wrote: »

In most tyre places with full laser equipment I find annoying practice, which is "we do not do camber". I don't know why they even put all the equipment on four of my wheels, if they are not going to do it properly. What is the point?

This is a big problem in Ireland, Places(chain garages mostly I'll admit) spending 10 - 20 - even 30k on high tech alignment equipment and then letting staff with no specific training use it.

zenno wrote: »

Thanks folks for the information. My mechanic is on holidays but his son said he does tracking so i have 4 weeks to get it done and he is back in 2 so i'll get him to do the front and back tracking.

I would make sure that they have proper 4 wheel alignment gear as, while your car only has adjustments for the toe(tracking) of the 4 wheels, there still may be an issue with the camber or castor or any of the other angles so only proper 4 wheel alignment gear and a competent technician will be able to see and compensate for these.

Seweryn

Nissan doctor wrote: »

This is a big problem in Ireland, Places (chain garages mostly I'll admit) spending 10 - 20 - even 30k on high tech alignment equipment and then letting staff with no specific training use it.

That is what I experienced in a couple of places. Nonsense really. But I was told in one of the places that they do not do camber, due to insurance reasons, as this would be interfering with suspension components . I got confused and it sounded a bit of a BS to me tbh. Did not want to investigate it and got back home, re-adjusted the camber myself and then came back to get the readings done again. In the future I am not sure where to go in my area, as I do not know any reliable places that can do full tracking properly.

zenno

Nissan doctor wrote: »

This is a big problem in Ireland, Places(chain garages mostly I'll admit) spending 10 - 20 - even 30k on high tech alignment equipment and then letting staff with no specific training use it.



I would make sure that they have proper 4 wheel alignment gear as, while your car only has adjustments for the toe(tracking) of the 4 wheels, there still may be an issue with the camber or castor or any of the other angles so only proper 4 wheel alignment gear and a competent technician will be able to see and compensate for these.

I'll mention all of that and the camber/castor to my mechanic and if there's any problem with him doing it i'll just have to leave it in and get it professionally done.

This is the NCT failure part on the form... I think that means the rear axle is ok ?. I wasn't on ball there as i just looked at the fail without looking at the rear axle Doh.

zenno

Got the tracking done of front axle from my mechanic at a cost of only €30.

Went into the NCT earlier today and it passed with flying colours, nice tight fix, it was the cheapest price i could get it fixed for so happy days. Until next year