Wheel alignment cost (UK)

[Cactus]

30 minutes ago, toffee_pie said:

So I hurt your feelings? I said on my post, especially older cars. But old or new they won't burn themselves on high end parts, just your wallet.

Dun worry you have not hurt my feeling. As if you are concerned, judging by how you have written the post.

You said in your post “Dont know why people do not fix their own car, Lexus or otherwise - its madness especially on older cars - I am not even a mechanic but do most of the work myself on my car”

 

Apologise and jog on.

[Malc]

12 minutes ago, Cactus said:

and jog on.

to Wheel Alignment Cost ...... the header here ...... and the utter futility of trying to do that onself at home eh ! 

Malc

[toffee_pie]

3 hours ago, Cactus said:

Dun worry you have not hurt my feeling. As if you are concerned, judging by how you have written the post.

You said in your post “Dont know why people do not fix their own car, Lexus or otherwise - its madness especially on older cars - I am not even a mechanic but do most of the work myself on my car”

 

Apologise and jog on.

I don't need to apologise, I just dont like getting ripped off is all - changing spark plugs, oil and fluids is as easy job for any semi competent person to do, and in many cases you can do a better job than a main dealer by taking more care and attention and using far higher quality materials than they ever would.

I may not be a mechanic but I am an Engineer and can do most jobs at hand, I paid £300 to an electrician to do basic outside work and he done a bodge job, took forever, installed a CCTV camera in the wrong place and never revisited to move it where it should be, he also took junction box glands of mine which were not his, so I am finishing the taks myself and got dewalt tools to enable me to do so - I would have done a better job myself and pocketed the £300

The post was about wheel alignment and he was getting ripped off, garages rip off people - Lexus included

[NemesisUK]

19 minutes ago, toffee_pie said:

The post was about wheel alignment and he was getting ripped off, garages rip off people - Lexus included

"Rip off" is very subjective, a personal opinion. I may be very happy to pay my dealership £300 to service my car. I am not getting ripped off. You may think that I am but your assessment of my expenditure is yours not mine and as such the transaction is not a rip off as you didn't pay it ...

[toffee_pie]

1 hour ago, NemesisUK said:

"Rip off" is very subjective, a personal opinion. I may be very happy to pay my dealership £300 to service my car. I am not getting ripped off. You may think that I am but your assessment of my expenditure is yours not mine and as such the transaction is not a rip off as you didn't pay it ...

You are getting ripped off, it's just that you don't know it. People can make  their own mind up as to what a rip of is, one's disposable income has nowt to do with it, but dealer's need to get money from someone 

[Cactus]

1 hour ago, toffee_pie said:

I don't need to apologise, I just dont like getting ripped off is all - changing spark plugs, oil and fluids is as easy job for any semi competent person to do, and in many cases you can do a better job than a main dealer by taking more care and attention and using far higher quality materials than they ever would.

I may not be a mechanic but I am an Engineer and can do most jobs at hand, I paid £300 to an electrician to do basic outside work and he done a bodge job, took forever, installed a CCTV camera in the wrong place and never revisited to move it where it should be, he also took junction box glands of mine which were not his, so I am finishing the taks myself and got dewalt tools to enable me to do so - I would have done a better job myself and pocketed the £300

The post was about wheel alignment and he was getting ripped off, garages rip off people - Lexus included

I don’t know or care about who you think you are. The post was about wheel alignment until you posted a stupid and inconsiderate comment. 
 

This may not be intentional but unfortunately the conveyed message from your language says otherwise.

 

You remain obsessed about how you can do a job for less cost and better quality than any dealers and main garages. Yet you fail to put into context of other peoples personal circumstances. This saddens me. I mean what if i am disabled in a wheelchair, shall i crawl out and do the jobs because its madness to you?

[Cactus]

4 minutes ago, toffee_pie said:

You are getting ripped off, it's just that you don't know it. People can make  their own mind up as to what a rip of is, one's disposable income has nowt to do with it, but dealer's need to get money from someone 

Get a life.
 

Yea we dont know it. Who are you to make such assumption on others? 

I am guessing you cook your own meal and make your own coffee for your entire life because eating out and buying coffee is a rip off as you can cook and make your own coffee for a lot less.

[LenT]

On 6/15/2022 at 9:39 PM, MadJam250 said:

… have the front two part worn tyres moved to the rear to replace them and have two new tyres put on to the front.

I was wondering why this was the recommendation.  Counter intuitive though it may sound, the usual recommendation is that the newer tyres go on the rear.

For example, this is a quote from Uniroyal:

If you replace old tyres with new tyres and this does not apply to the whole set, there comes the question: Do you fit the new tyres at the front or back? Regardless of the drive type, we recommend not fitting the better tyres at the front, but always fitting them at the back. The reason is simple: The rear axle ensures the tracking stability of a vehicle.

This is a more technical explanation dealing with understeer and oversteer:

https://kumhotyre.co.uk/kumho-news/should-you-fit-new-tyres-to-the-front-or-rear/

[toffee_pie]

7 hours ago, Cactus said:

Get a life.
 

Yea we dont know it. Who are you to make such assumption on others? 

I am guessing you cook your own meal and make your own coffee for your entire life because eating out and buying coffee is a rip off as you can cook and make your own coffee for a lot less.

Well this has turned, the thread can you read the topic? Good lad now do as you previously mentioned.. jog on.

Since you mentioned my coffee is done with my trusty gaggia titanium, and has served well for about 4000 cups now, double shot works every time.

[toffee_pie]

Alignment done - £35 for partial alignment as the rear was good - duration circa 25 minutes - clearly an indicator that the price quoted in the original post is pie in the sky stuff

[Malc]

yes yes yes ...  i remember now ...... they only usually charge for whichever end needs adjustment .....  so £70 if for both  AND also remembering that when I had mine last done there would be zero charge if there was no adjustment needed at all ...  a freebie check ............ BUT of course it was always likely that " red " would appear somewhere on the chart

A good outcome 

Malc

[MadJam250]

8 hours ago, Malc said:

yes yes yes ...  i remember now ...... they only usually charge for whichever end needs adjustment .....  so £70 if for both  AND also remembering that when I had mine last done there would be zero charge if there was no adjustment needed at all ...  a freebie check ............ BUT of course it was always likely that " red " would appear somewhere on the chart

A good outcome 

Malc

 

[MadJam250]

Well, the saga continues. 

Rear tyres, brakes and pads duly replaced and full wheel alignment (slight discount eventually) done at main dealer. However, car still drifts to the left more than it used to/should. Took it back in. It is slightly better but still veers unreasonably. Was told by dealer that the adjustable aspect of the track rods have tightened (due to corrison down to age and mileage) and are awkward to adjust (apparently it took 3 hours of fiddling). So as it's still not right and the adjusters aren't working properly, it seems, I asked about a Relax warranty claim to allow things to work and be corrected. I was told that due to such age/corrosion is excluded from the Relax warranty. Replacing the aforementioned parts to facilitate a proper wheel alignment would cost me an extra £300ish. 

Your views are always appreciated. I won't yet comment on my own views, but having recently paid for a main dealer service, the aforementioned brakes and tyre work and now this, potentially, I can let you guys guess how I am feeling.

The free coffee and biscuit was nice though.

Thanks.

[toffee_pie]

1 hour ago, MadJam250 said:

Well, the saga continues. 

Rear tyres, brakes and pads duly replaced and full wheel alignment (slight discount eventually) done at main dealer. However, car still drifts to the left more than it used to/should. Took it back in. It is slightly better but still veers unreasonably. Was told by dealer that the adjustable aspect of the track rods have tightened (due to corrison down to age and mileage) and are awkward to adjust (apparently it took 3 hours of fiddling). So as it's still not right and the adjusters aren't working properly, it seems, I asked about a Relax warranty claim to allow things to work and be corrected. I was told that due to such age/corrosion is excluded from the Relax warranty. Replacing the aforementioned parts to facilitate a proper wheel alignment would cost me an extra £300ish. 

Your views are always appreciated. I won't yet comment on my own views, but having recently paid for a main dealer service, the aforementioned brakes and tyre work and now this, potentially, I can let you guys guess how I am feeling.

The free coffee and biscuit was nice though.

Thanks.

Take it to a proper place who can do alignment, ie not Lexus.. my car has 134 thousand miles, corrosion is nonsense bull. Take your money elsewhere  A main dealer, Lexus or otherwise is unlikely to be equipped or concerned with something as tedious as wheel alignment, however it's very important.. obviously, so it's worth seeking out people who do this specifically and have the correct tools to adjust camber and such.

[Spock66]

1 hour ago, MadJam250 said:

Was told by dealer that the adjustable aspect of the track rods have tightened (due to corrison down to age and mileage) and are awkward to adjust (apparently it took 3 hours of fiddling).

They can certainly rust and be awkward to shift, but should be perfectly doable often with the help of a heat source.

1 hour ago, MadJam250 said:

The free coffee and biscuit was nice though.

Or maybe it was a free car repair and an expensive snack 😉

[Malc]

11 hours ago, MadJam250 said:

and are awkward to adjust

take it to a proper wheel alignment place ............. now, I had a similar corrosion issue and I did actually have to leave my car with the professional wheel alignment guys overnight whilst the magic penetrating oil did it's stuff .  they did try heat source attack BUT couldn't shift it so they suggested to me to leave it overnight, I did and lo and hehold all sorted by the following day and a normal bill ..  of course

Your Lexus Main Stealer are simply a load of corroded nuts .  useless in the extreme ........ 

The next £70 spent with true professionals might actually achieve all you need

Good luck

Malc

[MadJam250]

The local dealer justified their doubling the price because they have to make money. When I provided an analogy that Costa don't charge double when they buy a new machine they couldn't understand the comparison. 

More to follow in another thread in due course. 

[steve2006]

I’ve been everywhere trying to sort this out, laser tracking, Hunter alignment you name it I’ve done it!

Initially pulled to the left and took out the baked beans stack on aisle 2, told it was sorted but then pulled to the right.....biscuit display demolished.

Finally gave up so took it back and demanded my £1.00 refund.

[Glyn Jennings]

I have just had 4 new tyres fitted on my RX450h at my local ATS centre and they said the alignment was out on the front wheels. They also said they couldn’t do the alignment because of the regenerative braking and suggested I go to Lexus. I rang my local dealership and they said it would cost £186 which is only £6 less than I paid for each tyre. I can’t understand why the cost is so high compared to a tyre depot.  Were they right in saying Lexus would need to do it?

[Malc1]

21 minutes ago, Glyn Jennings said:

Were they right in saying Lexus would need to do it

phone another local tyre fitting /  wheel alignment place ?.........  can't see Lexus doing it themselves tbh 🤔

Malc

[toffee_pie]

5 hours ago, Glyn Jennings said:

I have just had 4 new tyres fitted on my RX450h at my local ATS centre and they said the alignment was out on the front wheels. They also said they couldn’t do the alignment because of the regenerative braking and suggested I go to Lexus. I rang my local dealership and they said it would cost £186 which is only £6 less than I paid for each tyre. I can’t understand why the cost is so high compared to a tyre depot.  Were they right in saying Lexus would need to do it?

Braking has nothing to do with alignment, they are talking nonsense. ATS do not have proper wheel alignment systems it seems - I was at them years ago and it doesnt look like its changed. £190 quid for alignment is taking the *****, forget Lexus and go to a indy who has this kit, I paid about £30 I think, only was charged for whatever work they do. 

People need to better understand the different types of 'alignment' that is camber, castor and toe alignment Vs basic tracking. i do mine each year because the roads are terrible and I need to ensure that the geometry is correct, most years I do need to make some adjustments.

Much of this alignment is very dependent on the person doing the work - its not very difficult but they need to know what they are doing - case in point, when I got my alignment done a few months ago the guy said 'did you replace your steering wheel' I said - why yes how did you know. He said he knews from the readings. The thing is I put a different steering wheel on my car ages ago, and took care to mark where the column met the large over sized stud that keeps the wheel in place, needed a breaker bar to remove it - obviously he noticed the few mm or so it was offset.

[toffee_pie]

3 hours ago, Malc1 said:

phone another local tyre fitting /  wheel alignment place ?.........  can't see Lexus doing it themselves tbh 🤔

Malc

Buy a car from Lexus but dont get wheel alignment from them -- 

[Spock66]

4 hours ago, Glyn Jennings said:

I have just had 4 new tyres fitted on my RX450h at my local ATS centre and they said the alignment was out on the front wheels.

I would suggest always declining the "free" wheel alignment check at a tyre depot.

[Glyn Jennings]

Thanks for all your comments.  I will look for someone other that Lexus to get the alignment done.  ATS said the alignment was out because the front tyres were worn more on the outside but at 23,000 miles I don't think that is to bad.  It all my years this has been the same with all my cars I have owned with that sort of mileage.  I have to say I love both my Lexus cars but I don't feel the same about my local Lexus dealer or Lexus pricing. For them to just look at my RX for anything it starts at £186 and you have to even agree to pay that for them to investigate whether something is covered by the Relax warranty or not because they don't seem to be able to tell you upfront if it is covered. Obviously if it is you don't pay anything.  If it's  not they will reduce the charge to £93 for just the inspection if you pay the extra for the work to be done. I also find the staff over the top and rather false in the way they seek to please you. 

[Malc1]

3 hours ago, Glyn Jennings said:

ATS said the alignment was out because the front tyres were worn more on the outside but at 23,000 miles I don't think that is to bad.  It all my years this has been the same with all my cars I have owned with that sort of mileage. 

23000 miles ain't at all bad for the full life of many tyres eh !

Thinking the ATS advisor is possibly just some sort of dimwit without too much of a clue about his job

Malc