Had 2 new front tyres fitted today on my 2.0TDI GT – Good Year Efficient Grip Performance. Was on the originals at 21k miles so not too bad.
Formula 1 Autocentres said 3 of my wheels were out of alignment – the 2 fronts had uneven wear so I totally get that.
Their system didn’t have my exact model so I was sceptical about what they were doing – plus it cost £70 I hadn’t budgeted for so I didn’t bother getting it done – paid for tyres and left. The rears seem ok to me – even and plenty of tread.

I called another garage later and they said they align the front wheels to the back ones – very rarely do they need to touch the back ones. Does this sound right? They do the front for £26….should I or not?
Will this sort the problem with the fronts so I get even wear? Need to get sorted before weekend…who’s good?

Unless it’s had a bad knock, you normally won’t need to get alignment done unless you have altered the suspension or ride height , or changed the wheel or tyre size to something way outside factory options.
21k on front wheel drive car such as a Golf is perfectly reasonably.
I take it there was no extreme edge wear, which is one way things out of alignment shows up ?

I remember getting inner edge wear on my mk4 golf,

Took it for an alignment . The said the camber was out and sorted it.

It transformed the car into a monster, it handled “ok” before and it became just horrendous in corners

Went back the next day and had it put back.

The first garage are offering 4 wheel alignment that checks a whole heap of angles to determine the centre line of the car, castor, toe, camber etc etc. It will show up any adjustments that need doing, or damage from impacts etc resulting in bent components.

The second garage are offering basic tracking, which basically means are the front wheels pointing in the right direction and not scrubbing, you could be missing a rear wheel and it wouldn’t notice 🙂

I’d always go for the more expensive alignment after experiencing the transformation it made to our Mondeo, both in handling and excessive tyre wear.

Edit: My car was an unruly monster and turned into a poised cat after being tweaked. I had it done shortly after buying it, and a couple of years later when we sold it I could tell it was going bad again. It was the rear toe that was going out of adjustment.

About a month ago the front left took a big impact on a pothole I saw too late – going a bit too fast with an oncoming car meaning I couldn’t swerve ie driving a bit like a tit in T’Peaks.
At the time I thought it must have dented the rim and flatted the tyre.
Pulled over as soon as I could and amazingly no sign of said impact – it was a real jolt though.

Don’t want to wear tyres unevenly from the outset but not sure how to play this now…hmmmm.

Big impact…the 4 wheel alignment would show if the wheel has been pushed back making the castor different – think steeper head angle on a bike. Tracking won’t.

Assuming I get all 4 wheels done properly….who would I trust?
Unfortunately I tar most garages/car places with the same dodgy brush…

Don’t know where you are ? But West Midlands, Chemix Autocentres have a great rep amongst the local VW community .
The firm I work for use them for all our wheel and tyre issues on the car fleet too.

Had 4 wheel alignment done on my A3 quattro and it sorted the crabbing on wet drain covers I used to get. Well worth the money.

East Midlands…Leicester-ish.
Got a 400 mile round trip this weekend so would like it done before then if poss.
If not I’ll get it done before next weekend when I have a similar journey length to the Lakes.
Such a short journey shouldn’t have too much adverse effect in the fronts hopefully.

I’ve not used the 3d service, but I do have tyres and “normal” alignment done here, worth a phone call. They’ve been around since 1986

This thread is interesting; I had a long battle with VW over sawtooth wear of the rear tyres of my Passat. Of course they refused to acknowledge a fault but they did agree to get the rear subframes re-aligned. I sent them a photo taken of the spinning tyre that shows the wear clearly and a few weeks later an engineer from VW in Germany phoned me and asked for a copy. Hmmm.

Not all cars can even have 4 wheel alignment. The fact that Golfs are pretty dull cars to drive would make me think that only the fronts can be done.

I once had a garage tell me that my Mondeo needed 4 wheel alignment, but odd that seeing as though the rears are fixed.

Proper 4 wheel alignment will cost £100 +. They charge per adjustment and give before and after read outs. Most normal cars it makes no difference.

Try website align my car. (Paste not working on my iPhone)

Funky, it can be fixed but doesn’t mean its not out of alignment i.e. bent, or collapsing bushes. The mk3 Mondeo estate does have adjustable rear geometry and it was the same issue Jam bo had, crabbing sideways on drain covers (and any other imperfection including white lines/cats eyes and scrubbed the shoulder off the rear tyres in 6000 miles. The estate normally wears the inside shoulders if anything.

You should get a before and after print out of all the angles and allowable variance, so unless the garage enters the wrong model, the results should be positive. However, I strongly suspect they will always find a ‘second’ adjustment that is knocked out by the first, so budget for the check and 2 adjustments. Sometimes the check is free and £50 per adjustment, or you pay for the check and less for the adjustments.

Well just checked and the Golf does have 4 wheel adjustment, who would have thought it on such a dull driving car….