Re: FINAL: Wheel and Tire

["Fred Munro" <munrof@isys.ca>]

-----Original Message-----
From: Phil Payne <quk@isham-research.demon.co.uk>
Date: Thursday, January 29, 1998 7:02 PM
Subject: FINAL: Wheel and Tire


>In message <19980129220149.4545.rocketmail@web1.rocketmail.com> twain mein
writes:
>
>> So I took the A4 into the body shop this morning to
>> have them look at the wheel/tire and suspension.
>> Turns out the alignment is alright.
>
>I find it _very_ hard to believe that an event which could danage a rim
results
>in zero effects on alignment.
>
>I think it depends on your view of "alright".  Did the shop use a laser (or
>other optical) alignment rig?  It takes around 90 minutes to prep a quattro
for
>a proper alignment measurement - the wheel rigs have to be fitted and
>individually spun to zero out systematic errors, the axles have to be
lifted
>and relaxed, with each wheel on a separate turntable, etc.
>
>You should, at the end of the process, have a printout of the actuals
versus
>the set nominals for the model.  Then _YOU_ can judge what is "alright" and
>what is not.
>
>--
> Phil Payne
> Committee Member, UK Audi [ur-]quattro Owners Club
>

   Phil is absolutely correct (as usual)! Our local Audi dealer spent
$50,000 on a computerized laser alignment machine specifically to service
A4's. This was a requirement before Audi would let them offer A4's for sale.
Boy, you should see those mechanics on a keyboard (painfuuullll!)
    As an aside, the mechanic told me he wouldn't buy a new A4. Said the
aluminium suspension components didn't stand up to curb impacts and cost a
fortune to replace!

Fred Munro
'91 200q  245k km