Alignment

[quk@isham-research.demon.co.uk (Phil Payne)]

> You're looking at the trees and not the forest ... was your car
> aligned with you sitting in the driver's seat (and toobox in boot)
> Was the ride height measured (and adjusted) beforehand?  How much
> gas was in the car when it was aligned?  How fresh are the
> suspension bushings (and on a Type 44, the a/r bushings especially
> The list goes on...

No, the specification is 'unladen'.  Everything except the spare wheel
is removed and the tank is 1/4 full, as specified.

> To answer your question, though: No, I can't align a car more
> accurately than to 1/32" using my home-brew method. I also don't
> think it's possible to align a suspension full of rubber bushings
> and parts that swing through conflicting arcs to .08 degrees,
> either.  Next time your car is aligned, try backing it off the rac
> drive it 50' without turning the steering wheel and put it back on
> the rack and see how close the second set of measurements matches
> the first...

I didn't write the specification that calls for rear toe of minus
five minutes of arc plus or minus five minutes of arc - Audi did.

If you can't achieve that tolerance, your car is out of specification
and I'm not surprised at anything it does close to the limit.

> Still, if you are lucky enough to have found a shop that will put
> the time in to align a car to those tolerances, then I am definite
> envious.  The last time I took one of my cars to an alignment shop
> I was told that the shocks were dead and needed to be replaced
> before they could align the car ... they seemed surprised when I
> pointed out that I'd just finished installing shocks *and* struts
> hour before I brought the car to them!

Well, you shouldn't have done _that_, either.  The book clearly calls
for a minimum of 1000kms for the new struts to settle before alignment
is attempted.

It's not a question of "finding a shop that will put the time in".
Audi's specifications are just that, and are not negotiable.  If the
shop can't achieve them, go somewhere else.

--
 Phil Payne
 UK Audi quattro Owners Club
 Phone: 07785 302803   Fax: 0870 0883933