noob? geometry vs alignment
- Thread starter Eiger
- Start date
4 Wheel Alignment is OK and basically sets your wheels up correctly to run true in relation to it's other wheel ie front to back.
Geometry settings are much more involved looking at castor angle,toe angles,camber etc if done correctly it will set your cars steering and suspesion to as factory settings (or any other) to suit a track car etc
It can be changed to affect turn in, oversteer and a myriad of other things.
Overall Geometry setting should get your car bang on if you take it to someone who knows what they are doing,it does not have to be high tech a guy near me sets cars up using movable floor plates for the car to stand on, bits of string and spirit levels !........................................He is an Ex Toyota WRC Suspension Guru.
Geometry settings are much more involved looking at castor angle,toe angles,camber etc if done correctly it will set your cars steering and suspesion to as factory settings (or any other) to suit a track car etc
It can be changed to affect turn in, oversteer and a myriad of other things.
Overall Geometry setting should get your car bang on if you take it to someone who knows what they are doing,it does not have to be high tech a guy near me sets cars up using movable floor plates for the car to stand on, bits of string and spirit levels !........................................He is an Ex Toyota WRC Suspension Guru.
Well the literal difference is that a check is measuring the settings & telling you what they are (compared to a standard set of values for the car probably), an alignment is making changes to set it to standard or your preferred settings. Really it's just two ways of describing the same thing.
In theory there's no difference between your local tyre depot & a specialist, they are using the same equipment more or less.
In practice a bunch of 18-21YO tyre fitters & a 25YO manager that went on a two day training course have probably never seen a 944 let alone tried to free off & adjust what is a very adjustable chassis and they certainly won't be able to offer advice on fine tuning the handling.
Personally I highly reccomend Promax for setting the chassis up (other indys are available), they know the cars very well & have a wealth of experience of setting up our cars for whatever use you want. Short term you pay more with a specialist but unless you're unlucky they'll do it right first time & you'll feel the difference. Go to Kwik Fit (or similar) and you're likely to have settings drift because they didn;t tighten it back up again etc, not worth the hassle.
I speak from experience btw [
]
In theory there's no difference between your local tyre depot & a specialist, they are using the same equipment more or less.
In practice a bunch of 18-21YO tyre fitters & a 25YO manager that went on a two day training course have probably never seen a 944 let alone tried to free off & adjust what is a very adjustable chassis and they certainly won't be able to offer advice on fine tuning the handling.
Personally I highly reccomend Promax for setting the chassis up (other indys are available), they know the cars very well & have a wealth of experience of setting up our cars for whatever use you want. Short term you pay more with a specialist but unless you're unlucky they'll do it right first time & you'll feel the difference. Go to Kwik Fit (or similar) and you're likely to have settings drift because they didn;t tighten it back up again etc, not worth the hassle.
I speak from experience btw [
]
sawood12
New member
Each wheel can be set in three dimensions of space - toe, camber and castor. A full geometry setup will set all wheels in all three planes.
The KF 'alignment' is still looking at geometry in the generic sense but is mainly only checking the alignment (i.e. toe) of the front wheels relative to the rear wheels. When they checked the alignment on my Focus they set up lasers on the rear wheels to check the front wheels alignment realve to them. This method relies on the assumption that the rear wheels are correct. If one of the rear wheels is out then the front wheel on that side will also be out relative to the wheels on the other side. Its a sort of half-way house to a full set up.
A full geometry setup looks at all the wheels individually relative to a point off the car and can check each wheel in all three axis.
If your car hasn't had a full geo check to your knowledge then it would be a wise investment. The picture below is my car in the process of a full geo setup at Promax. Each individual wheel has a sort of paddle attached and a laser off the car shines onto that paddle and some form of witchcraft happens and the computer tells you what the geo angles are in toe, camber and castor. Each wheel is set up individually - but it is not that easy because you may adjust one wheel to the desired settings and as you move onto the next wheel it throws the other wheel out so there is a bit of chasing your tail going on.
The KF 'alignment' is still looking at geometry in the generic sense but is mainly only checking the alignment (i.e. toe) of the front wheels relative to the rear wheels. When they checked the alignment on my Focus they set up lasers on the rear wheels to check the front wheels alignment realve to them. This method relies on the assumption that the rear wheels are correct. If one of the rear wheels is out then the front wheel on that side will also be out relative to the wheels on the other side. Its a sort of half-way house to a full set up.
A full geometry setup looks at all the wheels individually relative to a point off the car and can check each wheel in all three axis.
If your car hasn't had a full geo check to your knowledge then it would be a wise investment. The picture below is my car in the process of a full geo setup at Promax. Each individual wheel has a sort of paddle attached and a laser off the car shines onto that paddle and some form of witchcraft happens and the computer tells you what the geo angles are in toe, camber and castor. Each wheel is set up individually - but it is not that easy because you may adjust one wheel to the desired settings and as you move onto the next wheel it throws the other wheel out so there is a bit of chasing your tail going on.
Meant to say what Scott said about the rear wheels being out, which in turn chucks the fronts out, a proper Geometry Set is the way to go.
My local specialist (not the string and spirit level guy) gives a full colour print out of each corner before and after along with each individual setting Toe Castor and Camber etc
My local specialist (not the string and spirit level guy) gives a full colour print out of each corner before and after along with each individual setting Toe Castor and Camber etc
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