'Cradle shift' alignment??
Discussion
I took the car to a well respected alignment guy today for a 4 wheel check/adjust.
He tells me that the front is out of spec (camber wise) and he's going to have to do a 'cradle shift' alignment to sort it out.
This appears to entail loosening off all the subframe mounts, letting it settle, and then aligning the car appropriately.
The misalignment of the subframe is probably due to the gearbox having been removed around 6 times in the past 8 months or so.....
I've never heard of this procedure before, is it common?
I'd imagine that Kwik Fit (or similar) wouldn't ever offer this as an option.
He tells me that the front is out of spec (camber wise) and he's going to have to do a 'cradle shift' alignment to sort it out.
This appears to entail loosening off all the subframe mounts, letting it settle, and then aligning the car appropriately.
The misalignment of the subframe is probably due to the gearbox having been removed around 6 times in the past 8 months or so.....
I've never heard of this procedure before, is it common?
I'd imagine that Kwik Fit (or similar) wouldn't ever offer this as an option.
I got this utter BS from a local tyre place when I took my wife's Octavia in for alignment. It's an American term that some of these knobends seem to have picked up on. A non pimply-faced, knuckle dragging fitter would call it subframe alignment.
I have very little confidence in the majority of these places being able to perform alignment correctly anyway; we have a big Pro-tyre center in Plymouth with a pukka laser alignment kit and twice they have tried to charge me for four wheel alignment when there were literally no adjustment mechanisms available for the rear suspension. The print out even showed they had managed to change the rear alignment anyway - easily achieved by nudging the reflectors that they clamp onto the wheels; I watched them do it!
I have very little confidence in the majority of these places being able to perform alignment correctly anyway; we have a big Pro-tyre center in Plymouth with a pukka laser alignment kit and twice they have tried to charge me for four wheel alignment when there were literally no adjustment mechanisms available for the rear suspension. The print out even showed they had managed to change the rear alignment anyway - easily achieved by nudging the reflectors that they clamp onto the wheels; I watched them do it!
It's a Volvo S70R, and it goes in tomorrow for it's alignment.
I trust the guy 100%, he has an excellent reputation as an alignment specialist.
Id just never heard of this process although, thinking about it, it makes sense - particularly in light of the in-and-out of the gearbox recently...
I trust the guy 100%, he has an excellent reputation as an alignment specialist.
Id just never heard of this process although, thinking about it, it makes sense - particularly in light of the in-and-out of the gearbox recently...
i am a fitter at a tyre place and i am fully trained in wheel alignment laser alignment and 4 wheel alignment when adjusting camber on alot of cars a cradle shift is needed places like quik fit dont get involved in it purely because its too much time and the labour charge would be sky high depending on what car you have you can buy camber bolts to be fitted which makes it easier to adjust
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