Why you Cannot do a "Wheel Alignment" on the 6R polo

[pologti18t]

I would highly suggest you get your $110 and inform them that it can be considered as fraud as they are well aware the Polo 6R cannot be alligned lol.

Of course it can be aligned... for toe in. And if I am not mistaken thats about as much as you can do on most mcpherson strut front suspension.

[Hail22]

Of course, but for $110? mate the run of the mill wheel alignments from Bob jane etc are $85 and if so VW really need to mention/inform the customer how this is being done as it can be misleading and make people either feel ripped off, or have a false sense of what they see on the invoice "Wheel Alignment" actually means.

[pologti18t]

Of course, but for $110? mate the run of the mill wheel alignments from Bob jane etc are $85 and if so VW really need to mention/inform the customer how this is being done as it can be misleading and make people either feel ripped off, or have a false sense of what they see on the invoice "Wheel Alignment" actually means.

I wasn't questioning the price... I was questioning the fact that people don't think a polo can have a wheel alignment.
Another point to raise is if the dealer actually did a wheel alignment. More than likely it was sent to a local tyre place (ie outsourced) for the alignment.

Why anyone would agree to a $110 alignment beats me. Don't people ask for a price before getting work done on their car?

[Jasonpb]

I wasn't questioning the price... I was questioning the fact that people don't think a polo can have a wheel alignment.
Another point to raise is if the dealer actually did a wheel alignment. More than likely it was sent to a local tyre place (ie outsourced) for the alignment.

Why anyone would agree to a $110 alignment beats me. Don't people ask for a price before getting work done on their car?

Simply because it's a lease car and it's easier to do it through the dealer than get the car serviced, take it to another place to do the wheel alignment then submit the paperwork through to claim the money back. We were already traveling 40mins to take it to this dealership specifically.

It might be seen as a rip off but it's a convience thing, it's not something I requested, the partner mentioned she wanted her front wheel checked whilst booking the service as she had hit a few curbs (typical female thing) and they told her she probably needed a wheel alignment.

It was actually more than the $110 and when we dropped the car off I commented on it and they crossed out the original price stating it was wrong and made it $110. I don't know what the final bill actually was as the lease company deals with it, but what I had seen written down was $350 for service (polo) and $110 for the wheel alignment.

I sent them off an email and will see what they have to say.

[Evaded Motorsport]

I paid $40 for my last 4 wheel, wheel alignment.

They charged $110 for front wheel only wheel alignment?

[brad]

Back when i used to do wheel alignments, people used to have a spew if I couldn't pre-quote them the price of an alignment & didn't understand that a "good" wheel alignment might take anything up to an hour.

After a lot of time wasted arguing over the end price (eg: a W124 Mercedes that I'd never worked on might take 1.5 hours to get right but a similar W124 that I'd done properly 12 months earlier would be a 20 minute job).

Eventually, i simply started charging an hours labour to put a car on my alignment machine & any adjustments using factory adjustment points (such as raising or lowering torsion bars, threaded, shimmed or eccentric camber/castor or toe adjustments) were free. If I needed to move the frame, utilise the slop in a suspension mounting point or bend a strut (we could do that back then), it was extra. Sometimes I lost money, mostly i won & people were happy to pay if they knew before i started work what it would cost.

A Polo is adjustable but the factory provides minimum adjustment (toe). This isn't unique and it isn't new. IIRC, Peugeot 404s could only be adjusted in 10mm increments.

[RoknRob]

Sorry for a question that is probably obvious to most... but what should I check/ what can be done if my car is pulling to one side, if only minimal adjustments can be made?

Tyre pressures are even.... what next?

[brad]

X-wheel rotation or just swap the fronts side-side (providing they aren't directional). If nothing else it will tell you if one of the tyres has "drift" in it

[RoknRob]

Thanks, brad. What if the drift remains the same?

[brad]

Then it's an alignment & not a tyre issue.

Have you had any measurements taken? If so, care to share what the readings were?

I know a fair few petrol heads up that way (GC/BNE/SC). I can ask who the alignment gurus (there are a few good ones up there).