Precision 4 wheel alignment for Octy RS Sydney

[BottomScratcher]

I've tried the search engine, gone through old threads here, and in the Wheels & Suspension section, and have found what from all reports is a good shop in Canberra, but unfortunately I'm looking for a place in Sydney that is familiar with Skodas and can do a good job of a front and rear wheel alignment on my RS.

Some of the tyre fitting places have good equipment, and good people operating it, but a lot don't. Tyres aren't cheap, and I've never had much luck with lotteries, so if anyone has first hand experience of a shop in Sydney that does quality work then I'd appreciate hearing about it.

[Mysticality]

Jax Quickfit in Mittagong seemed to do a decent job with mine.
They've done a lot of Golf's, apparently.
Sounds legit, I swear there are more Golf's around here than Commodores - and they're sold by the same dealership.

[BottomScratcher]

Jax Quickfit in Mittagong seemed to do a decent job with mine.
They've done a lot of Golf's, apparently.
Sounds legit, I swear there are more Golf's around here than Commodores - and they're sold by the same dealership.

Thanks for that. I'm not far away from Heasman's at Tempe, and I've come across a couple of good things said about Spinning Wheels at Waterloo, but I don't know anyone who has used either of them. I don't mind travelling to get it done, but I want it done right, and so am looking for first hand recommendations. What I don't want to hear is "Ah, an Octavia vRS. Is it Octar-via, or Octay-via? Haven't had one of these in here before".

The back is wearing dead evenly. The front has worn almost smooth on the near side outer shoulder. The off side also a wearing on the outer shoulder, but much less than the near side. I put it down to the toe-in setting being the same on both sides, and the left wearing faster due to road surface camber, and there's bugger all can be done about that, but given that I've been wrong before (1997 I think it was) I want to get the settings checked and adjusted if need be.

I'm not hard on tyres. Never have been, and in the past I've always done regular mileage based rotations. I didn't get around to rotating on the RS until 20K, and it was too late. I've never had a car that couldn't be easily jacked with a trolley jack, and stuffed around for months with ice hockey pucks and other failed attempts at jack plate adapters before eventually using the factory suicide jack and the spare wheel to do the rotation one wheel at a time. When I finally got around to doing it I was kicking myself, because on a flat solid surface the car's own jack is easy to use and does a very good job.

[Antiplastix]

I had mine done at Woonona Tyres. I down loaded the latest updated specs. from Briskoda with less -ve rear camber. They gave me a computer print out before and after. Any decent tyre shop should be able to do it, just make sure you give them the correct values to set it up to, not the ones published. There is 3 differant settings depending on model (standard,vRS and Scout) and several updates to these.

[BottomScratcher]

I down loaded the latest updated specs. from Briskoda with less -ve rear camber.

Thanks for the reply. I've had a look over on Briskoda, and found a few threads like this one dealing with the rear alignment specs, but haven't been able to find anything mentioning the front specs (yet). I haven't got access to Elsawin, so don't know what the specs are, or if they've been updated/modified recently. If you wouldn't mind posting a link I'd appreciate it.

[Antiplastix]

I cant find where I found the info. now, but I wrote it down. The vRS has 2UC suspension, Scout 2UB and Standard 2UA.

Front Values 2UC

Camber -0.8' +/- 30"
Caster 7 14" +/- 30"
Toe in 1 20" +/- 20"

Rear Camber 2UC

-1 15" +/- 30"

The rear camber was the main problem on mine being -2 20" on the left and -1 75" on the right. The rear also had negative toe-in which was corrected.
Origional bulletins had the rear camber at -1 45" +/- 30" ,but due to saw toothing on the rear tyres the values where changed.
You may find many places measure toe-in, in mm, so about 0.8 mm each side on the front and 1.5-2.0 mm rear is about right.

[BottomScratcher]

I cant find where I found the info. now, but I wrote it down. The vRS has 2UC suspension, Scout 2UB and Standard 2UA.

Front Values 2UC

Camber -0.8' +/- 30"
Caster 7 14" +/- 30"
Toe in 1 20" +/- 20"

Rear Camber 2UC

-1 15" +/- 30"

The rear camber was the main problem on mine being -2 20" on the left and -1 75" on the right. The rear also had negative toe-in which was corrected.
Origional bulletins had the rear camber at -1 45" +/- 30" ,but due to saw toothing on the rear tyres the values where changed.
You may find many places measure toe-in, in mm, so about 0.8 mm each side on the front and 1.5-2.0 mm rear is about right.

Antiplastix,
Thanks for the info. In attempting to see where you got your figures from I entered them into Google and found a link to an online manual. I'm the one asking for info, and get bemused when someone asks me a question, I give them an answer, and the first thing they say is "That can't be right". So, with that disclaimer out of the way I'll show you what I found.

Looking at these specs it would seem that the values that you had written down are 2UB (Scout), rather than 2UC (RS). The biggest difference is in the front camber values.

[Tigger]

Great thread idea guys!

I am really really fussy with wheel alignments...I will drive hours to find a GOOD PLACE with technicians that CARE!!!
So I appreciate the idea of this thread.

So if I understand properly, do I take these specs with me to a good place and they should be able to follow them?

[Antiplastix]

I still cant find where I got those specs., and yes according to that chart the values are nearly identical to the 2UB specs. MYvRS set up to those values seems great and it has my solved tyre wear issues. Just make sure that they dont go off their rear camber value of -1 45', thats what is causing the rears to scrub.

[BottomScratcher]

So if I understand properly, do I take these specs with me to a good place and they should be able to follow them?

A good place will already have them anyhow mate. Ask for a print out of the set up before and after any adjustment. I'd take the specs, and compare them to the "after" values. If they didn't match up I'd be asking why not, and where they got their specs from.

Just make sure that they dont go off their rear camber value of -1 45', thats what is causing the rears to scrub.

Yes, I found a lot of comment on this over on Briskoda, and Octavia-VRS.com while I was looking for current specs. It seems that in the UK Skoda took the "remedial action" of revising the rear settings to stop the rear inner shoulders from scrubbing, and the noise resulting from it. They call the tyre tread distortion "sawtoothing". I'll show my age, and call it feathering. The revised rear specs have been around for a few years now. As I said earlier, my rears are wearing dead even, as is the front right. The front left is worn almost smooth on the outer shoulder. Thanks again for your input.

I just had a look at Erwin. I haven't used it before, but for EUR5 for an hour of access it seems a small investment to get the definitive specs when compared to the cost of a set of tyres.