Touran tracking problems.

[TSP]

Can anyone help with this ?

I have a 54 plate tdi sport dsg with 45k miles on the clock. The front nearside tyre was worn badly from the inner edges so I had both fronts replaced with P6000 tyres. The car now pulls to the right. The garage set the tracking for me a number of times now, but it still, when the wheel is held level pulls to the right. I have check this on a flat level straight road so no camber is in play here.

The tracking figures are +- 2 on the fronts, and the rears are reading 3.5 each. I've been back 4 times now and the settings still don't make the car drive straight. The garage are also confused with this.

Over the last few days we have noticed that everytime the car has been back on their ramps the figures have been different, each time they have been set to the settings above.

Can anyone with experience of 4 wheel tracking shed any light on this ?

Thanks,

T.

[boomboomer]

You can't set the Touran wheel geometry using traditional tracking equipment - you need to take it to a specialist or dealer and pay a fortune.

[VAG-Abound]

You can't set the Touran wheel geometry using traditional tracking equipment - you need to take it to a specialist or dealer and pay a fortune.

I recall this need for special equipment for setting tracking on a Touran as being accepted knowledge a decade or so ago, just like this post. Was it true for everything on the same platform (Golf 5, A3, etc), and is it still the case or has the equipment that many / most garages have caught up?

Did the challenge include the correctness of "before" measurements, or could they be relied on to say if there was a problem? In other words, was it just the readouts for making correction that were misleading?

[boomboomer]

It was true, then the technology got cheaper and became viable for more garages. Some (not most) of the major chains now have the specialist equipment to properly check and adjust all four independent wheels on that VW platform; but it must include toe & camber on the front and rear, plus castor on the front.

Kwik Fit have the hunter system which I used to properly align my touran several times, before I got rid of it three years ago.

[VAG-Abound]

It was true, then the technology got cheaper and became viable for more garages. Some (not most) of the major chains now have the specialist equipment to properly check and adjust all four independent wheels on that VW platform; but it must include toe & camber on the front and rear, plus castor on the front.

Kwik Fit have the hunter system which I used to properly align my touran several times, before I got rid of it three years ago.

Thanks, it was Kwik Fit that did the free check yesterday. I told them not to start adjusting it as I wasn't sure if they were kidding themselves (and me...) about ability to get it right.

[DELETE]Camber was slightly out of spec range on one side, toe quite badly on both (in that each side has as much toe out as it should have toe in), caster OK. I saw that tracking fee only includes toe. Is it right that camber can't be adjusted on the platform? I don't want to be paying extra to get camber right if they actually can't![/DELETE]

[VAG-Abound]

Just spotted that they were using non-sports geometry, not the G28 in our PR codes. The changes mean that camber is actually in spec, but a bit uneven on each side. However, caster is a bit out. Toe remains as off as it was, since that is same across all the running gear options.

It seems that the sports suspension camber is specced to lean on the inner edges of the tyres more that standard running gear, and that is where we've always seen fastest wear.

Looks like I may as well go and get the toe fixed as it'll bring more things into spec.