Hi Everyone,

This is a weird one & something that I wish hadn't bothered getting done, I've have had my 2003 Fiat Seicento 1.1 Sporting for over 6 years now & it has been a great car, a a few weeks ago I fitted a pair of brand new front shocks as one of them was leaking oil & also two new front tyres, despite having the car for over 6 years I have never had the tracking checked, I must admit that the outside of the tyres have worn a little bit more than the rest of the tread but nothing that I was that concerned about as the car had always driven in a straight line, well anyway I decided to get the tracking checked ( big mistake)

I was concerned about the track rod end bolts would be seized but this was the least of my concerns, the guy doing the tracking said that the wheels where too small, I spoke to the manager about this & he said he was too lazy to change bars that go over the wheels.....

Well anyway after the guy had finished the wheel alignment on my car he drove my car back out & was saying that there was something wrong with my steering, I told him that I've had the car 6 years & I've never had a problem with the steering, I got in the car & the steering was pulling to the left & it wasn't right, he put it back on the ramps & I was asked to come & view my car, the drivers side wheel was rubbing on the anti roll bar at full lock, I told him that the steering was fine until they adjusted wheel alignment......

They said that they would put the wheel alignment back to where it was & gave me a refund.....

The car now veers to the left & it doesn't feel right compared to it driving perfectly in a straight line........

I took it to another place that was the same company (maybe franchise now) & explained to them about the problems (never mentioned the name) & they said that my steering rack bolts where not right, my coil springs where not lined up in the correct positions & that they would not touch it.....

I removed both struts & checked them & they where all lined up, steering rack bolts where fine, i also checked for play in both track rod ends & also wishbone joints, all where o.k.........

I'm wondering whether the guy who first looked at my car didn't know what he was doing ( wheels too small) or that he didn't really want to work on my car & that it was a burden for him to make the adjustments & that after being told by the manager to get on with it, he made matters worse.....

Sorry for the long rant but this has really got my goat up.....

Would appreciate if anyone has any suggestions regarding this matter.....

Thanks in advance...............

Baz

You have a good car, try to go to a good auto repair shop

Don't know what the issue is with your car now but I know I've had a few problems over the years after having had tracking done....once the steering wheel was not centred, once the car pulled to the left all the time & I had to physically correct this to steer straight. So I agree about getting it checked again by someone reputable. Best of luck. PS I seem to remember you can do basic alignment yourself...not that I've ever tried to be fair.

I'm never happy with tyre places doing the alignment, so I just do it myself.

I was lucky to be gifted a set of Dunlop tracking gauges which obviously helps.

Most places just don't give a crap. If you are lucky they will get it somewhere near. If your unlucky, you get the issues you had!

You will need to find somewhere else to have a look at it.

pretty hard to say without seeing it but just to clarify, this car is stock suspension and wheels? cause something is defo wrong if the wheel touched the ARB at full lock...

Are you 100% it wasn't touching the ARB before the car went for alignment? Its pretty rare you go all way to full lock so you may have not noticed. Cause one can only assume it has something to do with the new suspension parts.. Or they've bent something trying to adjust your tracking. I can't think of any other reason off top of my head.

Oh deary me, what a tale of woe! but, unfortunately one I've heard too often in my life spent in and around motor vehicle repair workshops.

I may be wrong but I'd bet money on the workshop being a large nationally well known chain? Mostly these setups have good equipment but not that many members of staff who really know what they are doing with it. Personally as soon as he started talking about wrong sized wheels I'd have been jumping in the car and making a rapid escape!

I don't want to lump them all in that box though. My son has a friend who works for a chain up here in Scotland and Oh boy, does he know his stuff! I think however you are now going to find that you no longer have a correctly centered rack (and that's got nothing to do with how it's screwed onto the car) which is why the tyre was touching the ARB) and it's pulling because the actual toe setting is probably now worse than it ever was before.

Probably your best bet is going to be to find a company which does crash repairs and has a proper "Hunter" type alignment setup. https://pro-align.co.uk/product/hunter-elite-td/ Or maybe if you know someone "in the know/trade" who can recommend a competent garage. I don't think you should get too worried, all that's happened is this idiot has completely failed to set things up as they should be and someone who knows what he/she is doing needs to slacken it all off, readjust to the correct parameters. and tighten it all up again. I would guess the guy in the second garage probably visually clocked something was very much not right with your car and thought to himself "Hmm, older car, obviously not right, I'd just rather not have anything to do with this, better scare him off"? Good luck with it, do let us know how things go. Jock

I was just thinking on this and it occurs to me that if you are in an establishment where you can see the operative working on your car there is an early indicator of competence in whether he does a meaningful thorough pre alignment check.

Before he goes anywhere near the aligning tools he (or maybe she?) should be doing a thorough check which should include tyre pressures, ride height, at it's simplest a bounce of the shock absorbers and a check for them leaking, spin the wheels to check for true running, a vigorous "wiggle" of the wheels to check for bearing wear and steering/suspension ball joint wear, Levering rubber bushings, gently, with a lever and so on. Even if you don't know what he's doing you should be able to see if he's doing some sort of checking before installing measuring equipment. If he's not doing this there's no point in trying to do adjustments as any wear in steering or suspension will make a mockery of any adjustment attempted.

Yes your right there, they should check all components for wear before adjusting the tracking, this was not done as I was watching the guy......

Hi Jock,

Thank you for the positive reply, it was a well known chain of tire companies that I have grown up using in my younger days, but from what I have read, they are now owned by there directors (whether this is good or bad) but like I said the fitter initially said that my wheels where too small & that the manager said he was too lazy to change the arms on the wheel clamps, so yeh, after that I thought the guy must be an ass, the second company that I took it to was the same company, so maybe they are in contact with each other as I had called them first but where busy, when I told them that the previous place that gave me the refund had made my tracking worse, they never asked who they where so maybe they fobbed me off, they where charging £35 & the other garage that made matter worse charged £30, other places wanted £50-£60, I don't personally think there is anything seriously wrong with my car as like I said it has always driven in a straight line & also when breaking......

Its an old car & also being half Scottish myself I have short arms & long pockets & don't like to spend too much money where its not really needed.......

Thank you to everyone that has replied to my post, I have bought a new pair of track rod ends & when i get round to fitting them I will take to another garage to have the tracking checked again, i will let you know the outcome.....

Cheers

Baz

Hi Baz. Just wondering why you're buying the track rod ends? I see you make reference to the "bolts" possibly being seized in your first post - is that something to do with it? But then later in the same post you describe checking everything over, including track rod ends. You talk also of removing the front struts to check them over so I guess we can rule out top mount bearings etc?

Checking suspension/steering for wear is not rocket science for someone with a fair knowledge of how cars work and, as you talk of removing the struts, I'm guessing you are a person with that level, maybe more, of knowledge. However anyone can miss sometimes even obvious things so I'm wondering where you live? Maybe one of the more experienced forum members could cast a "different" eye over the car for you and might just notice something that's got by you?

Hi Jock,

Sorry for delay in replying, but I thought I did, but I've just checked now & it didn't go through, the reason I bought a couple of track rod ends is that they are cheap & easily to fit & there is a minuscule amount of play on the drivers side that I haven't noticed while driving at speed & wasn't picked up on my last M.O.T but I thought that when I take my car to have the tracking re-aligned again this will be one less thing that will need checking, I haven't got round to fitting them yet, but will keep you informed once there fitted & taken to another garage to have the tracking re-aligned....

Cheers

Baz

P.s im in Chatham Kent.....