I'm sure I'v been ripped off...Tracking..

charlemont

Brought the car a Nissan Almera down to a well known garage in Cork today, First off I asked the guy whom I'm almost sure is the boss/owner to have a look at my tyre which has a slow puncture.
So he came back over after a few minutes and I asked him to look at the tracking and I told him I had recently hit a pothole so after another wait the car was put into a bay and I saw that the wheel with the slow puncture got checked out and nothing was found so it was put back on.
I also saw they had removed the two front wheels also and after a while they were also put back on.
So once the tracking bay was free my car was brought into it and the tracking was done within ten minutes or about so when he drove it out and I asked him the price he replied "€50 for all of it" !!

Now in fairness that seems a very high price I'm sure I had tracking done there for €20/25 in the past and they were only at the tracking a few minutes, Checking out the tyre was done in less than 5, So I asked him did he do the balancing and he said he did but I never once even saw the back right wheel removed (Back left was slow puncture one).

Plus there didn't seem to be much change in the driving of the car after, It still didn't feel right on the road so they obviously did a bad job of it too, Oh well I'll be back to them on Monday.

So have I been fleeced ???

They just balanced the fronts I would think, just because the car doesn't feel right before or after doesn't mean that they didn't track it properly

There might well be something wrong with it that is independent of tracking, I imagine you brought it to Dessies in blackpool as you mention a tracking lane.

What exactly are the symptoms you are experiencing?

charlemont

RoverJames wrote: »

They just balanced the fronts I would think, just because the car doesn't feel right before or after doesn't mean that they didn't track it properly

There might well be something wrong with it that is independent of tracking, I imagine you brought it to Dessies in blackpool as you mention a tracking lane.

What exactly are the symptoms you are experiencing?

But it seems very expensive especially if as you say they only balanced the fronts.

Car seems like its not holding the road in the way it normally is, It seems to be jumpy.
It could be that a shock got damaged after I hit the pothole on the R513 few weeks back but yet immediately after the pothole it still drove fine, There is a pull to the right too which didn't seem to change too much after tracking was done.

You're paying for the tracking equipment
Two wheels balanced and four wheel alignment for €50 isn't being fleeced.

An actual mechanic rather than a puncture repair chap may be needed really, if it was Dessie's you went to than they wouldn't be mechanics in there.

DieselPower

45-50 squid is the going rate for allignment in Donegal. you may have have bent the wheel if you hit the pothole hard enough, unlikely if it was a steel wheel tho.

VinnyTGM

4 wheel alignment and two wheels balanced would come to around 50 euro.
Can't comment on the quality of the work though as I have never been to that garage.

charlemont

RoverJames wrote: »

You're paying for the tracking equipment
Two wheels balanced and four wheel alignment for €50 isn't being fleeced.

An actual mechanic rather than a puncture repair chap may be needed really, if it was Dessie's you went to than they wouldn't be mechanics in there.

DieselPower wrote: »

45-50 squid is the going rate for allignment in Donegal. you may have have bent the wheel if you hit the pothole hard enough, unlikely if it was a steel wheel tho.

VinnyTGM wrote: »

4 wheel alignment and two wheels balanced would come to around 50 euro.
Can't comment on the quality of the work though as I have never been to that garage.

Thanks for the replies, I thought it was expensive but on reading the posts I see now its a normal enough price..Yea the wheel that hit the pothole got checked up the next day and they fixed the puncture so if it was damaged it would have been noticed.

Nonoperational

If it was proper 4 wheel alignment and balancing the fronts then €50 is fair enough. Still worth going back monday and asking them to have one more look.

duckysauce

did you not ask for a price first ?

charlemont

duckysauce wrote: »

did you not ask for a price first ?

Sure didn't, Yes very stupid of me I know, But I could swear I was only ever charged €25/20 in there before. To be honest I now think there was F all wrong with the tracking because car still felt the same after I left garage well I'll know better tomorrow when I take a drive on the M8.

Nissan doctor

€50 for wheel alignment, balancing and puncture(or check) is not even a hint of a ripoff.

Almera's only have front adjustment so the going rate would be approx €35-€40 with any half decent alignment computer, That leaves €10-€15 euro to cover wheel balancing and puncture....by what stretch of the imagination could that be considered expensive?

Now if they haven't done it correctly that a different thing but there is nothing at all wrong with the price IMO.

charlemont

Nissan doctor wrote: »

€50 for wheel alignment, balancing and puncture(or check) is not even a hint of a ripoff.

Almera's only have front adjustment so the going rate would be approx €35-€40 with any half decent alignment computer, That leaves €10-€15 euro to cover wheel balancing and puncture....by what stretch of the imagination could that be considered expensive?

Now if they haven't done it correctly that a different thing but there is nothing at all wrong with the price IMO.

Nice one, I appreciate the post, Its my unfamiliarity with cars that had me wondering had I been ripped so that's why I posted it here but I know now I wasn't. Thanks.

EPM

Mod Edit of the first post - far too obvious who it is.

Fwiw, I don't have time for them myself but brought the gfs car there today in a rush and got 4 wheel alignment plus a headlight bulb replaced for €40.

I should add my usual tyre place, John Banks in Turners Cross, was €30 for my 4 wheel alignment last Saturday.

bazz26

I've always paid around €40-€45 for tracking. I don't think you have been ripped off OP for what you had done.

dahamsta

If the tyres weren't changed, why did the wheels need balancing?

Nissan doctor

dahamsta wrote: »

If the tyres weren't changed, why did the wheels need balancing?

Wheel balancing can be knocked off for various reasons. You don't need to be getting new tyres to need wheel balancing.

dahamsta

dahamsta wrote: »

If the tyres weren't changed, why did the wheels need balancing?

Most places will at least check the wheels for balancing when tracking, the fronts at least. The backs too on cars without a primitive rear suspension set up.

dahamsta

You'd want to be giving your wheels a fair knock to work the weights loose! Although I guess the ones that attach to the edge of steels might not be as solid.

[And in hindsight I guess uneven wear caused by bad tracking could cause wheels to become unbalanced again.]

Nissan doctor

dahamsta wrote: »

You'd want to be giving your wheels a fair knock to work the weights loose! Although I guess the ones that attach to the edge of steels might not be as solid.

[And in hindsight I guess uneven wear caused by bad tracking could cause wheels to become unbalanced again.]

Pothole impacts can easily put the balance out too.

Seweryn

RoverJames wrote: »

They just balanced the fronts I would think, just because the car doesn't feel right before or after doesn't mean that they didn't track it properly

There might well be something wrong with it that is independent of tracking...

The main problem is that the tyre fitters only do tracking (for insurance reasons they are not allowed to do full wheel alignment).
It makes no sense to me to get done the tracking only (i.e. toe in/ toe out), unless all other tollerances are within the range. If your car tends to side slip, you need to get the wheel camber adjusted prior to the tracking set up procedure. So if your car pulls to the left (most likely), the wheel tracking adjustment wont help.

.... that's why if needs a mechanic
No mechanics work where the OP went, its just a tyre and battery place afaik.

dahamsta

Nissan doctor wrote: »

Pothole impacts can easily put the balance out too.

How?

Nonoperational

They could slightly dent a wheel for one... that would unbalance them.

dahamsta

If a pothole is big enough to dent a wheel, I'd be very surprised the tyre would survive.

(I'vev had the (terrifying) misfortune of falling into potholes big enough to crack aluminium alloy wheels twice. The tyres were write-offs. These were low profiles, 40s and 45s. I imagine it's be even harder to get as far as the rim on regular tyres. Must be special potholes. )

BostonB

Would it knock the weights off.

When a tyre is balanced on the wheel correctly consider is like a see saw or lever on the fulcrum, its literally balanced, whatever inequalities about it when it spins are cancelled out by the positioning of the weights, you don't need to dent the wheel or take a chunk out of the tyre to knock it off balance, a relatively small impact is enough to disturb the tyre sitting on the wheel resulting in a gram or two of mass shifting about. It will happen as the tyre wears too of course. A truely balanced wheel is a nice little feat in fairness to it.

Nonoperational

dahamsta wrote: »

If a pothole is big enough to dent a wheel, I'd be very surprised the tyre would survive.

(I've fallen into potholes big enough to crack aluminium alloy wheels twice. The tyres were write-offs. These were low profiles, 40s and 45s. I imagine it's be even harder to get as far as the rim on regular tyres. Must be special potholes. )

Happened to me a few times running 17" alloys on a Civic. Didn't crack the wheels just dented them. They were poor quality alloys though.

.... about pot holes denting wheels, I have seen quite a few dented wheels over the years and the tyres survived.

dahamsta

Bizarre.

onedaysoon

How bizarre how bizarre

charlemont

Its actually now worse to drive than it was beforehand, I took it on a spin to Douglas and the pull to the right is far worse than it previously was so I'll have to bring it back in to them tomorrow, They clearly didn't do something right as how could it be worse now ?? :mad:

EPM

That happened me on my last visit there with my own car. And that was returning with an issue from my only previous visit.

Genuinely, my advice is chalk it down to experience and bring it somewhere reputable.

charlemont

EPM wrote: »

That happened me on my last visit there with my own car. And that was returning with an issue from my only previous visit.

Genuinely, my advice is chalk it down to experience and bring it somewhere reputable.

Thanks, A few posters mentioned they are not actual mechanics there so I'll take your advice and bring it somewhere better but I'll probably still call in to them to complain tomorrow.

EPM

Personally I wouldn't waste my breath on them. It galled me to see money handed in there the other day by herself. There's one of the guys there is very good and thankfully he did her tracking and it's driving fine now.

You don't need to be a mechanic however to do any of that stuff.

charlemont

Well, I brought it up to south Tipperary and the mechanic said the tracking was "diabolical" so yes seems like I was indeed ripped, Its fine since I got it fixed today but I reckon now its possible they screwed the tracking up deliberately..As I said I'd seen two people working on the tracking that day, One lad done a few minutes work and put on his jacket and vanished then another lad was at it... Absolute useless shower ....