NCT wheel alignment BullS...

Torq

So took the car for it's test a couple of weeks ago, wheel alignment was
Front 0
Rear -19
so it was a fail.
Brought it for alignment, they had trouble with the rears but got it to what they say is passable. Went for the retest lastnight.
Front -13
Rear -23

I said there is no way it could be that far out as the fronts hadn't even been touched in the alignment. The tester said it must be as he put it through 3 times and that's the reading. Then he went off saying he'd be back in a bit. One of his colleagues offered to have a look, read the sheets, previous test, retest and alignment printout. Then said 'lets put it through again' so we went into the test lane, looking at the test plate as he drove over it he said, that should have passed. He ran it through a couple of times and the other tester came over and again said he'd done it 3 times, it's a fail and walked off.

We put it through again
Front 0
Rear -17

Pass

Lessons learnt.
1. Do retest late at night so there is time to argue your point.
2. Argue your point.
3. The result is as much down to the tester as the car.
4. Some testers are decent, others are ......

i57dwun4yb1pt8

ah yeah, no consistency ,
I had the same with emissions once , souhons of trim checked th car and said it was great, and they mentiond sometims testers do not put the
emissions feeder up far enough ( giggidy )

also had one miserable looking old cockwomble in deansgrange try to fail me on tar covering the front number plate euro stars
funny , he had given me long eyeball when i first arrived , and i could read his mind that he had was gonna try and **** me up .
how right i was , i got a polish lad to look at it and he passed it .

it serves a purpose buts its also a mood based scam .

Rave.ef

If you adjust the rear alignment it effects the front because the trust angle of the car works from rear to front. Any vehicle with rear adjustment you wirk back to front.
What car is it out of curiosity. If they only adjusted the rear id strongly advise get it re done.

Nct tolerance on the slip test is bonkers tho.

9935452

Torq wrote: »

So took the car for it's test a couple of weeks ago, wheel alignment was
Front 0
Rear -19
so it was a fail.
Brought it for alignment, they had trouble with the rears but got it to what they say is passable. Went for the retest lastnight.
Front -13
Rear -23

I said there is no way it could be that far out as the fronts hadn't even been touched in the alignment. The tester said it must be as he put it through 3 times and that's the reading. Then he went off saying he'd be back in a bit. One of his colleagues offered to have a look, read the sheets, previous test, retest and alignment printout. Then said 'lets put it through again' so we went into the test lane, looking at the test plate as he drove over it he said, that should have passed. He ran it through a couple of times and the other tester came over and again said he'd done it 3 times, it's a fail and walked off.

We put it through again
Front 0
Rear -17

Pass

Lessons learnt.
1. Do retest late at night so there is time to argue your point.
2. Argue your point.
3. The result is as much down to the tester as the car.
4. Some testers are decent, others are ......

The mother had the same problem.
Brought it to the main dealer to be fixed.
They put it on their machine which said it should have passed. Got their machine calibrated and still saying it should have passed.
Main dealer mechanics took the car back to the nct centre and put their case to the nct lads.
Car was retested with no fee and it passed

Torq

Rave.ef wrote: »

If you adjust the rear alignment it effects the front because the trust angle of the car works from rear to front. Any vehicle with rear adjustment you wirk back to front.
What car is it out of curiosity. If they only adjusted the rear id strongly advise get it re done.

Nct tolerance on the slip test is bonkers tho.

Fronts didn't need any adjustment they were spot on, only the rears. I was there when it was tracked.

It's a BMW E46 compact sport. It has M sport suspension so has to be tracked accordingly, the settings are different from the standard suspension. I went back to the guys who tracked it and the told me of a guy with some Peugeot who had major issues at the NCT center with tracking. The center put the car through as a saloon and it failed, when they put it through as a coupe (which is what it is) it passed.

Rave.ef

I spent over ten years at it. Specialised in the likes of bmw Mercedes ect. With Hunter.

Not trying to stir the pot now or anything but a bmw that don't need front adjustment after even looking sideways at the rear is a 1 in an million. Not saying the lads that did it are wrong ether i don't like to criticise somebody its just something you need to look out for with four wheel alignment with a bmw.

dkd21

Torq wrote: »

Fronts didn't need any adjustment they were spot on, only the rears. I was there when it was tracked.

It's a BMW E46 compact sport. It has M sport suspension so has to be tracked accordingly, the settings are different from the standard suspension. I went back to the guys who tracked it and the told me of a guy with some Peugeot who had major issues at the NCT center with tracking. The center put the car through as a saloon and it failed, when they put it through as a coupe (which is what it is) it passed.

Sorry but that story has no truth to it . There is no setting (body shape , year , trim level , etc ) for the side slip test . There is only some exemptions for certain cars entered in post check but otherwise there is nothing settings wise that can be altered

dkd21

DaDumTish wrote: »

ah yeah, no consistency ,
I had the same with emissions once , souhons of trim checked th car and said it was great, and they mentiond sometims testers do not put the
emissions feeder up far enough ( giggidy )

also had one miserable looking old cockwomble in deansgrange try to fail me on tar covering the front number plate euro stars
funny , he had given me long eyeball when i first arrived , and i could read his mind that he had was gonna try and **** me up .
how right i was , i got a polish lad to look at it and he passed it .

it serves a purpose buts its also a mood based scam .

Another story which is complete crap :rolleyes:

i57dwun4yb1pt8

it actually occured
so jog on ...

Torq

Lets go back to the my original point which was.

Two testers put the same car through the same test in the same center on the same test lane within 20mins of each other but came up with substantially different readings.

(I'll also add that it was the last test of the night so no other cars went through after that could have knocked the slip plate out of alignment)

dkd21

DaDumTish wrote: »

it actually occured
so jog on ...

They may well have said that to you but its complete **** and just shows they dont know what they are talking about.

dkd21

Torq wrote: »

Lets go back to the my original point which was.

Two testers put the same car through the same test in the same center on the same test lane within 20mins of each other but came up with substantially different readings.

(I'll also add that it was the last test of the night so no other cars went through after that could have knocked the slip plate out of alignment)

What can happen is a tester may not drive the vehicle onto the side slip plate exactly straight . Can be difficult if the steering wheel is off centre by any amount. But anyways the sideslip test should be repeated on different lanes to reduce any chance of error before failing the vehicle if there are no suspension or steering components failing on the ramp check.