bernmc
11-07-2006, 10:50 PM
Toddled off to the local Britannia Tyres in Nuneaton today to have new GSD3's fitted to the fronts on the Z. Manage to avoid the Inbred :uhoh2: and got there safely /Hyper
I asked them to check the tracking while they were at it. Much excitement about working on such a nice car, and the enthusiastic tracking dude was only too keen to show me his new toy - machine called a Supertracker. It's a computerised system with a huge database of cars and all their tracking details - camber/toe-in/thrust angle etc. Adjusts itself for wheel and tyre sizes too. Great thing is that it's got the VR4 in it's database (along with a whole host of other imports).
Anyway, just dial in the correct car from the database, then car gets plonked on the ramp with the wheels in metal dishes so the can move freely when adjustments are made. Then a cunning sender unit gets attached to each wheel: (sorry for the phone pic quality!)
uploaded/1552/1152654395.jpg
uploaded/1552/1152654461.jpg
The modules all talk to the main PC wirelesly.
In a couple of seconds, you get a screen like this, with all the relevant tracking measurements:
uploaded/1552/1152654505.jpg
That's just for the rears! Green is in spec, yellow slightly out, and red way out.
Select the one you want to fiddle with, and you get a full screen view:
uploaded/1552/1152654540.jpg
This is updated in real time as the spanner man twiddles his nuts ( :o ), so he just watches the screen as he adjusts. Get the needle of the guage pointing straight up and the job's done.
At the end of it all, you get a printout with all the before and after values:
uploaded/1552/1152654576.jpg
Neat huh! £15 per wheel adjusted. Compare that with what mitsi will try to charge you for four wheel alignment!
Mind you, he did say 'mitsibooshi' :|:|:|
I asked them to check the tracking while they were at it. Much excitement about working on such a nice car, and the enthusiastic tracking dude was only too keen to show me his new toy - machine called a Supertracker. It's a computerised system with a huge database of cars and all their tracking details - camber/toe-in/thrust angle etc. Adjusts itself for wheel and tyre sizes too. Great thing is that it's got the VR4 in it's database (along with a whole host of other imports).
Anyway, just dial in the correct car from the database, then car gets plonked on the ramp with the wheels in metal dishes so the can move freely when adjustments are made. Then a cunning sender unit gets attached to each wheel: (sorry for the phone pic quality!)
uploaded/1552/1152654395.jpg
uploaded/1552/1152654461.jpg
The modules all talk to the main PC wirelesly.
In a couple of seconds, you get a screen like this, with all the relevant tracking measurements:
uploaded/1552/1152654505.jpg
That's just for the rears! Green is in spec, yellow slightly out, and red way out.
Select the one you want to fiddle with, and you get a full screen view:
uploaded/1552/1152654540.jpg
This is updated in real time as the spanner man twiddles his nuts ( :o ), so he just watches the screen as he adjusts. Get the needle of the guage pointing straight up and the job's done.
At the end of it all, you get a printout with all the before and after values:
uploaded/1552/1152654576.jpg
Neat huh! £15 per wheel adjusted. Compare that with what mitsi will try to charge you for four wheel alignment!
Mind you, he did say 'mitsibooshi' :|:|:|