The importance of wheel alignment calibration

Just as a vehicles wheel alignment can be affected by usage, so can the wheel alignment machine itself. Measuring heads can be accidently damaged and deformed which will affect accuracy.  Scheduled calibration by approved companies is important to minimise the risk of incorrectly adjusted vehicles and protect your business against customer complaints.

With many service centres, independent garages, fast fit centres, used car centres alike offering wheel alignment services to their customers, it’s becoming a key service offering for vehicle workshops. With many clear advantages to the customer as to why accurate wheel alignment is important:

• Improves handling
• Prolong the life of your tyres
• Increased wear on suspension components
• Help reduce misalignment issues causing poor fuel economy

Its all the more important for the garages themselves to ensure that their choice of wheel alignment equipment is up to the job of accurately measuring the alignment of the vehicles they are servicing.

There are a range of wheel alignment machines available on the market, from a range of manufacturers, utilising a range of measuring technologies, including laser, Bluetooth, 3D. All have their own advantages in terms of accuracy and ease of use for the person operating them.

Just as a vehicles alignment can be affected by usage, so can the wheel alignment machine itself. Measuring heads can be accidently dropped, miss-used, fitted with replacement parts, all of which may affect their accuracy.  One of the most important aspects of maintaining your machine of choice is ensuring it is calibrated. That’s why its recommended by the wheel alignment manufacturers to calibrate machines regularly.  This will maintain the integrity of your wheel alignment service and ensure your mechanics are adjusting vehicles within the correct parameters.

Supertracker, the home of straight forward wheel alignment, recommends that its laser and CCD wheel aligners are calibrated every 6-12 months or sooner if any of the above has occurred. The team of Supertracker engineers offer a national on-site service, with mobile test rigs calibrated to traceable standards, for accurate calibrations backed with a certificate for your records.

If you have a Supertracker wheel alignment machine which hasn’t been recently calibrated or serviced, contact Supertracker on 01909 480055 or info@supertracker.com. Ensuring your wheel alignment system is correctly set-up is important to minimise the risk of incorrectly adjusted vehicles and protect your business against customer complaints.