Tecalemit’s Malc England asks whether it is time you started undertaking your own vehicle geometry checks and adjustments.
Do you outsource your wheel alignment and associated profit margin? Are you fed-up with the amount of time it takes to keep ‘running vehicles up the road’ to someone else’s wheel alignment centre? Do you wish you could undertake wheel alignment adjustments in-house, but are not sure where to start?
We always advocate that the first thing to remember with any wheel alignment system is that “It’s the vehicle technician that makes the adjustment to the vehicle geometry, not the wheel alignment system”. So when a wheel alignment equipment supplier informs you “the system they sell is the best”, is that because it is the only type of system they supply?
Start with the way you wish to market the alignment service and the quantity of checks and adjustments you envisage undertaking in any given day. These can usefully be categorised as low, medium and high.
Low Usage
Perhaps you are a workshop whose main work is general service and repair. Typical jobs that give rise to alignment checks and adjustments are replacement ball joints, track rod ends, steering racks and suspension bushes. Perhaps you only have the requirement to undertake a couple of wheel alignment checks and adjustments per day? You may only need a good laser based alignment system.
These are easy to use, take up minimal workshop space with their compact wall mounting capability, and importantly, provide a cost effective mechanism for checking alignment using a variety of environments. A level floor area, two-Post Lift with wheel stands or full length platform lift, such as a four-post lift or scissor lift.
The one real advantage with laser systems is that they are very visual. Often described as ‘virtual string’, it is very easy to see the geometry readings change as the adjustments are carried out. Tecalemit’s laser systems can also be configured with a PC, vehicle database and printer. This enables you to produce alignment printouts for your customers, from these cost effective alignment measurement systems.
Moderate Usage
Perhaps your workshop undertakes a reasonable quantity of tyre replacements. Here you may have a customer presenting vehicles with heavy tyre wear due to vehicle geometry issues. A higher throughput of vehicles requiring alignment checks and adjustments could substantiate an increased investment in a CCD based cameral alignment system.
These systems are typically quicker to set-up and obtain front and rear vehicle geometry readings. The extra cost of these systems can often be recuperated through the time saved in undertaking the geometry checks and adjustments. Tecalemit’s CCD based alignment systems also produce colour printouts that can be included with your customers invoices.
Heavy Usage
Perhaps you market wheel alignment as a bespoke service to the extent where you can devote a entire alignment bay to this service provision. In such instances, you will be maximising bay utilisation, requiring speed of set-up. These type of bespoke alignment bays lends themselves to a 3D fixed camera alignment system with a vehicle lift comprising rear slip plates. These ‘totem pole’ based systems are typically the fastest to set up. They require the quick installation of individual alignment targets to each wheel.
The eight cameras provide an instant geometry read out for both the initial vehicle readings, and also during subsequent adjustments. The rear slip plates facilitate easy rear geometry alterations and the built in front radius plates facilitate east front geometry adjustments. Once again, Tecalemit’s 3D systems provide a comprehensive vehicle geometry print out for your customer.
