Trophy Wheel balancing and set up??? A few questions.

[wigstar1]

Help needed please.

Need to get the wheel balancing and alignment sorted on my Trophy. I know a few peeps have had it done to theirs with excellent results.

So i need to get it done and im looking for somone to recommend a company to me who they know are good at this type of thing. I am prepared to travel within reason so that covers a decent area. I live in Cambridgshire so will travel to Bedforshire, Northamptonshire and Hertfordshire.

Anyone know of any???

And also can some people details the full settings they have had their cars set up to so i can at least get some idea of what i should be asking for.

Thank you.

 

[fazedesign]

I've only heard good things about Northampton Motorsport, although I haven't used them yet myself - they're where I'll be trying first if I get alignment done.

I think this is their address: http://www.northamptonmotorsport.com/

 

[OliS]

Still on the same balancing weights as from the factory, but I have had my alignment changed, as have a few other owners on here (7MAT and Neophyte).

Running -2.00 degrees camber on the fronts, -1.70 at the rear. Whilst the car is now keener to follow road cambers, I feel that I have greater control and accuracy behind the wheel. Despite the increase in front camber, there are no visible signs of increased tyre wear. May be worth sending a message to donkey as I think he does suspension set ups for a living.

 

[wigstar1]

Still on the same balancing weights as from the factory, but I have had my alignment changed, as have a few other owners on here (7MAT and Neophyte).

Running -2.00 degrees camber on the fronts, -1.70 at the rear. Whilst the car is now keener to follow road cambers, I feel that I have greater control and accuracy behind the wheel. Despite the increase in front camber, there are no visible signs of increased tyre wear. May be worth sending a message to donkey as I think he does suspension set ups for a living.

The place you went to is miles away from me isnt it??? I've been told about a place in Northampton which is only 45 mins from me. And they want £80 + Vat and thats just for a general set up, any further work will be £50 per hour.

How much did you pay Oli??? ( if you don't mind me asking? )

 

[FunkyMunky]

Still on the same balancing weights as from the factory, but I have had my alignment changed, as have a few other owners on here (7MAT and Neophyte).

Running -2.00 degrees camber on the fronts, -1.70 at the rear. Whilst the car is now keener to follow road cambers, I feel that I have greater control and accuracy behind the wheel. Despite the increase in front camber, there are no visible signs of increased tyre wear. May be worth sending a message to donkey as I think he does suspension set ups for a living.

The place you went to is miles away from me isnt it??? I've been told about a place in Northampton which is only 45 mins from me. And they want £80 + Vat and thats just for a general set up, any further work will be £50 per hour.

How much did you pay Oli??? ( if you don't mind me asking? )

let me know how you get on with finding someone locally as i've been thinking about having someone take a look at my setup too......

 

[drexel]

Northampton is close to me, hopefully they know what they are doing and i might be tempted to go

 

[George K]

My memory has taken a bashing this week, so these are approx figures (have posted exact numbers previously) :

Front neg camber approx 45' (0.75 degrees); toe-out 20'

Rear neg camber 1.45'; toe-in about 15'.

It is worth getting a four wheel alignment as any discrepancies at the rear could have a major affect on stability. If it is out at the rear it is either a warranty claim, or you should use the shims from the Challenge racing series.

Asperr OliS I run 2.0 negative at the front and have minimal wandering problems - but I am only at 10' toe out at the front, which may help a tad.

If you are looking for competent people there must be lots at Silverstone (Northants) who can do this sort of thing. Don't worry if they do not have the latest laser equipment, (Ihave seen these get it wrong because the so called mechanics do not understand the principles of operation); dunlop tracking and camber gauges and a length of string is all that is needed!

 

[OliS]

The place you went to is miles away from me isnt it??? I've been told about a place in Northampton which is only 45 mins from me. And they want £80 + Vat and thats just for a general set up, any further work will be £50 per hour.

How much did you pay Oli??? ( if you don't mind me asking? )

Yeah it is down in Hampshire, was really just letting you know the settings I am running. Paid £110 cash in hand, no VAT or receipt though so I guess that is why the work was realtively cheap.

 

[nbc]

Getting mine looked at/sorted at BBR, Essex on saturday, will let you know.
Not toooo far outside your catchment, on the way to Colchester down the A120.
Have heard good things about them on this website.

 

[oliie]

Was thinking about BBR as well as I want to install braided lines, new pads and discs before heading out to the Nurburgring in a few weeks time. Will be perfect if they can set up geometry at the same time.

Let us know how you get on and if they actually do a proper job of alignment (rather than just kicking the tyres into place so to speak).

O.

 

[nbc]

Ollie

Didn't get it done this weekend, there gauge had broken.
All booked in again for the 26th, i'll let you know..

 

[oliie]

Thanks for letting me know nbc...

O.

 

[FunkyMunky]

NBC - any idea of cost etc to get yours done? Be interesting to know as a few of us (Wigstar1 is organising) are looking at getting our setup checked/changed

 

[chiefsilverback]

Having just spoken to Mike at RenTech he said that there are no adjustments on the rear of the Trophy so he only does a 2 wheel alignment!?!?!

Considering he's supposed to be one of the best RenaultSport specialists in the country I'm puzzled as to how people have had rear adjustments done?

 

[George K]

The Clio Challenge series use shims as do various race preparation specialists.

 

[chiefsilverback]

The Clio Challenge series use shims as do various race preparation specialists.

But what about the Trophy as standard?

People will drive hundreds of miles to get there car serviced/worked on by Mike so I can't imagine he's wrong about it!?!?

 

[George K]

The only method is by using shims - which will work perfectly well for the road - should only be necessary if the car was wrong from the factory, or has minor accident damage. The standard settings are ideal.

 

[donkey]

blatant advert but if anyone wants this sort of work doing in the south east - I can do it

www.racecardoctor.com

I think you will find most of the big tyre places have hugely expensive machines to do this - myself and all the other motorsport set up places I know use portable guages and pieces of string (have a look at the WRC and F1 pits and see what they use!)

 

[George K]

Donkey - am all for it , string and all - biggest problem is that my garage floor isn't level, so have to measure that first then correct the camber readings! Have seen quite a lot of people use garage style laser alignment and still get the thrust angle wrong.

 

[donkey]

flat floor

concrete screed left to self level

then leveling pads for good measure