brettgavin

I recently bought 4 new tires because the two in the rear were bad. One had threads most of the way around on the inside corner and the other had a bubble on the inside 1/3-1/2 that ran the circumference.

The tire shop said it looked like the alignment was out. After looking at it myself when the car is sitting, the camber does look like it is pretty far negative in the rear. I was expecting to spend maybe $150 for a four-wheel alignment.

I was told by the dealer that I should have my alignment done at the dealer rather than, say, firestone, because the dealer does much more than align the wheels. My car has adaptive cruise control and blind spot monitoring. Dealer said the alignment they do involves those two systems also.

When I asked about the cost, I was told that the ACC and the blind spot add to the cost of the alignment service- each adding about $150. The total quote for the alignment was right at $500.

Does any of this sound reasonable? The systems being involved in the alignment? The cost?

Thanks in advance

Mrclopec

Unfortunately, yes it does. Most Audi dealerships will charge around 199 for a standard alignment. When your car has specific assistance systems such as adaptive cruise control or active lane assist and the toe of the rear axle is changed, these systems must be re-calibrated or they will not function properly. The process is pretty straight forward, however setting up the calibration equipment is not only tedious but also time consuming. It's all labor.

mdkv5

My car has both ACC and blindspot. Got my alignment done for a total of ~ $150 CDN a short while ago at the dealer. No mention of any other cost on top of it.

I don't see how ACC or blind spot would have anything to do with alignment either. These are just sensors that look around the car for different reasons. Maybe active lane assist might but I would ask that dealer for a clear explanation/reference to how/why.

snagitseven

I wondered the same thing. A misalignment would have to be pretty severe to cause ACC, Lane Assist or Side Assist to be out of tolerance. In fact, if the car was out of alignment due to hitting a pothole or such, you would think that those sensor functions would have exhibited a problem before the alignment since the car came from the factory with properly aligned wheels and sensors/cameras to begin with.

jasonlitka

I was under the impression that those sensors were only supposed to be recalibrated if the bumpers were removed or if the car was in some kind of accident.

snagitseven

Actually, my car is in to an Audi Certified Collision Center for body repair and they removed the bumper with sensors intact. I asked about that and they told me that only if the sensors are removed from the bumper would they need to re realigned. The bumper will go back on after painting the same way it came off with the sensors still attached in place.

Mrclopec

Im only going by what Audi's service manual says:



Axle Alignment Procedure:

Note - Vehicle must only be measured in the control position or curb weight position, refer to → Chapter „ Test Prerequisites“!

- Check which suspension is installed in the vehicle. This information can be found on the vehicle data plate, refer to → Chapter „Production Control Number (PR number) Explanation“.

Observe the Following Work Sequence!
1 - Drive the vehicle onto the alignment rack without tension. Move the vehicle back and forth if necessary to relieve any tension on the axle components.
2 - The steering wheel must be “evened out” into the center position before beginning the measuring and adjusting. Use Steering Wheel Scales -VAS6458- for this.
3 - Perform wheel run-out compensation, refer to → Chapter „Wheel Run-Out Compensation“.
4 - Check the maximum steering angle, refer to → Chapter „Maximum Steering Angle, Checking“.
5 - Check front axle camber and adjust if necessary, refer to → Chapter „Front Axle Camber, Adjusting“.
6 - Check rear axle camber and adjust if necessary, refer to → Chapter „Rear Axle Camber, Adjusting“.
7 - Check rear axle toe and adjust if necessary, refer to → Chapter „Rear Axle Toe, Adjusting“.
8 - Check the front axle toe angle and adjust if necessary, refer to → Chapter „Front Axle Toe, Adjusting“.

Note - If the adjustments on the suspension were changed, then perform a zero compensation on the Steering Angle Sensor -G85- with the Vehicle Diagnostic Tester.

Perform a basic setting on the dynamic steering, if equipped, if adjustments on the front and/or rear axles were changed, refer to → Chapter „Dynamic Steering Basic Setting“.

If the rear axle setting was corrected, then the ACC sensors must be adjusted on vehicles with ACC (refer to → Chapter „Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), Calibrating“), the lane assist must be calibrated on vehicles with lane assist (refer to → Chapter „Driver Assistance Systems Front Camera, Calibrating“), the night vision system must be adjusted/calibrated on vehicles with infrared system (refer to → Chapter „Infrared System, Calibrating“) and the rearview camera must be calibrated on vehicles with a rearview camera, refer to → Communication; Rep. Gr.91; Rearview Camera System; Rearview Camera System, Aligning and Calibrating.


Can you get away with not doing it??? Probably. Will Audi want to not recalibrate your ACC after a change to your alignment? Probably not. If something in the ACC were to go wrong and cause an accident (remote possibility), your dealer would not want to be liable for not following documented procedures.

McFuzz

I had my rear bumper done by a certified collision shop and I do not believe my parking sensors have been re-aligned. That said - they seem to work just the same as before (bumper is OEM).

Enjoyableness

Some rodent chewed wires to my 2017 A4 ACC sensors. Repair required removing the front bumper. The dealer insisted that the sensors and wheels needed to be aligned, that it would take 6 hours and cost $800. I asked several times if they couldn't just connect up the wires again but they insisted that anytime the bumper was removed, the full alignment was required to get the ACC system working again. Guess I need to store my car someplace safer. And maybe find a mechanic who will remove the bumper with sensors intact? What do you think?

snagitseven

Two year old thread.