Hello from Charles in Brisbane

[charles fisher]

Just signed up and being totally new to forums so I am not sure whether I put this query here, but here goes- I have a disco3 (2008) and I am getting conflicting advice re wheel alignment. Austral says
they lock the car
down then drive to
jax tyres in Bowen hill for the alignment. I was
in jax myself to
get one done and they do not lock down or saw the need to. Another LR mechanic says you can not
drive the
car
in lock down and he
takes the
computer to tyre alignment. After doing 2sets of tyres in 60,000km I would like to know just
what is
to
be done

[The ho har's]

Welcome to you:D

[Neil P]

Some Dealers have this equipment in house . Trinity LR Cairns did.
Phone a few dealers . Many report that alignment efforts are in vein on D3's .........
Never had mine done . Don't trust the buggers TBH .

[sniegy]

Charles, firstly Welcome:D.

Discovery 3 with air suspension will need it suspension locked into whats called "Tight Tolerance Mode"
The vehicle can be driven (but a suspension light is illuminated on the dash to warn you) to where ever the alignment is to be carried out.

Unfortunately the combination of a heavy vehicle 2.5T plus soft compund GY, Pirelli, Continental tyres will equate to tyres wearing between 25-35K Km's.

Get the wheel alignment specs from before & after & ask what they mean, it gives an understanding of what has happened & how far out the wheel can become, especially after some heavy offroading.

Hope this help
Cheers

[WhiteD3]

After doing 2sets of tyres in 60,000km I would like to know just what is to be done

Welcome Charles. Yes it has to be done properly and yes Austral AKA Southside subcon it out. Make sure it's done by someone who knows what they're doing and rotate the tyres every service. D3's will scrub the inside (?) of tyres reasonably quickly.

FYI while I did break 2 of my Wranglers 4WDing (Tyre walls are weak), 2 of the originals lasted for 50,0000km. Now have Pirelli Scorpion ATR's.

[brad72]

So gentlemen, does this mean that I should get a wheel alignment checked on my new D4 now or wait 6 months when the 1st service is done?

[WhiteD3]

So gentlemen, does this mean that I should get a wheel alignment checked on my new D4 now or wait 6 months when the 1st service is done?

I'd wait then at the first service ask them to do one. If you are doing high milage I'd keep an eye on the tyres though.

[Nomad9]

I was quite surprised actually, when I bought my D3 I looked at all the tyres, just from the outside looking in, thought they were all good, more fool me when I got back to WA the inside edge of both rear tyres were down to the chords, a bit frightening. I took mine to Southern Land Rover, the dealers here in WA. Quite a fancy jig for setting the wheel alignment up actually, took the guy doing it four hours to get it spot on, to me it's now made a difference and what's more the steering wheel is now sitting in the right position when driving in a straight line. To me well worth while but I don't think "TyrePower", "Duck off to Diffs" and a lot of the "one stop shops" have the right gear, nothing against them at all this is just something that has to be done by the right people.

[Neil P]

.............. took the guy doing it four hours to get it spot on ............

How much did they charge you for this ?

[Nomad9]

Hi Neil,
It was standard charge $160 for a wheel alignment. They actually allowed me to watch the guy do the alignment so I know how long it took, this wasn't just how long they told me it took. He was only a young guy but he was very thorough, my dealings with Southerns have only been good, I would have no problem recommending them to others. They also did two safety recalls on my vehicle which had been missed in past servicing.