Why Your Garage Needs A Computerised Wheel Alignment Machine

A day In the life of a garage owner in the UK…

We’ve all had them. A customer who states that their car won’t stop veering to the side of the road, or holding their steering wheel feels more like gripping a pneumatic drill. Or perhaps they’re wondering why their tyres keep wearing out prematurely?  Thank goodness then, that you’ve just bought the most modern, accurate, and effective computerised wheel alignment machine available for your garage. 

A What Now?

We all know that when a customer arrives and describes these issues with their vehicle, it all points to one thing: poor wheel alignment, or tracking. Of course, an accurate and rapid means of aligning wheels may also be required following tyre changes, shock absorber replacement, or other tasks such as replacing CV boots, drive shafts, etc.

To get this done quickly and easily, your garage needs the latest computerised wheel alignment machine, capable of precisely measuring and reporting all the key calibration criteria such as toe, thrust, camber, and caster angles according to the vehicle manufacturers’ specification.

These systems typically comprise of alignment apparatus which mount onto the wheels, and via bluetooth communicates with a hand-held or PC based device which walks you through the process, interprets the alignment data and provides information describing the exact adjustments required to fully align the wheels.

A Computerised Wheel Alignment Machine- The Modern Solution

There’s lot of reasons why your garage needs a means of aligning wheels – you’re able to set the vehicle up for safe road use after carrying out maintenance or remedial work, as well as maximise the lifespan of your customers tyres or set their vehicles up for certain applications such as racing or carrying heavy loads.

Carrying out wheel alignment is no walk in the park however, and to do the job properly, you need a computerised wheel alignment machine. This equipment will accurately measure the existing alignment positions, and then determine the exact amount by which each component needs to be moved.

Other benefits of using a computerised wheel alignment machine include:

• Can be very compact – taking up less space in your already busy garage
• CCD, or Charged Coupled Devices, are very easy to use – so you’re very unlikely to make errors or mistakes.
• Fast production of results – meaning less time spent interpreting the data and ultimately a quicker vehicle turnaround
• Accurate measurements every time – more precise than any human measurement meaning your garage consistently delivers the best quality results.
• Tablet based variants offer the flexibility and ease of use only found with portable devices – meaning you can work inside and around the vehicle with the information by your side. No more walking to and from a PC to get the data you need or progress through the alignment process.

Wheel alignment machines aren’t technically a new invention – after all, cars have been around for well over a hundred years, and wheels have needed to be positioned correctly throughout that period.

The solution that went beyond a ball of string tied round the vehicle was a mechanical wheel aligner that was invented in the 1950s. It could evaluate all values of the axle geometry on all motor vehicles and revolutionised the way wheel alignment was carried out. While effective, it was still a far cry from the type of computerised wheel alignment machine that is available today.

The JHM Butt & Co Range

Here at JHM Butt & Co we have a range of computerised wheel alignment machines to suit and exceed your needs. All of our wheel alignment machines are manufactured in Italy by Ravaglioli and feature the latest time saving technology to make vehicle tracking a breeze. Each variant within our range includes sensing hardware which quickly and easily mounts directly onto the wheels without causing damage to the rim.

Easy and accurate measurement of wheel angles isn’t the only advantage to using a computerised wheel alignment machine.

All of our systems are either operated via a cabinet-mounted computer unit or linked via Bluetooth to a tablet device. Whichever solution you choose, the integrated software will guide you through the alignment process and display the wealth of data and information needed to dial in the tracking on any vehicle. Once the alignment procedure is completed, you are able to create and print a PDF alignment summary report which may be supplied to the customer, or simply held on file for future reference.

Not only this, but the app allows you to input the registration of any vehicle and in turn retrieve the exact settings required from the manufacturer – no more searching through books the size of the yellow pages to find the configuration settings that you need. 

Is High-Tech Really Necessary?

You might be wondering whether all this tech is worth it – there must be a lower tech solution, right?

Well yes, there is. As we mentioned earlier, you could try tying string around the car and aligning the wheels to that. Make sure you have your stetson hat and revolver at the ready to celebrate when you’ve managed to get your wheels finally aligned though!

Alternatively, there is an AA-endorsed device which sits on the floor of your workshop like a weighing scale. Roll the customers’ car onto it, read the measurement from the scale, roll the vehicle off, make the adjustments required, roll back onto the pad, and see if the alignment has improved. With practice this should only take half a day (great when you charge by the hour) and is much cheaper than a computerised wheel alignment machine – so it must be worth it right!!

Wheel Alignment, The Professional Way

If you’re going into the business of tracking wheels, and need an easy, efficient, and reliable way to ensure the performance and safety of your customers’ vehicles, there really is only one solution: a computerised wheel alignment machine. Our range includes options for commercial vehicles, complex, and ‘lite’ versions, wall mounted tablets or cabinet based computer units – so you can be sure that whatever your requirements, we have the alignment machine for you. To purchase or get advice on which system is for you – get in touch today.