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I took my Volvo in to have the front wheel tracking checked which is free but a cost of £21 if it has to be adjusted. I always thought that just the front wheels needed tracking, however I was told that on some modern cars both rear wheels and front wheels have tracking which need to be checked for alignment. Unfortunately both the front and rear needed to be adjusted which cost a total of £42 so I though I would do some research just to make sure this was correct and apparently it is so I thought I would post this on here merely for advice because your rear tyres could be out of alignment as well as the front which would reduce the life of your rear tyres. More info on this is in the link below.

http://www.alignmycar.co.uk/WheelAlignmentAllYouNeedToKnow/differenceTandFWA

Quote: Originally posted by petra8315 on 05/6/2013

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i never new that, i have been messing with cars for 46 years and i have never heard of rear wheel tracking, how does that work? the rear wheels are fixed

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I have also done work on cars in the past as well so it came as a surprise to me as well that's why I checked it out. I haven't a clue how it works either but I thought it was worth mentioning on this forum for like minded people like ourselves who don't know about this and then wonder why their rear tyres are wearing unevenly on either the inside or outside of the tyre tread. I thought it was particularly interesting especially for those using their vehicle as a towcar as the extra weight on the towball must have some significance regarding un-tracked rear wheels.

Quote: Originally posted by Grampian91 on 05/6/2013

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The rear arms have a concentric bolt. You dont get much adjustment, But the tolerances must be close enough for it to work.

rear wheels are not fixed to a solid axle. What have you been driving for the past 46 years?   


tango55. Oh yes the loaded weight can alter the tracking adjustment by a fair bit.
Rover 75 springs to mind. Repmobile. Issues with rear tyre wear. Tracking checked all fine no issues.
Next service same complaint. Scrubbing the tyres.

But the car was always empty when serviced. The next service it was left loaded and the tracking adjusted in that state. Tyre wear was cured.


Some cars will be affected and others wont. Depends on the setup.

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