ratbag
Member
- Messages
- 135
My car has been off the road for 10 days following a botched alignment/geometry- caused by a national tyre company that does many Maseratis in my area and should know better.
I have since become something of an unwilling "expert" on Maserati wheel alignment : In the hope that it doesn't happen to anyone else I'll relate the story;
It started simply with a front tyre badly worn on the inside edge (very common apparantly on GT's)
I had two new tyres fitted and naturally asked for wheel alignment to be carred out at SETyres, who have the right equipment to do Maseratis (Hunter) and do many geometry checks for a local Maserati specialist.
They should have known what they were doing.
There is lots to go out of adjustment on the Granturismo and I can see why yearly alignment checks are recommended by Maserati.
The job can easily take 3 or 4 hours to do properly.
One adjustment (think its toe-in?) is on the lower track control bush, which is fluid filled. Adjustment is by the way of inserting Maserati special shims, and by a variable thickness sort of washer on the bolt that runs through the rubber bush which sits in an aluminium housing.
The problem is that as these cars age the bolts seize up. In my case the technician at SE Tyres was turning the bolt to adjust but in fact was twisting the bush. These bushes are OIL filled- result was two ruptured bushes-oil leaked out- result 2x new bush sets required (three each side, £250 a side + labour 10 hrs)
They admitted liability and the car went to my local Maserati specialist in Kent to do the job. All 6 track control bushes have to be changed (bushes come as a set)
This is a ten hour job. Special tools are needed to press the bushes into the arms.
Retail cost is nearly £2k. Every single bolt was seiized and had to be cut off. This took hours/days to do.
While it was apart the drop links and strut bushes had signs of wear (my car has only 19,000 miles) so I agreed to do this to whilst it was apart.
Finally the car has to have another 4 wheel geometry check of course.
Phew- So anyone having alignment being done it must be done by someone who has not only the correct equipment and knowledge of our cars but also knows that the bottom track control arm bushes must not be twisted or...£££££££mega!
SEtyres bill £2000 My bill £1000 (one front spring was also broken- apparantly also not unheard of) Oh well at least I have a completely overhauled front suspension now should be good for another 20,000 miles......
I have since become something of an unwilling "expert" on Maserati wheel alignment : In the hope that it doesn't happen to anyone else I'll relate the story;
It started simply with a front tyre badly worn on the inside edge (very common apparantly on GT's)
I had two new tyres fitted and naturally asked for wheel alignment to be carred out at SETyres, who have the right equipment to do Maseratis (Hunter) and do many geometry checks for a local Maserati specialist.
They should have known what they were doing.
There is lots to go out of adjustment on the Granturismo and I can see why yearly alignment checks are recommended by Maserati.
The job can easily take 3 or 4 hours to do properly.
One adjustment (think its toe-in?) is on the lower track control bush, which is fluid filled. Adjustment is by the way of inserting Maserati special shims, and by a variable thickness sort of washer on the bolt that runs through the rubber bush which sits in an aluminium housing.
The problem is that as these cars age the bolts seize up. In my case the technician at SE Tyres was turning the bolt to adjust but in fact was twisting the bush. These bushes are OIL filled- result was two ruptured bushes-oil leaked out- result 2x new bush sets required (three each side, £250 a side + labour 10 hrs)
They admitted liability and the car went to my local Maserati specialist in Kent to do the job. All 6 track control bushes have to be changed (bushes come as a set)
This is a ten hour job. Special tools are needed to press the bushes into the arms.
Retail cost is nearly £2k. Every single bolt was seiized and had to be cut off. This took hours/days to do.
While it was apart the drop links and strut bushes had signs of wear (my car has only 19,000 miles) so I agreed to do this to whilst it was apart.
Finally the car has to have another 4 wheel geometry check of course.
Phew- So anyone having alignment being done it must be done by someone who has not only the correct equipment and knowledge of our cars but also knows that the bottom track control arm bushes must not be twisted or...£££££££mega!
SEtyres bill £2000 My bill £1000 (one front spring was also broken- apparantly also not unheard of) Oh well at least I have a completely overhauled front suspension now should be good for another 20,000 miles......
