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Wheel alignment. What's required? Any recommendations in the South of UK?
I've read various things about wheel alignment being critical and difficult to do properly on these cars.
Anyone had experience of this? Are there specific questions I need to ask a wheel alignment shop about how they do it, what kit they need etc? (Other than asking them how many GT's they've done!)
Also if anyone on here has any recommendations for a shop in the South of the UK, I'd appreciate it!
Had mine done last year in the U.K. in the North .
Mot first it’s passed .The specialist bring in a mobile guy .He used a laser and put the wheels on “ disks “ .When he rotated the steering from lock to lock he could not get it the alignment within spec .
They phoned me and said I two choices .
Accept his best endeavours or we need to replace the upper control arms as although it’s passed it mot theses inner bushes are hard to see and wear out of tolerance throwing out the geo .
They said the geo guy said might as well replace the track rod ends as one was ceased adjustment wise .
So I agreed .It means dropping the front struts .
Anyhow the result was like night and day = total transformation of the steering feel , feels a like a sports car now .
Glad I had done .
At the front, the only two parameters which can be readily adjusted are toe and what VW calls “S Point”, and everyone else in the world refers to as bump steer.
Camber and caster can’t be changed, other than by moving the sub-frame.
Accurate camber control can only be maintained if all the suspension bushes are in good condition, so IMHO there's little point in paying for a high accuracy measurement if the bushes are more than a couple of years or 10,000 miles old.
At the rear, both camber and toe can be adjusted, but again worn bushes will undermine any attempt at accurate set up.
Almost any decent workshop equipped with a Hunter or similar alignment machine can measure and adjust camber and toe, but I have met very few places whose staff understand bump steer let alone are able to adjust it.
There are numerous explanations of bump steer on the web, so I won’t bother repeating them, but it does make a big difference to steering feel and confidence. Over the years I’ve used a bump steer gauge to do the job myself on a variety of competition cars, but have yet to do it on the Bentley.
For you, in the South of England, I would unreservedly recommend Phantom Motors at Crondall who know the Continental GT inside out.
If you're considering anywhere else, then a brief question along the lines of "...what do you know about setting S point?" will sort the men from the boys.
For your amusement, below is pictured what I use for setting camber, and when subsequently checked on a Hunter or similar it has always proven to be perfect:
Last edited by Dark Green; Dec 21, 2020 at 03:00 AM.
At the front, the only two parameters which can be readily adjusted are toe and what VW calls “S Point”, and everyone else in the world refers to as bump steer.
Camber and caster can’t be changed, other than by moving the sub-frame.
Accurate camber control can only be maintained if all the suspension bushes are in good condition, so IMHO there's little point in paying for a high accuracy measurement if the bushes are more than a couple of years or 10,000 miles old.
At the rear, both camber and toe can be adjusted, but again worn bushes will undermine any attempt at accurate set up.
Almost any decent workshop equipped with a Hunter or similar alignment machine can measure and adjust camber and toe, but I have met very few places whose staff understand bump steer let alone are able to adjust it.
There are numerous explanations of bump steer on the web, so I won’t bother repeating them, but it does make a big difference to steering feel and confidence. Over the years I’ve used a bump steer gauge to do the job myself on a variety of competition cars, but have yet to do it on the Bentley.
For you, in the South of England, I would unreservedly recommend Phantom Motors at Crondall who know the Continental GT inside out.
If you're considering anywhere else, then a brief question along the lines of "...what do you know about setting S point?" will sort the men from the boys.
For your amusement, below is pictured what I use for setting camber, and when subsequently checked on a Hunter or similar it has always proven to be perfect:
Very interesting! thanks. I have some uneven wear on my front tyres, passenger side is more worn. Was like this when I got the car so I don't know how quickly this happened.
It's an 09 car with 63k on it so could well be due some bushes/arms.
Regarding the tools to measure the angles, I was watching the Mightycarmods episode with the dodgy Lotus that wouldn't corner and the Lotus tech broke out the string and rulers. He swore by that method over lasers. I think the modern kit just deskills the process this isn't a good thnig for the customer but it's great for the shop!
Very interesting! thanks. I have some uneven wear on my front tyres, passenger side is more worn. Was like this when I got the car so I don't know how quickly this happened.
It's an 09 car with 63k on it so could well be due some bushes/arms.
Regarding the tools to measure the angles, I was watching the Mightycarmods episode with the dodgy Lotus that wouldn't corner and the Lotus tech broke out the string and rulers. He swore by that method over lasers. I think the modern kit just deskills the process this isn't a good thnig for the customer but it's great for the shop!
Yes, at that age you should probably consider doing the top arms at least. Depending on how handy you are with spanners, they're pretty straightforward to do yourself.
In my experience I have found that Autodoc, although a bit slow to deliver, offer the best prices for Lemforder OEM parts.
I measure toe using a couple of 7 foot lengths of 1" x 1" aluminium box section - each one held against the wheel centre using a bungee, with an axle stand to loosely support their far end so that they are horizontal.
Then I simply measure the distance between the tubes in two places; close to the nose, and at the ends of the tubes, armed with the knowledge that a 1" difference at 57" along the length equates to 1 degree of toe.
Yes, at that age you should probably consider doing the top arms at least. Depending on how handy you are with spanners, they're pretty straightforward to do yourself.
In my experience I have found that Autodoc, although a bit slow to deliver, offer the best prices for Lemforder OEM parts.
I measure toe using a couple of 7 foot lengths of 1" x 1" aluminium box section - each one held against the wheel centre using a bungee, with an axle stand to loosely support their far end so that they are horizontal.
Then I simply measure the distance between the tubes in two places; close to the nose, and at the ends of the tubes, armed with the knowledge that a 1" difference at 57" along the length equates to 1 degree of toe.
Yes, I've been looking at all the linkages! Lots of parts. 5 bushes, 5 ball joints per side on the front!
I've done bushes and linkages on my other cars, so happy to have a go at the GT too.
Anyone know if the Speed has different suspension parts?
Oh and in addition to Lemforder, there's TRW, Moog, Ridex, Maxgear, Stark, Vaico and Magnetti to choose from. Is it safe to assume the more expensive, the better or do these all come from the same plant in China/Eastern Europe/South America?
Last edited by rich9911; Dec 21, 2020 at 12:08 PM.
Reason: another thought
My experience so far has been that if there's a difference in the model prefix, (e.g. 3W or 4E) then there's a difference in the component. In this case it's probably the bushing within the arm. Also beware differences in the suffix after the seven digit part number.
That said, when I replaced my front suspension arms I used Lemforder throughout, and ended up with a mixture of 4E and 3W parts, some of which show up in an Autodoc search, but strangely don't appear when you use the application catalogue at webcat.zf.com .
To answer your question about the 'Speed' variant: the Bentley parts catalogue shows only one part number for all types of 2003-10 Conti GT.
Regarding the different manufacturers: for keeping a two and a half tonne car shiny side up I only trust the companies who manufacture for VW. With Lemforder the castings are from Alfot (Aluminium Forging Of Taiwan), albeit with the four rings ground off when sold outside the dealer network. The bushes, I think, are of European origin.
My experience so far has been that if there's a difference in the model prefix, (e.g. 3W or 4E) then there's a difference in the component. In this case it's probably the bushing within the arm. Also beware differences in the suffix after the seven digit part number.
That said, when I replaced my front suspension arms I used Lemforder throughout, and ended up with a mixture of 4E and 3W parts, some of which show up in an Autodoc search, but strangely don't appear when you use the application catalogue at webcat.zf.com .
To answer your question about the 'Speed' variant: the Bentley parts catalogue shows only one part number for all types of 2003-10 Conti GT.
Regarding the different manufacturers: for keeping a two and a half tonne car shiny side up I only trust the companies who manufacture for VW. With Lemforder the castings are from Alfot (Aluminium Forging Of Taiwan), albeit with the four rings ground off when sold outside the dealer network. The bushes, I think, are of European origin.
I wonder if the the 'Bentley' tax is added by resellers or by the manufacturer?
It's very interesting to get the Bentley part numbers and change the model code to 4E and do a search. Air struts come up for under £600...
If one was really brave, there are complete Audi A6 suspension kits on ebay for £150, probably from China! Would love to see them tested against genuine Bentley boxed parts.
I'm not really trying to penny pinch, but there is clearly some ripping off going on due to the label on the box. Any supplier should be able to provide a detailed spec sheet showing the real differences between the 3W and 4E versions. (but I bet they wont).
