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Ok, I'm the world's biggest cynic when it comes to "new, improved, patent-pending blah blah blah" but I stumbled across this today: www.trackace.co.uk/index.htmlIt's not available yet and they're looking for marketing feedback to try and get it into production. Curiously (to me at least) they don't seem to be targetting the retro / classic scene with thier site. If it works, I would have thought we'd be the natural market - maybe they haven't heard that some people actually like running old cars and getting down & dirty with them? ;D Now, with my cynic controls set to maximum, I actually can't see any reason at all that it wouldn't work and, at the expected £39.95, I can't see any reason I wouldn't want one if it does. So am I missing something that one of the more qualified cynics amongst you might spot? Standard disclaimer: I have absolutely nothing to do with the product or their site - I honestly am just worried that I'm missing an obvious flaw in it. In which case I must be getting old and doddery
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mrj
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,662
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i think it could work; there was a write up in a german classic car magazine a couple of months ago about similar devices for adjusting the track; it would be ok for a basic check and alignment, though on some more modern and complex cars (Audi A4 e.g.) it would not work properly .... i remember a lot of people doing their own tracking in the 80s just with some basic tools...
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- 1971 VW 1600 TL Fastback - 1978 Passat GLS Variant - 1980 Audi 100 5E - 1981 VW aircooled panel van (sold) - 1983 VW Jetta Mk.I - 1984 VW Polo Coupé - 1984 VW Passat hatchback - 1987 VW Passat Variant - 1987 VW Passat hatchback - 1988 VW T25
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stevea
Part of things
Posts: 281
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It looks like it should work, looks to me like a reduced version of a Dunlop gauge www.merlinmotorsport.co.uk/p4566/DUNLOP-TRACKING-GAUGE/product_info.htmlI think you would end up spending quite a bit of time setting it up though if you can't ensure that when you adjust a rod end only one wheel is pushed out. Otherwise, as the other wheel moves your reference laser line is no longer correct.
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As far as the price is concerned.... this kind of laser technology is dirt cheap now a days. Even see 'em down the DIY store for levelling SPAM FROM and stuff for the price of a decent hammer. Probably work only the one time though and next time you come to using it it's busted and is out of guarantee! If you only used it twice you would probably be in front of the money it would cost you down at the local kwikfit.
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'71 Arrocuda.... '71 Sunbeam Rapier Turbo (The Grim Rapier).... '63 Hymek D7076..... Audi GT5S
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ezzysi
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,189
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I can't see any reason why that wouldn't work.
In fact i've added my name to the list to get notified when it becomes available.
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1991 Mk2 Golf Gti 8v 2005 Passat tdi (daily) 1971 Mk1 Escort 2004 Touran (her's)
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CIH
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,466
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tracking alone is a waste of time.
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The thing is, regardless of how cheap this tool is... really the best thing is to take the car to a specialist with a decent rig. In southampton you can't go wrong with supertracker and for basically £30 they will tell you everything you need to know about your car's geometry (including when it's not the steering/suspension setup but the actual chassis thats out).
That said, I tend to do the tracking on my 106 rallye rally car by eye/intuition/guesswork if I ever have to change anything on the steering, as tbh after hitting the first bump the tracking goes out anyway!
However, thats not to say you couldn't get good results with a product like that. An enthusiast who likes to tinker with such things might get hours of joy chasing that last little bit of wheel alignment.
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- '80 Mk1 Vauxhall Cavalier Saloon, 3.0l 12v... in progress with some special plans ahead - '94 106 Rallye, Endurance Rally Car
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tracking alone is a waste of time. Not always true - there's plenty of jobs on our cars that might affect tracking but are very unlikely to alter other geometry a significant amount. Tracking is also the adjustment that's most likely to alter through normal use and abuse. In fact, on the Dafs, the only setting you can change without cutting and re-welding suspension mounts is the tracking, so not much point measuring the others unless it's had major damage.
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10mpg
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 4,253
Club RR Member Number: 204
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Cynical opinions needed......10mpg
@10mpg
Club Retro Rides Member 204
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tracking alone is a waste of time. that's a really dumb thing to say, take a car with tracking a more than a couple of degrees out for a spin you'll soon be popping into the local tyre place and begging them to sort your tracking out never mind a full geometry set up.. I have one of the dunlop tracking devices, it's hugely usefull and really surprisingly accurate, plus as has been said there's loads of older cars out there that are virtually impossible to adjust anything other than the tracking. when I'm just changing out components on normal daily drive type cars I use it just to set the tracking again (like changing a track rod end or a steering rack) what's the point on doing a 4 wheel full geometry set up again for that?? sure if I've got a race car/track car or one of seemingly never ending progression of Aston Martins in yeah I'll get it fully 4 wheel set up if required, but on someones range rover or similar normal car that's just had a new pair of rod ends I'll reset the tracking with my faithfull old Dunlop and leave it at that.. I'd like to see you change the camber and castor without fabrication on my P38 range rover? or maybe I should bring my mustang in so you can put some serious negative camber on the 9" rear end? doubtless a man of your skill could do it in 10 mins with a rusty 13mm spanner and a pair of aldi mole grips....
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Last Edit: Jun 6, 2010 1:18:16 GMT by 10mpg
The Internet, like all tools, if used improperly, can make a complete bo**cks of even the simplest jobs...
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recently done mine with the string box method and a ruler
takes about an hour first time , but its cheap and easy once you get the hang of it
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91 golf g60, 89 golf 16v , 88 polo breadvan
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recently done mine with the string box method and a ruler takes about an hour first time , but its cheap and easy once you get the hang of it Yeah, I have a nasty habit of finding I've used the string for something else when I want to do one though ;D
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recently done mine with the string box method and a ruler takes about an hour first time , but its cheap and easy once you get the hang of it Yeah, I have a nasty habit of finding I've used the string for something else when I want to do one though ;D got myself some orange cotton just the for job lol
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91 golf g60, 89 golf 16v , 88 polo breadvan
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yeah my mk2 polo has never had its tacking done professionally, after 12 years of ownership and 80,000 miles. low tetch string etc works for me too
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There's quite a few cars that have adjustable camber. I can name 2 off the top of my head but there are lots more. The Saab 900 has adjustable camber and so does the Vauxhall Omega. I'm sure there are plenty of others that I don't know about.
Also, my criticisim of the trackace would be similar to what someone said above with regards attempting to get the positioning of the targets accurate each time you take the measurement. You could find you'd take a measurement, find you are 3 degrees off track, adjust it and then find that you are still 3 degrees off track... even though you've just adjusted your tracking.
From a commercial point of view it will be about as successful as similar products like a Gunson Colourtune or that sort of thing. It is not going to be the next revolution as very few people (relatively speaking) are aware that cars even have such a thing as tracking. So as an investor I probably wouldn't be looking to spend much more than single-digit 1000's getting going with the production. If you spent more than that then you'd have to sell a massive number of units before you could get your money back.
If the price would be £39.95 you would need to sell about 30 of them just to recover an investment of £1000. That's completely ignoring the fact that you'd have to include VAT in that purchase price which you would not recover as the vendor. Then you have staff, bills, distribution, marketing, etc, etc... so every penny spent would need to be recovered and it could take a very long time to get all that money back.
You probably wouldn't even shift 30 if you had the whole Retro Rides membership sitting in an auction room bidding on this gear. 9 out of 10 beard scratchers wouldn't touch it.
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