Slides

Assuming you have the Driver Assistance Package. Got an alignment at the dealership but they never discuss anything about sensor and camera calibration. Trying to see how much this matters.

luder888

I assumed you paid out of pocket for this alignment because of your front wheel bearing? How much was it for the service? My dealer charges $599 for alignment + ACC calibration.

Either way, even if they only charged you $200 for the alignment and they made any changes to your rear axle, they should have done an ACC calibration as part of it. If they didn't, they need to fix that, ideally for free because they f'ed up. You really need to micro-manage these dealerships because cutting corners and lying is what they do best.

When they finally agree to do the calibration (free or not), monitor their work with a dashcam, or if you don't have that, at the minimum put a piece of clear or body-colored tape around the side grille and bumper area so you know if they have removed that trim to get to the radar sensors to do the adjustment.

I used painters tape here but in retrospect should have used a color more discreet:

And during calibration you should see a sign like this...

Slides

Thanks. I paid $200 for the 4 wheel alignment. I'll talk to them.

belzebutt

I'm even happier now I didn't get any driver assistance stuff. I can go get a $100 4-wheel alignment at my local mechanic.

luder888

Agreed. I regretted paying extra for DAP. It's been mostly just Pre-Sense non-sense and the system is expensive to maintain. ACC is nice but it's not worth it.

audibonkers

Two things I wanted from DAP here in Canada: Pre Sense City and Traffic Sign Recognition. Even then I see there are problems with pre sense.
DAP is therefore not on my S5 SB order

Slides

ACC is very useful for me. As is blind spot monitoring to a lesser degree. That's why DAP is important to me but I hate the extra maintenance cost. Can they really not come up with a cheaper calibration option that doesn't require so many labor hours?

paradyne

So, if everything is aligned correctly, and you hit a pothole and knock out the wheel alignment, then have the wheel alignment corrected. Shouldn't everything then be back to alignment again? Unless either the wheel weren't aligned originally or they still aren't after having them supposedly aligned. If it still stayed in lanes on the motorway I don't think I'd be rushing to spend money having something aligned when it's working fine.

I also cannot believe it's more than an hours work for camera alignment, even if they do have to get a board out and stick it up in a measured position in front of the car then press a calibrate button..

JD15

What's worse is that DAP is bundled with Prestige on 2019s, so it is even more difficult to opt out. For that reason, I originally ordered a Premium Plus, but I ended up with a Prestige in the end because I was able to get a much better deal on a Prestige off the lot.

luder888

I think that's why the service manual says you only need ACC calibration if the rear axle is adjusted. The four wheels of your car can be all in parallel but it could still be slightly off from the body of the car. The cameras and radars are mounted on the body so they have to make sure those are also aligned as well.

You are right about calibration taking only an hour, rather than 6 - 8 hours the dealer bills you. I checked my Audi app and my dash cam and including the test drive, the entire calibration + alignment took the tech 1.5 hours. They of course would keep your car for 8 hours to give you an inflated sense of work done.