nicros01

My Q5 is pulling a bit to the right... needs alignment. Is there anything magic about the Q5 wheels which requires me to go to a dealer for alignment?

Or is discount tire/big O/midas whatever just fine?

m1964

Any decent tire shop should be fine. If Q5 is <1 y. old, dealer should do it for free (I think...)

ThunderDent

I was told, even by my Audi custom shop, that the dealership that has the proper instruments to adjust AWD should be the one doing it. FWIW.

AudiQ5sleeper

alignments are never free. only time is at 3k i believe from the time of purchase and from the time of new suspensions or brake replacement.

dsackman

Most aftermarket alignment shops do not have the proper tools and experience to align the Audi wheels (from my experience).

The way it was explained to me was that the wheels are on their own sub-assembly and the whole sub-assembly must be jigged to get them right.

I had an A4 screwed up by an aftermarket "specialist" and I had to pay twice to get it fixed.

Your experiences may be different.


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Parsec

I wouldn't take it to a national chain, but I would trust an independent Audi specialist that uses the same equipment (Hunter GSP9700) that Audi dealerships use:

http://www.gsp9700.com/search/findgsp9700.cfm

normp

Good to know, thanks.

Parsec

I used to not care about where I took my cars in for tire/wheel/suspension work, but I've been seeing more posts recently about the importance of using Audi specialists to align your backup camera overlay as well.

Reggie

Good info here - but check your tire pressures to make sure one tire is not low

AudiQ5sleeper

you know why its better off going to dealers for alignment? young kids working at firestone, townfair tires etc are unprofessional. all they care is about getting paid.