Gunson Trakrite Wheel Alignment Gauge

[madspikes 41 1 Cars]

Anyone used an Gunson Trakrite Wheel Alignment Gauge...

 

Link is for example of what I'm on about!

 

linky

 

Just wondering if they are worth it...

 

 

Mad.

[RossD 43]

Yep, I've got one, used it on the Xsara and the 205. Tyres wear perfectly and it steers straight so I presume it sets the toe pretty well!

[Rob Turbo 3]

One of the local tyre places use one of them, I'm not sure if it's a gunson one but it seems to do the trick, I haven't been there for a long time though I guess my tracking now and I'm not doing too badly as far as tyre wear goes!

[Beastie 1]

They aren't bad at all! Gunson didn't invent them - Weaver did and this type of gauge is often eponymously referred to as a Weaver gauge. It's a snob value thing: You won't find many professionals who'll admit to using a gauge made by Gunson but plenty will be proud to tell you if they can use a Weaver gauge

[KRISKARRERA 2 1 Cars]

Can anyone explain how that works?

[Beastie 1]

Can anyone explain how that works?

 

It's amazingly simple: If you drive a car slowly on a solid piece of ground any toe in or toe out will cause a scrubbing action to take place against the ground which results in friction between the road surface and the tyre. These tracking gauges move with little friction so as you drive over them the gauge turns according to the toe in or toe out instead of the tyre scrubbing against the surface. Crude but surprisingly effective. For preference I'd go for the Dunlop optical or laser design though!

[swordfish210 20]

It's amazingly simple: If you drive a car slowly on a solid piece of ground any toe in or toe out will cause a scrubbing action to take place against the ground which results in friction between the road surface and the tyre. These tracking gauges move with little friction so as you drive over them the gauge turns according to the toe in or toe out instead of the tyre scrubbing against the surface. Crude but surprisingly effective. For preference I'd go for the Dunlop optical or laser design though!

 

Allmost exactly what i was about to post, including the bit about the Dunlop gauges

[Beastie 1]

Allmost exactly what i was about to post, including the bit about the Dunlop gauges

 

Great minds

[swordfish210 20]

Great minds

 

Hmmm, a great mind and a severly warped one maybe

 

I do like the Dunlop gauges though, i would have bought some ages ago but the price puts me off as i can't seem to find any decent ones for less than £200. It's a testement to the design that they lasted so long in production.

[Tom Fenton 1,526]

I'm lucky to have my Dads set of Dunlop gauges on long term borrow at the moment, TBH Swordfish they are well worth the money, and once people know you have them, you can soon make some of the cash back charging a tenner a time to do tracking.

[welshpug 1,627]

so how do you use the Dunlop gauges? I've seen the lazer ones used by most tyre places that they hang off each wheel, and check the scale on them according to the red dot, are these similar?

 

I was browsing ebay earlier and if you're lucky I think £100-150 would bag a set.

Edited June 15, 2010 by welshpug

[swordfish210 20]

I'm lucky to have my Dads set of Dunlop gauges on long term borrow at the moment, TBH Swordfish they are well worth the money, and once people know you have them, you can soon make some of the cash back charging a tenner a time to do tracking.

 

Good situation Didn't really think about that, gotta spend money to make money i suppose

 

so how do you use the Dunlop gauges? I've seen the lazer ones used by most tyre places that they hang off each wheel, and check the scale on them according to the red dot, are these similar?

 

I was browsing ebay earlier and if you're lucky I think £100-150 would bag a set.

 

You butt them up against the front wheels then look though a scope at the other gauge which has a mirror on it. You use this image to align a crosshair in the scope using a dial on the side of the gauge. Once the crosshair is centralised you can look at the gauge and it will give you a toe reading in minutes/seconds.

 

Very simple but very accurate.

[welshpug 1,627]

I see said the blind man!

[Beastie 1]

Very simple but very accurate.

 

Extremely accurate! And they are extremely well built bits of kit too. Only caveat compared to some other gauges is that it's neccessary to push the vehicle forward so that the wheel turns 180 degrees after taking a first measurement and then take a second reading. Any difference between the two readings should then be averaged out - this will compensate for any run-out in the wheels.

As already said - a pair of these is worth every penny!

[swordfish210 20]

Another advantage of the Dunlops is the range of adjustability and gauge visability they give. For example i did the tracking on my 306 the other week using the laser SuperTracker at Uni and i had to disassemble the front end so the lasers would hit the other gauges, otherwise they were hitting the bodywork Whereas with a Dunlop the mirror and scope are right out in front of the car so they're easy to see.

 

Also, the laser ones rely on having gauges on the rear wheels as well to check alignment and when you're running silly angles of toe out (such as my friends race car which we set over 30 minutes of toe out) The lasers tend to go off of the scale on these gauges

[2-Pugs 57]

I was browsing ebay earlier and if you're lucky I think £100-150 would bag a set.

 

 

Yeah, I got a set recently for £125 off ebay, it seemed like secondhand sets normally sell for about £150 - £200, but I was lucky as this particular seller hadn't advertised them very well and had specified pick up only which kept the price down. Luckily he was just round the corner from where I live.

 

Once I got a bit of help from people off here as to how to use them (thanks Tom F & others) I have them sussed, and have used them on a few cars already. What a great bit of kit - I'd definitly recommend them.

 

The other useful thing is that you can easily get spares for them as well.

[madspikes 41 1 Cars]

Thanks for the replies. I've bought myself a Trakrite, as I need to get the tracking sorted soon and cant wait till a set of dunlops come up at a price I can afford!

 

I have however been thinking since about how to make my self a set... I'll add it to my "projects" list.

 

Thanks,

 

Mad.