ADAS recalibration after wheel alignment required?

[taz777]

Yesterday I had a mobile tyre fitter change all four tyres on my 65-plate S80. I found a very local tyre shop today that does wheel alignment so I booked it in. I went along and one of the technicians talked me out of getting a wheel alignment done.

He explained that something called 'ADAS' (I might have got the term wrong) would nee recalibrating by a dealer and that might cost hundreds of pounds! This floored me a bit and I returned home. I have wheel alignments done on many previous cars and have never heard of a this ADAS recalibration being a requirement after a wheel alignment.

Was the tyre shop telling the truth? The car is now around 6 years old and I am surprised it would need this.

[Tatsfield]

ADAS=Advanced Driver's Assistance System and it uses a camera on the windscreen which has to be realigned if anything is done to alter the camera's line of sight. Since the camera is the sensor that inputs the position of the car on the road under certain emergency situations it must be important that it is correctly calibrated as finding out that the car is telling you lies at high speeds might be worrying and has no relevance to the age of the car.

[Paul Wildsmith]

wouldn't expect it to be done after wheel alignment.

Anyway, takes about 10 minutes of driving with a laptop plugged into the obd to switch it to calibration. Windscreen companies do it all the time.

[taz777]

So would I need a calibration after a wheel alignment? I don't have a laptop with an OBD and wouldn't want to try such a thing out! I'm just a regular driver. I just need to know if I have to get an ADAS calibration done after a wheel alignment. My local dealer has not been able to tell me yes or no.

[yostumpy]

why do you need wheel alignment? Did the tyres wear unevenly?

[ferg55]

Hi Taz,

It's entirely possible your ADAS will need recalibrating after wheel alignment - your Volvo dealer should confirm whether this is the case, as it would be part of a service task for which they are duty bound to disclose the procedure. If you can't get a reply from them, try another (it doesn't matter whether your car was sold by them or not), or Volvo customer services direct.

As for getting it done, I would see if Volvo offer wheel alignment at a fixed price, which should then include the ADAS recalibration if necessary. If there is no mention of the recalibration, I would get the alignment done by them anyway and if the recalibration isn't done in the price (but is necessary) you could quite reasonably argue it should then be done FOC as it is part of the total job for which you have been quoted.

[Tatsfield]

Originally Posted by taz777

So would I need a calibration after a wheel alignment? I don't have a laptop with an OBD and wouldn't want to try such a thing out! I'm just a regular driver. I just need to know if I have to get an ADAS calibration done after a wheel alignment. My local dealer has not been able to tell me yes or no.

Highly likely as the ADAS function is related to the car's steering and Volvo are very safety conscious.

[taz777]

Originally Posted by ferg55

Hi Taz,

It's entirely possible your ADAS will need recalibrating after wheel alignment - your Volvo dealer should confirm whether this is the case, as it would be part of a service task for which they are duty bound to disclose the procedure. If you can't get a reply from them, try another (it doesn't matter whether your car was sold by them or not), or Volvo customer services direct.

As for getting it done, I would see if Volvo offer wheel alignment at a fixed price, which should then include the ADAS recalibration if necessary. If there is no mention of the recalibration, I would get the alignment done by them anyway and if the recalibration isn't done in the price (but is necessary) you could quite reasonably argue it should then be done FOC as it is part of the total job for which you have been quoted.

My car is in for (rip-off) service at a Volvo dealer today. Unfortunately they cannot tell me about ADAS recalibration as they farm out all wheel alignment jobs to a third party!

I'll leave it for now. With previous cars over the years, I've always had a wheel alignment done after a 4-tyre change. Hence, I just thought it was the obvious thing to do. Often there's no adjustment necessary so I just pay a small fee for putting the car up on the ramp and getting the current alignment settings.

[october37]

I always get the wheel alignment checked when changing front or all tyres on the numerous
Volvo cars i have owned, and it nearly always needs adjusting, but I have never heard of this until now, I think someone is telling porkies.

[BigGreenThing]

Originally Posted by october37

I always get the wheel alignment checked when changing front or all tyres on the numerous
Volvo cars i have owned, and it nearly always needs adjusting, but I have never heard of this until now, I think someone is telling porkies.

I had to change all four tyres when I acquired my XC70. Ouch!

Not only did the national tyre company do a terrible wheel alignment job.... they hadn't bothered to balance the front wheels! I'm just glad the company managed to get the darned tyres on without wrecking the alloys and managing to secure all the bolts when replacing the wheels!

I had the car into Volvo for track rod replacement and wheels realigned alongside front tyres balanced. Driving is now a pleasant experience... as it should be.

I agree though. Does sound re: ADAS - as if somebody somewhere is being elaborate with the truth..