A quick poll - what wheel alignment procedure do you get on your Freelander? MY11 SD4 SE Auto

I did the all four wheels on mine I don’t even know what Thrustline is.

Having had completely normal, even tyre wear over nearly 90000 miles I've not felt the need to have mine done.
I replaced rear springs in my wife's VW Tiguan, both had broken. As I'd ordered the exact springs for her R line model never imagined it would cause any issues but unfortunately it chomped through the inner edges of a set of rear tyres very quickly. 4 wheel alignment has sorted it. Landrover - turning owners into mechanics since 1948

2014 Orkney grey Freelander SD4 GS.
2004 Zambezi silver Discovery 2 Td5 (Gone)
1963 Surf blue Morris Mini Minor Super de Luxe (my little toy)

But only 11 votes MY11 SD4 SE Auto

I wouldn't know what to vote for.
Unless I notice a problem it is left alone. If I do, I will probably get out 4 axle stands and a ball of string. If it still looks dodgy I might use a spirit level as well but that is unlikely unless I have bent something....

I guess that might class as thrustline but that makes it sound much fancier than it really is.  FL2 2007 2.2d Auto SE. Baltic Blue.

There's no point in having extensive wheel alignment carried out, unless you rectify the cause for the incorrect alignment in the first place.
Bushes go soft, so the pins shift in location as they age, which is what causes the alignment to drift, assuming there's not been any actual damage to components by impacts.

IMO there's little point is having the alignment set on worn or misshapen bushes, simply because the bushes will need replacing anyway, requiring another alignment be carried out.
I only have alignments done once the bushes have been replaced, as it saves doing the same job again in a short time. Hyundai Ioniq 5 Ultimate. The family car.
2009 Rimini Red SE TD4. Gone.
2006 Tonga Green i6 HSE. Gone.
Audi A5 convertible, my daily driver.
1972 Hillman Avenger GT, the project.

ozjeff62 wrote:

But only 11 votes

On a forum where there are many thousands of words spilled about what brand of oil or car wash is best I'm very surprised at how many people have said they don't do it.

The first option would also be the DILLIGAF response.

 MY11 SD4 SE Auto

Err... think I'm the only one in the poll so far who's said I haven't had it done? Landrover - turning owners into mechanics since 1948

2014 Orkney grey Freelander SD4 GS.
2004 Zambezi silver Discovery 2 Td5 (Gone)
1963 Surf blue Morris Mini Minor Super de Luxe (my little toy)

3 other respondents in the chat, one in the Oz chat ...

Tbh I'm also surprised at how many folks get a four wheel alignment.

Thrustline alignment takes place on a set of rollers like a dynamometer. The line of thrust of the four wheels are calculated and the wheels are aligned to that axis rather than to the longitudinal axis determined by the chassis/body dimensions.

A piece of string across the axle is about as far away from a thrustline alignment as you can get.

I used to live near a truck and 4WD specialist, but I don't know anywhere that does them around here. MY11 SD4 SE Auto

Which I think shows you part of the problem.
When you put thrustline in the survey I didn't know if you meant true thrustline or centreline - which is often called thrustline to make it sound fancier than it really is. Given true trustline is very rare I think I can be forgiven for assuming you meant centreline, which is what a string box gives you.
Also both trustline and centreline are both forms of 4 wheel. So how are you defining 4 wheel? Centreline or not?
It is not suprising that your average car owner doesn't care about this stuff.

All that aside, I think the main issue is that this a freelander forum. They are not exactly high performance vehicles so the subtleties of alignment are really not that important to owners. Most tyre places now do "4 wheel" (whatever that means) which is good enough for 99% of us.
I (and you by the sound of it) are in that 1% that are actually interested in the subject. And I am only interested because I used to own performance cars that I aligned myself, I don't really care for the freelander.  FL2 2007 2.2d Auto SE. Baltic Blue.

Only had it done once, well actually none, when I got the new tyres. I was there at the time & nothing needed changing.

Original set 235/60R18 had pretty even wear. Current set which are 255/60R18 I think may even be better even wear. I have moved them left to right & front to back once, plus swapped in the 2 spares at one stage.

Maybe I have been lucky with even wear. More so as the car has done many thousands of km on corrugated roads.

Click image to enlarge

lrman wrote:

Which I think shows you part of the problem.
When you put thrustline in the survey I didn't know if you meant true thrustline or centreline - which is often called thrustline to make it sound fancier than it really is. Given true trustline is very rare I think I can be forgiven for assuming you meant centreline, which is what a string box gives you.
Also both trustline and centreline are both forms of 4 wheel. So how are you defining 4 wheel? Centreline or not?
It is not suprising that your average car owner doesn't care about this stuff.

All that aside, I think the main issue is that this a freelander forum. They are not exactly high performance vehicles so the subtleties of alignment are really not that important to owners. Most tyre places now do "4 wheel" (whatever that means) which is good enough for 99% of us.
I (and you by the sound of it) are in that 1% that are actually interested in the subject. And I am only interested because I used to own performance cars that I aligned myself, I don't really care for the freelander.

Thank you for assuming I don't know what the I am talking about.
4 wheel and thrustline are in the poll as separate entities - so what do you think I mean by 4 wheel?

Just to complete the picture - I was a shooter long ago. In that arena one minute of angle was of great significance over 100 yards. I can't calculate the number of potential errors for measuring there are in using a stringline. You might as well close your eyes and guess if the wheels point in the right direction! MY11 SD4 SE Auto

I hardly said you don't know what you are talking about. In fact just the opposite in a my later post. Fact is I don't know you and what your experience is so I made an assumption. I got it wrong, nothing unusual in that Apologies if that offends you.

As to string boxes, if it isn't accurate enough then that is down to the user, not the technique. I mean, plenty of race teams use them. It was a while ago but I watched a F1 team aligning their car with one. How accurate do you need it to be on a freelander?  FL2 2007 2.2d Auto SE. Baltic Blue.

ATS offered half price four wheel alignment a month or two back when I bought four new tyres . It’s a bit of a no brainer , £35 extra when you’ve just spent £600 + on the rubber . 2009 GS Auto Zermatt Silver - Sold June 21 after 10 years of ownership

2016 Subaru Outback SE 2.0 diesel SE Premium Lineartronic Sold 2024 after 8 years and 80k miles . Best Car I ever owned !

2023 Toyota Hilux invincible X 2.8 Auto .