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“For the ADAS to function properly after calibration, accuracy of the aligner is very important,” he added.
Another latest vehicle service innovation, he shared, was the touchless alignment system with no manual operation. This technology, he said, not only made wheel clamping history and scratch free for the rim but also sped up the alignment process.
The new technology in tyre balancers, according to Tiu, was the Road Force wheel balancer that could solve the Road Force Variation (RFV) issue, which couldn’t be corrected by balancing a tyre.
“RFV is a measurement of tyre uniformity under load. Road Force balancer loads the tyre, similar to a vehicle’s weight, and measures the radial force vibration of the tyre/wheel assembly. corrected with the StraightTrack LFM feature that measures lat- eral tyre force during the Road Force Measurement test. The balancer then applies this lateral force information to a set of tyres, providing the operator with multiple placement choices on the vehicle. These features eliminate pull complaints and cus- tomer comebacks, saving time and increasing productivity,” he explained.
‘Drive-through’ alignment system
One Solution Equipment Supply Sdn Bhd Operation Manag- er Marcus Heng said the greatest improvement of a modern wheel aligner, regardless of brand, was the ease of use and shorter measurement procedure to provide faster alignment with accuracy.
“Also available is the ‘drive-through’ touchless alignment inspec- tion system that scans a vehicle’s wheels as they are driven pass and provides instant alignment readings. As it is fully au-
tomatic, it requires no manual operation, clamps or targets and
As for wheel balancers, Heng pointed out that today’s wheel bal- ancers could automatically measure the wheel diameter and dis- tance once the operator put down the wheel guard and press to perform a measuring spin. He added that when compared to the traditional wheel balancer that required a three-step measuring procedure, the new wheel balancer reduced spin and diagnostic time to complete a conventional balance with accuracy.
“High-speed tyre balancers with laser scanner units that could diagnose tyre structure issues such as breakage of steel wires (cords) was the biggest improvement,” said Ontime Synergy Sdn Bhd Managing Director C.K. Woon.
He continued that the most advanced wheel aligner in the market was the 5D wheel alignment machine. It used image recognition technology to scan the entire car, including thrust angle and setback angle, which was very convenient. This allowed quick, easy analysis of the vehicle alignment before
In addition, he said, there was the web-based aligner that could perform headlight alignment, which was required by certain ve- hicles such as the Proton CX70.
Steven Foong, Country Manager of Snap-on commented that the wheel alignment systems had seen advancements with the development of advanced laser alignment tools and computer- ised alignment systems.
“These tools could correctly measure and adjust wheel align- ment to improve vehicle handling and reduce tyre wear. ADAS technology includes features such as lane departure warning and adaptive cruise control that could improve driving safety. The trend is driven by a few factors like the increased demand ADAS equipment,“ he shared.
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