My Mondeo needed two new tyres so after much deliberating I ordered up a pair of very posh Nokian Z G2's, which despite being very well reviewed tyres they're difficult as hell to get hold of in the UK. Ended up getting them from TyreXpress which is a new online only tyre shop á la Black Circles but with even better prices and free delivery too.

Anyways, I took the car to the Aberdare branch of A&A Tyres to get the tyres fitted but also I wanted a 4 Wheel Alignment done, which sets up not just the direction of the front wheels like normal tracking setup but also the camber and toe-in/out for the front and back wheels and then they check that the overall direction the car wants to go in is straight ahead so it isn't 'crabbing'. I knew that because the way the subframe and suspension is designed on the Mondeo that it's quite common for things to go out of spec over time but the results were pretty bad:

All the red blocks are readings off the machine that were out of Ford's original spec. So not only were the front wheels out - explaining the slightly odd tyre wear I was getting, but the back wheels were pointing out which explains the slightly vibrations I was getting at fast-ish speeds that wasn't coming through the steering wheel.

The mechanic there spent a good hour making adjustments then making new readings on their fancy machine until all the readings were back to what they should be.

Driving home I noticed the difference straight away, not only are the new Nokian tyres incredibly quiet compared to my cheap old ones but the handling is spot on now - no vibrations and no pulling.

I am pleased.