Anyone do their own alignments?
Team Owner
Joined: Jul 1999
Posts: 65,492
Likes: 230
From: Orange Park Florida
I totally fail to see where any measureing device having any contact with the tires could be very accurate, tires vary too much with sidewall bulges and graphics, and such....
if you note over the years from string to lazer to mirror devices in mega bux alignment shops, the wheel units fasted to the rims alone, like one unit shown above for 150 bux at summit....fine, but when I get the same results with a 2' level tested and proven dead nutz on, and repeatable results with minimal tire wear and no crazy patterns....
the trick is to build up pads in your garage so all 4 corners are absolutely level to each other, especially side to side....within a 1/4 inch is fine....this way you can be damn sure your caster settings are damn close to perfect....for toe and camber only the front end need be really staight level...unless you got a mighty messed up surface....sloped driveways will NOT doo....
it took my several attempts to learn how to do this, but once you get hang of it, I feel those tools are a money waste....
using the posted tables from sites above earlier....obviously...
if you note over the years from string to lazer to mirror devices in mega bux alignment shops, the wheel units fasted to the rims alone, like one unit shown above for 150 bux at summit....fine, but when I get the same results with a 2' level tested and proven dead nutz on, and repeatable results with minimal tire wear and no crazy patterns....
the trick is to build up pads in your garage so all 4 corners are absolutely level to each other, especially side to side....within a 1/4 inch is fine....this way you can be damn sure your caster settings are damn close to perfect....for toe and camber only the front end need be really staight level...unless you got a mighty messed up surface....sloped driveways will NOT doo....
it took my several attempts to learn how to do this, but once you get hang of it, I feel those tools are a money waste....
using the posted tables from sites above earlier....obviously...
Racer
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 410
Likes: 0
From: Wichita Kansas
Here is what I use; http://www.soloperformance.com/Shopp...0/Default.aspx
The car has to be perfectly level for this too work. I use a laser pointer on a yard stick to set the rear thrust angle. You can point it at a ruler set against the front hubs. It isn't perfect, because I set it with the yard stick against the rear tires, but much better than any "professional job" I've had. Most shops won't take the time to correctly shim the rear trailing arms.
The car has to be perfectly level for this too work. I use a laser pointer on a yard stick to set the rear thrust angle. You can point it at a ruler set against the front hubs. It isn't perfect, because I set it with the yard stick against the rear tires, but much better than any "professional job" I've had. Most shops won't take the time to correctly shim the rear trailing arms.
