I am looking at getting the Fastrax Caster/Camber gauge sold by Eastwood for doing frontend aligments on my car. Has anybody used this tool, and if so what do you think about it.

 

My neighbor has one and likes it. I have looked at them, but have not dropped the hammer yet

 

I bought a fastrax guage over a year ago. In general, I like the tool. The best thing, it allows you to zero the guage out, sitting on the floor beside the tire you are going to work on. Since all garage floors are slanted, for drainage, and since you may be working with 1/4-1/2 degree increments, I like it better than the kind that fit on the hub and are none adjustable. On the down side, I have trouble keeping it on the wheel, solved with a large piece of duct tape from tire side to tire side and over the guage.

Dennis

 

I have one and it works fine, as stated, it holds OK on steel wheels but doesn't hold well on the aluminum Vette wheels.

 

Thanks guys. I figure with the right equipment, I'll can do a better job then most shops.

 

Post on how you get setup. I'd like to see this. I'm not an alignment guy but have collected some tools for the job so far, plates & toe gauge.

 

I bought mine a while back.....i'm pretty pleased with it....i spent the extra cash on the toe alighnment piece and kinda wish i didn't....you can get close to the same results by using a tape measure and the tire treads.....I do like the fact that you can set the level on 0 on each corver of the car too!

I havn't used it on my vette yet because it's kinda up in the air right now...I have used it on my daily driver after i bought new tires for it cause the alignment was out of wack.....and I'm pleased with the camber results, no funny tirewear either......I should add that I've driven the car on a few 1hr+ trips too.....


good luck man!

ryan

 

I agree, the toe attachment, is useless. I would not buy again.

Dennis

 

You can NOT set toe with a tape measure. You can not get high enough at the back. I have a complete seperate toe gag from coleman racing that measures 1/2 way up the tire, even at the back of the tire.

 

Over the decades I have mess with alignment, and untill I finally got some good information off this site years ago...about alignment in general...to translate off the WHEELS and not the tires, (which are totally useless as a referance) same as Norval measures with his discs in place there.....

I leveled out my floor with laying a 1/5 inch steel square tube across the marked 4 tire marks the car was on....seeing just perzactly what it took to level the front, noting that on the floor....in my case right front was the floor high point to it's square tire patch is marked 0.....
then the left fron is marked +1/4 inch....the rear is marked something like 2" and 2.5"..... this all done with steel layed side to side, and using a carpenter level really critically, moving the level all sides, and directions to totally neutralize any false readings....I played hell for a couple hours getting this crap totally RIGHT....

so knowing that....I use formica on plywood, with a beer carton on top and grease in the middle....on all 4 wheels...shimmed in the obvious amounts....

so then with the car totally able to slip it's *** off, and me jumping on it to pull suspensions in place....I align the car with fishing monofilament line and 4 heavy jack stands adjusted to be straight across wheel center heights....
the differance in wheel centerlines is forgotten right now...look around...so to plot the line to the wheel centers, all 4 being the same I presume....and go from there, measure the to the wheel tire flangees top and bottom...and side to side....note the differances, and then turn the wheels to get your caster....
I use a 2' carpenters level with screws/shims directly across the wheel tire flange for measurements same as a alignment jig....any measure from a tire is BS....not to work....
tow is simple to easy.....Last time I did my above alignment procedure was about 4 years ago...tire wear is perfect....car handles great....

case closed...

 

I've had my cars aligned "professionally" many times. They would always pull either left or right and tire wear was uneven. I started doing my own alignments several years ago. It takes 2-3 hours to do it but once it's done it stays set. Now tires wear perfectly and I can let go of the wheel and it tracks straight.

BTW, I have the longacre "dunlop style" caster/camber gauge and like it a lot. Very nice quality and the read out is digital down to 1/10 dgr.

 

Markus, can't argue your gauge there I don't have one....

but when I flip my carpenter's level 4 times for vertical and get the bubbles to agree, it's vertical....;-)))

and there is a site on record here somewhere that prints out the whole thing as to how much out the wheel/tire flange is out for degrees/etc....

all I can say is it works....

and SO after some years, the mysteries that made sense in MY mind but not knowing HOW to translate this into something doo able by myself....have finally been solved, and so the wizard behind the curtain is revealed....

 

I thought about the do-it yourself alignment, then I went to a Goodyear Sher auto, and bought the lifetime 4-wheel alignment for $250.00, You will have to provide the rear shims as they are not a common item, but can be purchased for about $40.00 a set. So now no matter how many times I take my suspension apart, I get an alignment for free..for life!