A good shop will have somebody who can do a special alignment for you. If all you are doing is getting one setting at a specific point it is a good choice to spend the ~ $100 to have a shop do the work. If you are going to play with severe alignments or change back and forth then doing them yourself is much cheaper and just as accurate. After getting several alignments done at the dealership where I bought my 97 the alignment tech told me I should do them my self and showed me how to do the adjustments while he finished my latest selection. It was quite simple. Since the rear alignment was always set the same I chose to play with the front myself so I found a spot on the garage floor that was close to level across the width of the car (used a 6 ft carpenters level from Home Depot) and then chose some Home Depot vinyl floor tile to use to do the final leveling. Once I had everything set I spray painted around the tile so I knew where my spots were located. Then I bought a $40 camber gauge from the local Track Side products shop (like the ones used by the dirt track guys) made a set of toe plates from some old lumber that was straight and started setting my alignments. Each one used to take 2+ hours which included making the measurements lifting the car to make the adjustment, driving around the block to settle the car and then rechecking the measurement and adjusting again if needed. I let a couple of very good drivers drive the car at the track and they liked the feel so I must have set the alignment pretty well for an amatuer. After a while it got tedious when preparing for the track so I chose one alignment that allowed me to drive on the street, track or autocross course.

Bill

 

FYI, it is www.hardbarusa.com.
We make a tool for this purpose. It is mainly intended for track/auto-x guys that want to change the car's settings for better lap times and to get your expensive track tires correct, but anyone can do it. Aglinments are not that hard to do, I think the automotive service biz like to keep it mysterious. If you are only doing street driving, it is easier to just take it to a good shop but if you are going to play with lowering, poly bushings, etc, our tool will pay for itself in one job. See this thread for alot of discussion on this:
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...hlight=hardbar

Thanks,
Gary

 

HAHA - having lived in CT and NY and now residing in WA and frequently visiting family in CA, I can assure you that roads on the east coast are FAR FAR FAR worse than almost any road out here. We should be really happy with what we've got here on the west coast!

 

Hardbar's alignment tool is a true godsend to those who are changing toe/camber often and need a measurement with which to compare care handling at various tracks. It makes the measuring of the toe easy and repeatable. For those not changing alignment settings often or for getting an alignment check after suspension change or with a new set of tires, I would have a shop do it.