Home Alignment

[suicidal2af]

So I'm taking it that pretty much NO one on here does their own alignments . . . that or those who do aren't reading this thread . . .

Sort of...actually, wret did mine :x

 

[tsunari]

Just looked @ the gauge that Harbor Freight has . . . from what I can tell you need to attach it to the spindle nut . . . but to do that, wouldn't u need to take the wheel off? How you supposed to align it if the wheels are off??

 

[Rx3]

Just looked @ the gauge that Harbor Freight has . . . from what I can tell you need to attach it to the spindle nut . . . but to do that, wouldn't u need to take the wheel off? How you supposed to align it if the wheels are off??

Very simple. You take two sets of readings. One with the wheel off, and then one with the wheel on. You will also want to lower the car on it's own weight and check the readings again to see if anything changed. Sometimes the camber or toe may change once the car is on the ground as opposed to you setting it while it's on jackstands.

When I did my own alignement, I took two measurements, one with the wheel on and off. I constantly compared the two until I got the readings I was looking for.

 

[wret]

Just looked @ the gauge that Harbor Freight has . . . from what I can tell you need to attach it to the spindle nut . . . but to do that, wouldn't u need to take the wheel off? How you supposed to align it if the wheels are off??

Are you looking at this one?

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

 

[Rx3]

Just some general information I want to throw out there, so you don't screw up your car and spend all day chasing the proper alignment around, in order to properly align a car you need to set in order:


1. Rear Camber
2. Rear Toe
3. Front Caster
4. Front Camber
5. Front Toe

All of your alignment angles are based off of the rear of the vehicle as that does not turn. Then Caster must be set first as it is in itself a combination of cambers and will affect camber and toe greatly. Then you must compensate your camber then when all is said and done, set your toe.


There are some things you may want to consider for special situations, I'll just quote Jtoby for those:

If your suspension is very stiff and/or you have race tires, you really ought to do both cambers and caster before you start doing toe. Also, on cars with much stiffer front springs than rear springs, you ought to do front camber and caster before you do rear camber. All of this is because of the small changes in corner weights and ride heights due to changing the angle of the tire on the ground.

Lastly, the single most important thing is this (and it's amazing how many bozo shops skip this step): set the tire pressures before you do any part of the alignment.

 

[tsunari]

Are you looking at this one?

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

Yeah, that's the one they had there . . . Didn't look like it would be accurate enough for a 'performance' alignment- maybe good enough to get you in the ball-park to get you from home to an alignment shop though.