Stranger in the Black Sedan
12-28-2009, 08:23 PM
I have been doing my own 2 and 4 wheel alignments with great success for a while now. Not your get-it-close enough tape measure alignments, I am aligning with strings like Nascar does for toe, and measuring camber and caster to the tenth of a degree, with results that agree with Hunter machines.
I was using a $40 digital level and some improvised bushings to measure camber before, and caster could be calculated using trig and measuring camber with the wheel turned in each direction.
This new tool was about $225 and it measures camber directly, and it also calculates caster for you, if you sweep the wheel 20 degrees to one side, zero it w/ the caster function, and sweep 20 degrees to the other side and then you get a direct caster readout. The turn sweep is measured either with turn plates (I have home made turn/slip plates made from pairs of linoleum tiles w/ grease in between) or you could mark on the floor with a compass if you didn't have turn plates. But you really need at least home made turn/slip plates like me to do camber and toe adjustment without binding the suspension.
I haven't been to a dealer or garage of any sort, for any of my cars (and I have 5) in several years and I'm lookin to keep it that way.
http://bondospecial.smugmug.com/photos/751972225_Cbrqc-O.jpg
http://bondospecial.smugmug.com/photos/751972196_7MszN-O.jpg
http://bondospecial.smugmug.com/photos/751972164_oi58R-O.jpg
http://bondospecial.smugmug.com/photos/751972114_PX3av-O.jpg
-0.3 deg camber on the front, you can see from my display. This tool compensates for a non level floor if necessary (almost always necessary in home garages). Before you put the tool up to the wheel, you can unscrew the digital level portion, lay it on the floor up against the wheel, hit zero, then your camber reading is relative to the floor and represents the actual camber angle. I am gonna pony up for some real turn/slip plates w/ turn graduations on them now that I have this tool, so caster readout will be faster than having to mark off on the floor.
This tool measures camber and caster. For toe, I set up pairs of jack stands with heavy gauge, neon fishing line, and adjust the paired lines such that they run parallel to vehicle centerline (which can be measured off suspension pivot points, or machined wheel hub faces) and jack up and scribe each tire for a true reference point that factors out wheel and tire runout, then measure toe of each wheel from the reference scribe line to the string on that side of the car. I can infer toe readings to within 0.10 deg resolution this way, which although not as good as a Hunter machine is capable of, is good enough to get a car within manufacturer's recommended specs, and gives me far better results than a technician who has better tools, but does a sloppy job.
I was using a $40 digital level and some improvised bushings to measure camber before, and caster could be calculated using trig and measuring camber with the wheel turned in each direction.
This new tool was about $225 and it measures camber directly, and it also calculates caster for you, if you sweep the wheel 20 degrees to one side, zero it w/ the caster function, and sweep 20 degrees to the other side and then you get a direct caster readout. The turn sweep is measured either with turn plates (I have home made turn/slip plates made from pairs of linoleum tiles w/ grease in between) or you could mark on the floor with a compass if you didn't have turn plates. But you really need at least home made turn/slip plates like me to do camber and toe adjustment without binding the suspension.
I haven't been to a dealer or garage of any sort, for any of my cars (and I have 5) in several years and I'm lookin to keep it that way.
http://bondospecial.smugmug.com/photos/751972225_Cbrqc-O.jpg
http://bondospecial.smugmug.com/photos/751972196_7MszN-O.jpg
http://bondospecial.smugmug.com/photos/751972164_oi58R-O.jpg
http://bondospecial.smugmug.com/photos/751972114_PX3av-O.jpg
-0.3 deg camber on the front, you can see from my display. This tool compensates for a non level floor if necessary (almost always necessary in home garages). Before you put the tool up to the wheel, you can unscrew the digital level portion, lay it on the floor up against the wheel, hit zero, then your camber reading is relative to the floor and represents the actual camber angle. I am gonna pony up for some real turn/slip plates w/ turn graduations on them now that I have this tool, so caster readout will be faster than having to mark off on the floor.
This tool measures camber and caster. For toe, I set up pairs of jack stands with heavy gauge, neon fishing line, and adjust the paired lines such that they run parallel to vehicle centerline (which can be measured off suspension pivot points, or machined wheel hub faces) and jack up and scribe each tire for a true reference point that factors out wheel and tire runout, then measure toe of each wheel from the reference scribe line to the string on that side of the car. I can infer toe readings to within 0.10 deg resolution this way, which although not as good as a Hunter machine is capable of, is good enough to get a car within manufacturer's recommended specs, and gives me far better results than a technician who has better tools, but does a sloppy job.