DIY home alignment -- what works, what doesn't?

[Blown353]

Guys, hoping for some pointers in the right direction.

Lately I'm having this uncontrollable urge to play with alignment settings on my car; I'm getting some outside edge wear on the front and want to go more aggressive on both camber and caster than what I have now. Usually I go down to a friend's shop and use his rack, but he's been so busy lately there's always cars on the racks and I can't squeeze in, especially since I want to do some iterative tests (change & drive, change & drive again...) I figure this is a sign I should acquire all the stuff necessary to do things on my own.

What I'm wondering is what everyone else has purchased. What works? What doesn't?

I know a level floor is a necessity; I figure I'd map out spots on my garage and cut wood spacers as necessary, determining level at each corner of the car by using some clear tubing for a waterlevel at each wheel.

I figure at the bare minimum I'll need:
-Toe gauge of some sort (tire plates and a tape measure? wheel snap-gauge? tire scriber? or just stringlines and a good 6" scale and measure to the wheel?)
-Turn plates for caster
-A combo camber/caster gauge (are the bubble level styles OK, or should I go digital inclinometer style?)

Please, recommend away! I only want to buy this stuff once so I'm hoping to hear recommendations on what works well and what I need to steer away from (no pun intended.)

Thanks,
Troy

[yody]

i really shouldn't even post becuase i have no idea how to align a car, but i have come across a few articles in magazines on how to do it with simple tools, like wood with a nail in it and plumb bobs. I can dig throuhg them if you would like?

[Q ship]

Troy, this thread (https://www.pro-touring.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11449) has some info and links. You may also want to PM Norm Peterson, he is the Man when it comes to alignment. HTH. I have yet to get the front end on my car, much less learn how to align it!

[sinned]

Troy, nothing beats a machine but camber and toe can be done with some very basic tools and be quite close. Instead of slip plates how about a few peices of thin sheetmetal with some grease sandwiched or some plywood and fine sand. Jack stands work best for setting a line F to R , make sure it is square to the chassis (helps to make sure the axle is in pretty square as it determines the squarness of the lines).


I always set caster by driving and making changes to correct for feel, then double check the camber/toe to ensure it hasn't changed.

Try this (http://www.negative-camber.org/jam149/alignment.html) for a DIY how to.

[David Pozzi]

Speedway Motors sells a good quality bubble gage made for circle track. If you use high amounts of neg camber, some street only cheap gages won't sit at 2.5 deg neg camber and also read 5 deg of positive caster, so get the circle track gage. You can even stick it on a brake rotor if the wheel spokes clear it.

Turn your wheels and read camber, how much have you got now? Bet it rides on the outside edge.

Here is a link to some handy toe conversion charts
http://www.smartracingproducts.com/installation.htm

[vanzuuk1]

Go to the link above that leads to corner carvers, they had a long discussion and a few guys had their own systems figured out. There is even a way around the level floor issue shown.

[CarlC]

Torker and I went 1/2's on an Intercomp digital gauge and toe plates.

It takes a while the first time to get it all figured out and to make a few items (toe plates, leveling plates, etc.) but after that it takes 1-2 hours to get it done.

The nicest thing is that I can align the car at night when the shops are closed. I hate relying on others for things that I can do myself.

[chicane67]

I use 2, 12 foot sections of 2x2 aluminum 'I' beam placed on top of wooden 4x4's at each corner with two tape measures to set toe. And the only other things needed is a good bubble camber/caster guage, which I use a Longacre guage with the threaded adapter for use with the first gen spindle.

I can normally do an alignment in about 20-25 minutes with these "old School" tools.....

Id say it works, because this is exactly the same tools we used to dial in every chassis for the Corvette Challenge Series, the Callaway cars and every chassis in the 67-70 Trans-Am series that Guldstrand and Penske were together.

[Blown353]

Thanks for the info guys. I was leaning towards the Longacre digital or bubble gauge, you've only confirmed my selection.

Yesterday I made spacers for my garage floor (determined level by going to hub height at each corner of the car and used clear tubing for a waterlevel). I also had no problems checking toe with a stringline, a pair of jackstands, and a good 6" machinists scale. It's actually just where I wanted it to be, 1/32 of toe in per side. I may experiment with a bit of toe-out and see what that does for me.

As far as turn plates... a set of the Longacre engraved-style turnplates are about $550 for the pair (ouch.) Any suggestions for other slightly cheaper ones that still get the job done? Or should I start looking for a set of used ones? There are some RAND brand turn plates on ebay for $125-- are they any good or is this another case of "You get what you pay for?"

As far as my current alignment, I'm at -.25 degrees negative camber, +5 caster, and 1/32 toe in per side. I want to try about -.75 degrees negative camber and keep the toe/caster about the same and see what that does for my tire wear. It will be a "guess and check" sort of method, as I need to find a happy balance to keep the front tires wearing evenly over my typical street driving routine of freeway trips and also twisty backroad trips. Going about -2 on the camber would probably help greatly in the turns but I'd probably start wearing the inside edges of the tires from longer freeway trips. I don't want that either.

Troy

[chicane67]

I had my 67 set at a static -1.75 camber with +3 caster and an 1/8" total toe out without any ill effect on the tire wear. But, I did drive the car pretty hard...... that might of been why the inside tread didnt show any abnormal wear...... but I set up a few clients cars with the same and have monitored thread depth and wear without a hickup.

If you do a search for the turn plates on line, by manufacturer and part number alone, you can find them for under $500. I have always used the Longacre plates, and I have also used the Intercomp or Quickcar turn plates with the smae results.... but I never used them for reading toe.... only reading accerman and steering angle for caster.

Quick car has a set of 'slip plates' (for like $70 bucks) which will allow the tires to slip and minimize friction when doing similar operations, they just dont have a read for actual angle. Pretty simple to put some oil between two plates of steel to ease the loading of the tires.