VGLNTE1

After my coilovers, i havent done an alignment yet. Inside of front tires are getting worn. Would love to do this at home because there is no shops around me. How many thousands of dollars in tools are needed to do it?

Z06trackman

I do mine with a Longacre digital chamber caster guage and a tape measure. A digital level from Sears will probably work as well, but won't be as convenient as the nice Longacre tri-pod that fits on the wheels. The keys are: you need four level surfaces that are at least as big as your tire prints, and those need to be level to each other in the car width direction. Also, you need to roll the car for at least a few tire rotations between making adjustments and taking new measurements. Say $60 - $400, and some practice and patience to get good and fast, and you are there!

Have a friend help you to measure toe with the tape. Make sure the level only touches to wheel and not the tire and make sure the level is perfectly vertical during chanber measurement (or use the Longacre guage - much easier). Sight down each side of the car from the near tire to the far tire to get the thrust angle right - do from both the front and the rear (that takes a little practice). That's it. The devil is in the details, and you will figure it all out and get good with practice. Like many things, the process is more important than the tools.

froggy47

David Farmer has one of the best diy align. I do mine. It's not hard but not quick either. I spend 4-6 hrs including ride height but not weights.



Comes out PERFECT

I will be doing one in a couple of weeks & will shoot a vid.

davidfarmer

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1634366/align.pdf

this is my DIY measuring guide for camber, toe, thrust angle, and castor. All you need are a straight edge, a level, and a tape measure. I use a laser for getting thrust, but you can use a long 2x4 also, you just need to get the rear wheels symmetric to the front wheels.

I did a full 4-wheel camber/thrust/toe setup in about 90minutes yesterday, on a 4-post lift. Takes much longer on the ground, as everytime you jack the car up, the suspension needs to be resettled (your coil overs will reduce this amount significantly).

If you get the camber even remotely close, the important thing for getting street tire wear in line is to get your TOE close to zero. Ideally toe out 1/32" in the front, toe in about 1/16" in the rear, but if tire wear is your issue stick to as close to zero as you can get. Excessive toe can really damage the edges of your tires quickly.

davidfarmer

btw, as tempting as it is to use a digital level for your measurments, you will drive yourself crazy. I have a cheap bubble gauge I use, but the tape/level works well also. Don't get hung up on 0.1 deg of camber...you'll overshoot and just go backward until you get a lot of practice!

JDIllon

I use Dave's program to do my alignment all the time. I do use a Sears digital level but as Dave said, don't go nuts over a .01 degree or so. The nice thing with the Sears is that it also has the laser in it to do the thrust angle. You do need a flat surface, I have a 4 post lift that is dead level and that works great. Dave's instructions are really well done and explain everything. JD
NOTE: There is one very important thing you must have!!!!!!!!!PATIENCE!!!!! Without it the rest of these tools are useless. LOL!

naschmitz

Follow David's guide and play with your alignment. Feel for yourself how the car drives. Get a tire pyrometer to get the camber right. You'll be a better driver if you know how to set up your own car, it is actually a lot of fun, and not so hard to do once you do it a few times.

For example, want to know why toe-out in the rear is bad? Put some in and drive on the street at 35 mph and you will have a much better understanding than reading about it.

froggy47

Remember setting toe is different f/r because of where the tie rod connects to the upright.

Bill Dearborn

I use a Sears 24 inch digital level with laser, longacre toe plates w two cheap tape measures. I don't bother leveling the car from front to rear but just side to side. Even though your garage floor may be generally level you may find as I did that it has dips and rises in it. Run some water on the floor and see where it puddles that will give you an idea where the low spots are. I parked the car in the center of the garage with the left front tire in a low spot and then chalk marked the floor where all the tires were located. Then I backed the car out and used a 6 ft carpenter's level sitting on two small 3/8 sockets of the same brand/size to support the level in the center of the left and right chalk boxes. Then I used 1/8 in floor tiles to bring the left side of the car level with the right. To make it easier to do caster measurements I added two tiles at each tire so I could turn the steering without the tires sticking to the floor. I used some grease between the top two tiles to make it even easier to turn the steering. Once I had every thing set I spray painted the floor around the tiles with white paint so I knew where they went the next time I aligned the car.

Depending on the wheels you have you may find it difficult to use a straight level to measure camber. I have C6Z repros in the rear and the spoke portion is raised where it meets the rim edge so I have to make sure the level isn't hitting one of the raised portions. That sometimes means the level isn't really vertical. I borrowed a Rebco Caster/Camber gauge with a magnetic adapter from a friend and gave it a try but the only place to attach it is the brake rotor. I found if I attach it at the top or bottom of the rotor the camber measurement can vary by at least a half degree. If I place it next to the tie rod location the measurement is between the other two. Which location is more accurate? I think the one near the tie rod. That gauge is easier to work with since you don't have to hold it.

Once I know how much adjustment I need to make I put the car on the lift and get it up to a comfortable working height. Then I measure the camber while it is in the air and adjust from that point by how much of an adjustment I want to make. I am making the assumption that in the range we are making adjustments that camber movement is linear so adding .3 of a degree from one measurement is the same as adding .3 of a degree to a different measurement. So far I have done this a number of times and the assumption seems to be valid. That is where the gauge with the magnetic adapter and bubble levels is great. I just fasten it to the rotor and easily observe my adjustments. If I take the wheels off I can also do the same with the digital level since it has a magnetic edge on it. With the wheels off the digital level is better since I can place it so I can see the numbers while making the adjustments.

Bill

VGLNTE1

I guess my question is, once you measure these, how do you adjust it? Say for instance, my toe out is to much on my front wheels, making the insides wear, which i imagine is because the coils dropped the cars height more. Is there a way to adjust this without raising the ride height?

JDIllon

Yes, the tow and thrust angle is adjusted with the tie rods that are attached to the front of the front spindles and the rear tie rods that attached to the rear of the rear spindles. Unless you have a lift you will have to jack the car up to do each wheel and set it back down the check the settings. If you don't have a lift or this just a one time deal to get the tire problem straightened out? Take it to some local shop and have it aligned!! As I mentioned before this takes time and patience. It is or can be a fun project? But you need to take your time and write everything down. And until you have done it a few times, at least for me, you tend to do things 2 and 3 times before you get it right. It is also important to understand that all of these things are tied together!!!!! So when you change one thing!! something else changes!! That is probably what happened when you lowered the car. You need to read up on alignment and understand how these things interact. If you are interested, go the Longacre Racing site http://www.longacreracing.com/articles/index.asp
and you will find good info on all of these subjects. Sorry for the long answer. Just trying to help. JD

froggy47

If you really have no idea how all the various adjustments interact, then either:

a) you need to understand this is a learning process, there is geometry involved & some special tools & techniques and you can't just turn one adjuster & call it done

or

b) just find a good shop even if it's some distance & let them do it.

I taught myself using the forum & David & others references because I knew I wanted to learn it & that I am racing & needing to try various alignments for different rim/tire combos & different track surfaces etc.

So doing 2 - 4 alignments a year.

If you just want to fix a tire wear issue, I don't think you'll be well served by trying to learn/do it yourself.

No harm trying, but you may end up with a bad handling car & worse tire wear.

Just tryin to help.