Wheel alignment Tools

[Walla Walla]

hello there,

with the bumpy road we have in the Quebec Province, and my frequent suspension modification, i find myself paying for 3 or 4 alignement a year... (or i don't do them... and then my tires pay the price)...

each time, it cost arounde 120$ and I don't feel satisfied with this, since I can't make small adjustment, and test the results...

so i decided to buy the tools needed to do it myself.

but there is so many different solution, kit, company... so i'm seeking advice, experience, and suggestion

I see 300$ kits, and then some 1500$ kit... would i be dumb to pay for the 1500$ kit? is the 300$ real shit...? so...

your advices?

[churchx]

One can do basic alignment by oneself using limited amount of tools. Or eg. with string method. But it takes lot of time and careful work. I prefer to have some good coffee while professionals of good suspension shop, with too expensive alignment rig to make sense to buy it myself, but which pays off by easing/quickening alignment for many customers in a row, do it in fraction of what it would take if DIY. Comfort is sometimes worth paying for (at reasonable prices).

Meanwhile i'd rather check why your alignment dislocates so easily/so often, then consider getting own alignment rig / tools.

[bfsnail]

Do you have anything like a firestone up around where you live? They offer a lifetime alignment service with unlimited alignments. I bought mine for like 150 and have used it around 6 times.

[cjd]

What are you looking at in the kit? My experience says that cheaping out isn't worth it, but you may not need half of what is in the kit (depending on what's actually there...)

I started doing my own alignments this year and after spending lots of time figuring out how to safely provide a leveled environment and then wondering how to store it, I jumped for a set of scale levelers with roll-off (I was already planning the scales, got them used at a good price). That was ~$1k alone, but after getting them set up (laser + digital level) it's now ~10 minute setup time (the floor is now marked for perfect re-setup every time). And they're light and easy to stow away. Absolutely worthwhile in my opinion, but if your floor is already perfect (or just a tiny bit off) it may not be worth it. Mine isn't close. In fact, the feet on two don't actually all touch if I put them on a perfectly level surface (yay seams two ways that rise ~1/4").

I recommend springing for a camber gauge with a digital level that slides out, since the level can be re-used (my stuff is all Longacre). I found bubble levels (where I started trying to level the roll-offs) notably less accurate.

I have a string setup (DIY on that, the highest cost was the $5 I spent for bright woven fishing line that's a consistent width). I use a simple ruler with 1/64" markings.

I currently use a DIY 'greased tiles' toe plate solution, but that's not working out as well as hoped, so I may spring for a set of Longacre toe plates for next season. I may just need a different (or more) grease.

That's all I use. If you're not after corner balancing, 100% exactly level is less critical and you can get by with the string method and a good (~$300) camber gauge and greased tiles... I use this online calculator to help.

The worst part for me was setting rear toe. Probably a lot easier with a helper.

C

[Walla Walla]

no i don't

and i've adjusted my height several time (coilover) and was often not satified with how the car handled after an alignment, or also had the comment while switching winter wheels for summer wheels"well now your tire are not used even, so you should get and alignemnt"

as an exemple, last week i changed my motormount, and i had to unbolt the steering rack to make some room... now my steering is off, and i will require an alignment...


I understand also that i cost a lot to have professionnal tool... but if i need to do it at least twice a year (two car) at 100$ each time... maybe i'm able to find something for an affordable price, that will do the job!

and no, i dont have any firestone near my place

[Walla Walla]

Originally Posted by cjd

What are you looking at in the kit? My experience says that cheaping out isn't worth it, but you may not need half of what is in the kit (depending on what's actually there...)

I started doing my own alignments this year and after spending lots of time figuring out how to safely provide a leveled environment and then wondering how to store it, I jumped for a set of scale levelers with roll-off (I was already planning the scales, got them used at a good price). That was ~$1k alone, but after getting them set up (laser + digital level) it's now ~10 minute setup time (the floor is now marked for perfect re-setup every time). And they're light and easy to stow away. Absolutely worthwhile in my opinion, but if your floor is already perfect (or just a tiny bit off) it may not be worth it. Mine isn't close. In fact, the feet on two don't actually all touch if I put them on a perfectly level surface (yay seams two ways that rise ~1/4").

i already have acces to this right now, so this is "check"

Originally Posted by cjd

I recommend springing for a camber gauge with a digital level that slides out, since the level can be re-used (my stuff is all Longacre). I found bubble levels (where I started trying to level the roll-offs) notably less accurate.

I have a string setup (DIY on that, the highest cost was the $5 I spent for bright woven fishing line that's a consistent width). I use a simple ruler with 1/64" markings.

I currently use a DIY 'greased tiles' toe plate solution, but that's not working out as well as hoped, so I may spring for a set of Longacre toe plates for next season. I may just need a different (or more) grease.

That's all I use. If you're not after corner balancing, 100% exactly level is less critical and you can get by with the string method and a good (~$300) camber gauge and greased tiles... I use this online calculator to help.

The worst part for me was setting rear toe. Probably a lot easier with a helper.

C

i will check for that, thanks!

[cjd]

Originally Posted by Walla Walla

as an exemple, last week i changed my motormount, and i had to unbolt the steering rack to make some room... now my steering is off, and i will require an alignment...

Note, this may need a computer adjustment (Techstream required) - though of course, a little digging and you can do that yourself too.

[strat61caster]

+1 to what @cjd said to everything, it's tedious and time consuming and more ways to do it wrong than do it right (rear toe is still a struggle for me, and our setup time is much longer than @cjd but we spent much less on tools, using aluminum plates and wooden planks to create ramps for leveling, it's rather janky in all honesty). Expect to spend at least 4 hours doing it the first time and if you're super particular you may not be happy and want to spend a whole day or more doing it.

If you're not hunting for every last hundredth of an inch of perfection you'll be happy. Getting a level platform is probably the biggest preparation step and imo has screwed up my camber a lot when I wasn't accounting for it. And a good camber gauge shouldn't break the bank. String box is great to get the car 'square' but I find it far too time consuming to set up each and every time and go through the process of collecting measurements. Do a string box once or twice a year (or when you think something is out of whack) and to save some time use toe plates or a similar tool to check toe and make adjustments in between i.e. you can adjust one wheel's camber, then set the toe on that wheel to match what you want then go do the other side, set camber, set toe and voila, there's no reason your car shouldn't still be 'centered' if you kept track of what you did.

I've been using this as a toe plate/camber gauge setup for about two years now, I trust it enough to make relative changes, but I'm still skeptical it matches up to a good laser rack or a careful string box when it comes to camber. I wouldn't buy it again, I'd rather buy a good camber gauge for >$100 and DIY a set of toe plates for <$50, but it is convenient.

https://www.quicktrickalignment.com/shop/pro-series/

Oh and we use a pair of laser levels for our 'string' box now, shooting a vertical laser along the side of the car means you can measure 4 points on the wheel with a ruler/scale/tape measure and get toe and camber in one shot. At the end of the day DIY alignments are only as good as your eyes will allow and the time you put into making sure you've done everything correctly.

I was under-torquing the rear toe arms and suffered some 'dynamic toe' last year that drove me absolutely bonkers for months.

tl;dr imho level the floor, get a high quality camber gauge, toe plates/tape measure, make a cheap string box, find yourself a high quality scale to measure and start playing
Worst case you hate it and sell the equipment and lose a couple bucks on the camber gauge, toe plates, and whatever you got to create a level surface. I used jackstands and string for my stringbox and just re-made it when necessary.

[wparsons]

Originally Posted by Walla Walla

no i don't

and i've adjusted my height several time (coilover) and was often not satified with how the car handled after an alignment

If you're frequently changing the setup, it might be worth buying good tools so you can reproduce things easier.

Originally Posted by Walla Walla

or also had the comment while switching winter wheels for summer wheels"well now your tire are not used even, so you should get and alignemnt"

That's simply a load a BS. Tires don't change the alignment, the suspension components do. You never need to adjust aligntment when switching wheels/tires unless it's for clearance.

Originally Posted by Walla Walla

as an exemple, last week i changed my motormount, and i had to unbolt the steering rack to make some room... now my steering is off, and i will require an alignment...

You shouldn't need an alignment for that, just have to adjust the rack position again. The only downside to what you have now is the wheel is slightly off.

Originally Posted by Walla Walla

I understand also that i cost a lot to have professionnal tool... but if i need to do it at least twice a year (two car) at 100$ each time... maybe i'm able to find something for an affordable price, that will do the job!

and no, i dont have any firestone near my place

IMO, unless you're changing the alignment weekly, it's going to be cheaper in the long run (nevermind much easier) to just take it to a shop. Setting camber isn't so bad on your own, but getting toe right is very tedious and requires a VERY precise touch.

[shadow]

I use SmartStrings and it has given me better results than laser alignments.

My Civic pulled to the right for years despite three laser alignments. When I used SmartStrings, 99% of the pull went away.

I've also used it on my STI to zero out front and rear toe. When I replaced the power steering rack, I used it again and the car tracks perfectly.

In addition to the SmartStrings tool, you'll also need a steering wheel holder. and 8 pcs of vinyl tiles which I used as wheel turntables. I got this from Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Setting up takes a while and each time the car was lifted I had to push it back and forth a yard to relax the suspension.

In the end, the achievement is very satisfying.

[endless_pain]

I started with the Fasttrax Camber/Caster Gauge and the toe arm adapter.
Went to Home Depot and got one of those digital levelers and attached it to the Fasttrax because the bubble was not accurate enough for my taste.
Stopped using the toe adapter because it was too easy to mess the trust angle so I went with the smartstrings. Great buy.










Saved some money and got some HUBStands. It is so nice not to have to raise the car, adjust, lower, move the car around, measure and repeat.
I think the price is a steal for what you get. Accurate and repeatable results, easy access to adjustments with no coil binding.
http://bbxracing.com/