DIY wheel alignment

[jordan]

Last week I changed the tie rods on my saab and I got it aligned at a local shop and it went on the alignment machine once then the "tech" proceeded to adjust the car and drive it, then he drove it again and tweaked it with out the machine hooked up! then he drove the car again, and tweaked it again without being on the machine; he did this 5 times! He explained that their machine was out of tolerance (what good is it then?) I was pissed though paid ($70.12) and I felt how well it was. It was terrible, the car shuddered and wandered so I called the saab dealership and they did a great job and it was only $49.99. I returned to the prior shop politely requesting a refund (my father was friends with the owner) and he flat out refused and basically called me a liar (with both receipts in hand, go figure)...I was livid though kept my cool and stated "lesson learned" and made my departure. So it is a "never again" situation, but the saab is covered as I will return to the dealership for a very nice easy $50 deal if needed again. Though that doesn't help with the opel, I am now interested in being able to do my own alignments and I was curious as to what the best DIY method would be, analog tools? ancient digital machine?

[wrench459]

With a piece of string and a tape measure and you can get close with the toe and camber.
For the money involved..find a good "old" mechanic with a modern four wheel alignment machine.
You'll want the front aligned to the rear tires and thats tough to do without the proper equipment.
Said another way align the rear first then the front.

[dcm013]

If you paid with a credit card, dispute the charge. They'll get your money back. If you don't have a credit card, get one and use it for things like
this.

As far as alignment, you can get a toe gage pretty cheap, or even make your own. I paid about $50 at JC Whitney (I'm lazy) but I think you can find them cheaper. I heard somewhere toe is usually all that needs adjustment, assuming you haven't bent or completely changed something.

Not sure about caster/camber but I bet someone else knows. I would guess the racers here do their own set-ups.

Don

[jordan]

I did pay for it with credit. He has my money though he also has my dissatisfaction, my family's, and my friend's. He earned it and he got it, so I am over it though I would still like to be able to do my own. I have been looking at some alignment machines for several hundred dollars. It would only get very seldom use, but the fact that I wouldn't have the dependency of scoundrelious shops and @%^&$#@$ owners would be worth it.

[heimue]

Here's a cheapo from Eastwood, or you can make your own: a piece of straight plywood (or MDF) on the outside of each of the front tires, and then measure between the tips (front and rear) of the plywoods.

Dieter

[namba209]

Jordan, if you see an older car or know of a car club, check their membership to see where they go. With the Opel there's very few adjustments that can be made easily. Off the top of my head, the tie rods, upper ball joint, and the spacers on the upper control arm bolt. That's about it. I use a local shop that has the old, tried and true, swivel plates. Now I have seen one of the old heads tweak a control arm in a hydraulic press to get it all right, but it wasn't an Opel.

[guyopel]

Eastwood has a better alignment gauge about 200$
and you can adjust caster and check camber and toe-in
If you also have the dial plates it's easier but not required . If someone will remind me I will try to bring to the next GA. Opel meeting so some of you will be able to have a hands on look at the unit.
HTH
John

[Paul]

Jordan,

You have 60 days in which to dispute the charges. It doesn't matter if he already has the money. All you have to do is wirte a letter to your credit card company. This works, believe me.

Next time you get an alignment, tell the owner/manager that you will refuse to pay the charges if they do not print off the final alignment settings and include them as part of the shop inovice..... If you don't get a copy of the settings how can you tell if they actually performed the alignment!!! To put it another way, THEY CAN"T prove the work was performed if they don't have a print out... This is why the alignment machines come with printers....

FYI, this bit of advice comes not from me, but the owner of Sherwood Tire that I used for all my Autocross needs several years back.

[RallyBob]

Originally Posted by heimue Here's a cheapo from Eastwood, or you can make your own: a piece of straight plywood (or MDF) on the outside of each of the front tires, and then measure between the tips (front and rear) of the plywoods. Dieter

Simple design, but it works. I have had one for years, and one nice thing is it's so light you can carry it anywhere, even to the track.

But I've done my share of tape-measure alignments, and to be honest I've never been impressed with the alignment done at any shop, I've always ended up tweaking it to my personal liking after the fact.

So the net result is the alignment is still only as good as the operator, whether he's operating a $75K computerized alignment machine or a piece of string...

[dcm013]

Harbor Freight has a toe gage for only $12.99 that looks like the Eastwood tool, and like the one I bought from JC Whitney, only much cheaper.
Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices

They also list alignment turnplates for $130.
Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices

And Jordan, I don't know why you wouldn't want to have your credit card company get your money back. Letting people know the shop does poor work and never going there again is a good thing but there's nothing like an immediate hit in the wallet to get the @$$!*!#'$ attention! They'll still have plenty of other customers and this might make them think twice next time someone else complains about their work.

[jordan]

How exactly do floating alignment plates work? I for some reason can't find a good explanation online.

[GTJIM]

To get good measurements the suspension and the tyres need to be in 'rest' position and not tweaked in/out of right/left. In the 'old' days a REAL mechanic would drive the car over a pit with the tyres on a smooth concrete floor then, from underneath, pull down on the car and bounce the suspension a bit to 'unload' it; then move the car back and forward a bit to 'settle' the tyre alignment - only then measure the toe in with a wooden gauge (or tape measure - or bit of string!). then adjust the tie rods before 'settle' things again - before remeasuring.

75K alignment machines all look very impressive ... but do just about the same thing - as long as the operator has some idea of the basics and what he is doing!

For camber you just need a builder's square ... and a bit of maths! Put the square up against the side of the tyre (it should touch the bottom first if you have negative camber) - then measure from the square to the lower lip of the rim and from the square to the upper lip of the rim. Using the difference between these two measurements and the diameter between the measuring points (plus a bit of Pythagorean Trigonometry) the camber can be worked out.

For castor the builder's square can be used with the wheel off and the weight on a block under the brake disc or lower ball joint to 'eye-ball' the angle to make sure the top ball joint centre is behind the lower one - measuring from the square, the actual angle can be worked out with the help of Pythagoras - again!

At least you will have some idea where the castor and camber is!

Usually mechanics that work on foreign cars seem to be a bit more dedicated than those who prey upon domestic car owners - got to be good to make a living from 'off' brands!

[jordan]

I was looking at some nice magnetic gauges that will go on brake rotors and I really like the amount of accuracy that should be obtained by that method the only problem is it would leave the suspension unloaded so it would need to be supported under the LCA that and it might still not be good enough. I have looked at some older digital hunter machines and they can be had for under $500 and I would be set with that, but due to the age of an electronic device it would probably be full of problems. Bob, what how exactly does the type of toe gauge you have center itself or through having 2 fixed point (each of the front wheels) and having the steering wheel centered be all that is necessary to get an accurate toe measurement?

[dcm013]

Take a look here Eastwood Co. - Wheel Alignment Gauge

and here for caster/camber with a video Eastwood Co. - Fasttrax Camber/Caster Gauge

[Paul]

Jordan,
Here's a short description of how I learned to do alignments at Road Race/Autocross events.

I use 4 jack stands, some heavy duty carpenter's string, a tape measure and a home made set of slip plates. The slip plates are 4 -12" x 12" 13 gauge steel plates. I put lots of wheel bearing grease between 2 plates and pressed them together. The plates are placed under the front tires. I pick a flat area on the concrete and make sure all 4 tires have the same pressure. The string is attached to the jack stands, the jack stands are placed past forward/rearward of the bumpers. The string is at the height of the center line of the axles. Now knowing the difference of the track width front to rear and dividing that number by 2. I now can set the string parallel to each side.

Now the alignment begins. I usually just set toe, but camber can be measured too. The greased metal plates replicate the bearing mounted slip plates on real thing.

Its really not that difficult... its more time consuming to set up than anything... usually takes me about 10 to 15 minutes to get it all set up....

[guyopel]

The " Fasttrax Camber/Caster Gauge " with toe-end adaptor with dial plates is what I use when I am not at the shop ..I like it because it mounts to wheel .HTH
John