Thread: DIY Alignment Help and ??s

The time has come for me to get around to aligning my own car. Too bad I haven't done this sooner. It would have saved me hundreds of dollars and a good deal of shoddy, and dangerous "fixes" by blatantly incompetent NTB employees

I have seen a few methods, but I am using longacre toe plates after trying the string method As well as some of this guys techniques (revised thanks to the old forums alignment how to).

http://videos.streetfire.net/video/Car-Alignment-Part-1_160184.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjcP07VKVZM

http://videos.streetfire.net/video/Car-Alignment-Part-3_160212.htm

I posted the links because seeing this really made everything I have read about this over the past few years really come together (especially the water level I never quite got it). Maybe it will help other to do so as well If anyone has anything I can help with up to this point I will do what I can/take whatever pics I can to help out


I have the basics down now but I have run into a couple of questions.
1 is the difference in ride height at each of the four corners going to effect my camber? I have some positive camber at a front passenger wheel but the drivers side is somewhat higher than the pass side via coilovers. Is it safe to assume this is where the positive camber is coming from?

2 Should I be checking something between the front and rear wheels for the toe measurements/tracking/straightness of the frame, at all

3 I found about 1 degree of negative camber in back for each wheel Can I keep it and not wear the inside edges of my tires into the ground? I am shooting for 0 toe out back with 205/40/16 as summer wheels and tires. I am hoping someone with the same size package can answer this question, as from what I have read seems to change with the differences in tires. Or maybe I should let'um wear and get some meatier tires when the pizza cutters are all used up

Mucho Gracias

I just started doing my own alignments so I am no expert by any means. I will give it my best shot though.

1. More then likely different ride heights will effect your camber. Steve (on the sr20forum) was known for his alignment ability, I believe he made the suggestion if you want to cheaply adjust your camber drill out one of your strut bolt holes a little bit bigger and that will allow you to adjust camber without camber plates.

2. The only thing I can think of is "thrust angle."
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=4
Refer to the "thrust angle" part.

3. Don't have any experience there.

If you want knowledge from the master here is a direct link to his post:
http://www.sr20forum.com/technical-information-library/29158-how-do-your-own-alignment.html

From my experience, camber doesn't greatly affect tire wear. It's your toe.

People will swear up and down its camber, but seriously, its toe.

Yup the Progress coilovers come with larger holes right out of the box. That is where the negative camber out back came from

I think I have read that before too, I guess time will tell. I am keeping track of my tire temps so hopefully it won't take too long to find out

I finally got a chance to watch that video and that string method looks painfully difficult and tedious. I use toe plates and can get a good toe adjustment long before the string method is even setup. You really don't have to be on as level of a surface when using toe plates. The only time level will effect you is camber. I was up in VA getting my beam bent a couple of months back and Steve said to make sure you roll your car a little bit after each adjustment so your tires don't stick to the ground and effect your measurements. He also said to make sure you stop your car while rolling it forward (who needs proper camber and toe when they are going in reverse?). I also don't like the idea of jacking up the car onto those tiles. When I was helping a buddy put on some Progress coilovers on his b13 and we could tell after every time you jack up the car you have to drive it a bit to get the springs seated properly.

Yeah you are right about the string method not being much fun. It's not that bad once you get it figured out, but I am sure glad I picked up the toe plates

The tiles aren't perfect either. It is a major pain to drive on to the same exact one foot by one foot section.

You are defiantly right about the Progress coilovers settling. I don't like jacking the car up on them much any way with the grease on the tiles the car SLIDES as you jack it up not safe. I only did that once.
You can't drive up on them either or the tiles shoot across the room You have to push the car while the car is off and in neutral. (All that made the strings look like a joy.) The plus side of the greased tiles is you can watch the wheel move as you adjust the tie rod. I rolled the car back and forth and the measurement seemed to stay the same

I drove some today so far the tire temps look alright. The rear insides are a few degrees warmer than the outer edges but not by much, and with a passenger. Hopefully I will be able to keep that bit of rear camber

For toe, I use a creeper and a tape measure. But I do rallycross, so precision's not important.

Also something else Steve does is take toe measurements on the wheels in two different spots, 180 degrees apart. I know when I rolled my wheels 180 degrees I was getting about 3/16" difference between the two measurements......*Shrugs*. I do have crappy tires on there right now though.

Part of the runout could also be from wheels that are not true. Also, some wheel designs stick out enough to hit the toe plates.