Thread: How To: Do Your Own Toe Alignment

Doing your own alignment is fairly easy, just is a bit time consuming and a bit repetitive. Keep in mind this will get you close, but it's not a replacement for alignment done with a proper machine!

First go out and buy some Toe in plates. They are under $40 on eBay usually.


Next buy two tape measures, they should have the same style markings for easier reading.


Set your steering wheel straight, then put the Toe In Plates against each tire, keep them as centered as possible.


Run the metal tape through the designated cuts in the plates, I like to use duct tape to hold them in place.


On the other side put the rest of the metal tape through the same slits.


With each hand put tension on both of the metal tapes from the side the whole measures is on. This will cause the tape ends to press against the Toe in plates and for the plate against the other wheel.


You will see the difference in measurement between the front and rear of the wheel. This is by how much your toe in/out is off. Most of the time the goal is to just set it as close to zero as possible.

Now it's time to adjust the tie rods. If your car is not lowered or you have tiny hands you might be able to reach through the wheel well, otherwise raising the car and getting under it is the only other way.


Loosen the nut that locks the inner tie rod to the outer tie rod. Then take a wrench and start rotating the inner tie rod. Keep in mind you want to be doing these changes to both sides, otherwise your steering wheel will be misaligned.


This is where it gets painful and time intensive: Lower the car to the ground and verify the toe again. You might need to drive the car for a few feet and verify the toe again, this mainly pertains to adjusting toe with wheels being on the ground. Adjusting toe while the wheels are raised should show instant results. The only problem is you can have some variations in toe between the wheels being off the ground and with full weight on the wheels.

If you have a lowered car your toe will be different from the car being raised and flat on the ground. You will need to see what the difference is and correct for it while the wheels are off the ground.

If you want to learn more about Toe and adjusting Toe check out MotoIQ's: The Ultimate Guide to Suspension and Handling: Part Seven - Tuning your Toe

Good write up Vadim! This is the same thing Steve Foltz did when I took my 240 to him for an alignment back in the day.

One thing to add, is making sure you have a level surface to work on. If its off, then your results can be off. You also probably want to make sure the suspension is settled before taking a measurement as any changes in that can affect the suspension geometry.

This tedious process can sometimes be solved with "grease plates". For homemade applications, take two, one-foot squares of 1/16" or similar thickness sheet metal, and sandwich a good amount of CV grease in between. You may want to throw down some newspaper to catch any excess grease squeezed out.

This will most likely only work on stock-ish ride heights though.

In the case you're too low, and if you've got a 4-post lift or plenty of jacks, you could always fabricate some alignment stands. Build yourself four, even height, level plateus and slap your grease plates on there. Jack all 4 wheels off the ground and slowly lower the vehicle on your stands. This should give you the necessary clearance to squeeze under a slammed vehicle to adjust alignment angles as opposed to raising, lowering, raising, etc.

Excellent write-up btw. Very thorough.

Updated first post with a warning...

I use VCT tiles from HD racing. If you put a little sand or even table salt between the two tiles it makes a great turn plate. Less mess than the grease.

Great writeup.

I've always used the jack stand/string method. It's a little more tedious than the plate method. I think it's a little more accurate though. I haven't had a "professional" alignment in years.

Reuploaded all of the pics



I tried that, but failed due to Beam shift on these cars. Jack stand & string method is only good for IRS cars or if you can 100% make sure your beam is not shifted. Heck my P11 has the beam shifted even on stock suspension.

I'm with hank. I set my toe with a string and camber with a level.

Best at home alignment I've found is this
I have done this but as the instrctor said you can't do it if your front or rear tracks are not the same. But what I did was with two 3/4" electrical conduit piping about 7' in lenght drilled a through hole at each end of each pipe exactly the same distance apart. But these holes are 12" wider on each side of my 510 giving me plenty of room for measurement. You simply are putting you wheels/car in a perfect rectangle with the string running across the wheels center. Once this is setup its just a matter of measureing with a good visible tape measure. I did this on my 510 a couple years ago setting toe on the front and rear. Naturally camber and castor should be set before setting up the string and adjusting toe alignment. Also leveling the ground so each tire is set level to each other is really important because it can throw your camber off thus affecting your toe. My 510 tracks straight and tire wear is excellent. It's a simple 2 beer job to set up and another 2 to do the alignment.

Yes my 510 has fully adjustable front and rear suspension.

Lou

More things you and Richard can talk about next year. That is pretty much one of his favorite things to do.

+1 to methods that just plain work.