THSCC Forums

It's not convenient for me to drive to any decent local shop, and with each alignment running $100+, and having 3 cars, I'd like to have the capability of doing this at home in my own workshop. Can anyone recommend reasonably priced tools and methods to check camber and toe?

I have a lift already, but that will only come in handy for making easy/fast changes. I know the car has to be on the ground to do actual measurements

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Brian

2010 K1300GT
2001 E39 M5
2003 540iT Sport

Toe = 4 chunks of 2x4 and a tape measure.
Camber = $35 digital laser level strapped to an appropriately sized, you guessed it, 2x4 cut to fit in the lip of the wheel.
And the best part is having enough money left over for the final tool

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Dustin Fredrickson
-- I'm a nobody --

Slick way to measure Toe
http://www.honda-tech.com/showthread.php?t=2631081

Digital Levels from Sears
$30
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1260 ... ockType=G2
$43 (I swear I got this on sale for $30 a few years ago)
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1260 ... ockType=G1

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02 Focus SVT
STF 9

Here is my homebrewed camber gauge. I used steel square tubing. Unfortuntely I made the bolts far enough apart to fit the lip of the WRX, which doesn't work on the Civic so I need to get a new tube and redo it....or get a slot milled to make it adjustable.



The method that Ryan linked to is common: ie using track width differences to set a line that is x mm from the front and x+- delta/2 from the rear. My only qualm with this method is that changing your camber changes your track somewhat (or the distance from the line to the center cap of the wheel let's say).

I wrote up a javascript page that helps you do an alignment (you should find my mathematical derivation I posted on here mid last year). All that you need to to set 2 parallel lines in your garage (I use 4 jack stands and fishing line) wide enough for your cars to park between. Then you pull in between the lines and take measurements (note that there is no need for the car itself to be parallel to the lines....only that the lines are parallel to themselves), plug them into this app and click the calculate button and it'll tell you what your current alignment setting is...then you can tweak to get your desired toe and then set them accordingly (meant to update the app to be able to take initial measurements plus desired alignment and spit out the changes you need to make.

Anyway, I'm changing hosting, so I don't have it live right now. I'll post it tonight when can get to my desktop.

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2011/2012 Autox VP
2013/2014.5 President
2013 Top Gun

2015 Fit

22R-EC => 4G63 => D16Y7 + D16Y8 => EJ255 + K24Z2 => K20Z3 + K24Z2 => K24Z2 + M54 => L15B

James, I deem you the official THSCC hair splitter

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02 Focus SVT
STF 9

I thought it was already official.

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2004 Honda S2000

Hair splitter - not precise enough. I think James is more of an atom splitter.

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Tom Freeman
'98 M3/4/5 | '93 Spec3 325i | '12 TSX sport wagon | '03 Tahoe
Team Silver Bullets '91 240SX

I believe a new avatar and title are in order.

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Stephen Westerfield
2009 Infiniti M35 | 2007 Honda Fit Sport | 2005 Ford Mustang GT |2000 GMC Sierra |1992 Acura Integra LS | Super Westerfield Bros Acura Integra

I have always done my own alignment using the simple tools with great results.

If you don't have to worry about corner weights and ride height it is super easy. Biggest trick is to find a level spot and not just looks level but water bubble level or things could be off.

For camber, I use a bubble level and a mm measuring tool. Measure distance from level to bottom and top of the rim surface. tan-1((gaptop-gapbottom)/measured_dia)= camber in deg.

For toe, I made a 1x1 square channel aluminum stock 36" in length. Measure front/rear and difference is toe.

That works for minor adjustments. If you have to start from scratch..., I would string the left side of the car first and use the rear wheel as a reference to get the front lined up. In this approach, toe is set with matching the front and rear gap from the string to the wheel.

It takes a little practice but I am able to get an alignment on the car in less than 30 minutes if starting from a complete replacement.

Remember, Set ride height first, then camber, and finally toe. Make sure when you are doing the toe adjustments to center the steering wheel after each adjustment so that it is oriented correctly when driving straight ahead.

-Scott

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