DIY alignments?
DIY alignments?
Anybody do their own alignments at home?How do you go about it, and how well does it work?I've had a lifetime alignment agreement with firestone, but I hate having to go in there and have them try and charge me $500 for a transmission flush, oil change, tuneup, and bearing greasing...not to mention the random BS they give me (most often...'we can't do your alignment until you buy new tires from us, while we put the tires on would you like a transmission flush and an oil change?').
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big jon's 240
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:nono
That's not true. You can indeed do an alignment at home. There are many racers that still feel a machine is not as good as they are. I'm not sure the exact way to do it...I've seen it done. They use strings and some cinder blocks. No guru status required; as long as you know where your adjustment points are and how to measure, doing an alignment is easy. I should have paid more attention; I was too busy staring at all the race-preped Porsche GT3's and FC's.
That's not true. You can indeed do an alignment at home. There are many racers that still feel a machine is not as good as they are. I'm not sure the exact way to do it...I've seen it done. They use strings and some cinder blocks. No guru status required; as long as you know where your adjustment points are and how to measure, doing an alignment is easy. I should have paid more attention; I was too busy staring at all the race-preped Porsche GT3's and FC's.
I had a friend do an alignment on my car in my driveway. He used some strings and a ruler. You need to know some geometry, I don't know well enough to explain how, but I'll try to get him to write something up. Have you tried a search on yahoo or google??
I can tell you toe, that's super easy. I've changed that at the track...
David J.'89 240sx
I can tell you toe, that's super easy. I've changed that at the track...
David J.'89 240sx
It cna be done with plumb-bobs, string and a ruler or measuring tape...but thats both hard, and unless you have a perfectly flat surface not super-precise in certain settings. I have the bennifit fo being able to lify my car up and do my own allignments to + or _ .01 degree, as most shops do. I would, unless you're very good at geometry(like dori and dave said) and have some time to waste and really dont want to spend the 60 dollars.
also, you have to get the SPECS you want before you can do anything
...good luck setting the rear camber without a lift, too....hehehe.-chet
also, you have to get the SPECS you want before you can do anything
...good luck setting the rear camber without a lift, too....hehehe.-chet-
big jon's 240
- Posts: 509
- Joined: Mon Sep 30, 2002 5:14 am
- Car: uh....football, cars, and um, cars!
some specs are more important to me than others...the main thing would be toe. The specs I can get from the FSM I would assume. I have no problems with geometry, and it's mainly to avoid having to deal with craptards at alignment places than spending 60 bucksExar-Kun wrote:It cna be done with plumb-bobs, string and a ruler or measuring tape...but thats both hard, and unless you have a perfectly flat surface not super-precise in certain settings. I have the bennifit fo being able to lify my car up and do my own allignments to + or _ .01 degree, as most shops do. I would, unless you're very good at geometry(like dori and dave said) and have some time to waste and really dont want to spend the 60 dollars.
also, you have to get the SPECS you want before you can do anything
...and time...well, that's all I got these days
yeah...I know there are good places out there, I just need to find a good Firestone location since I have lifetime free alignments through them. Seems like the place near me is too familiar with me, since the only thing I do there are my free alignments and tire mounting when I need it...I don't think they like how I take up there time and spend no real money there.
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Sylvia240sx
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- Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2002 7:34 am
- Car: Cars what else is there?
When I hit a curb or something, and my front wheel alignment goes off a little, I just jack it up and adjust the tie-rods as close as possible to factory specs. then I just torque everything down to specs, and normally everything is just fine.
Tire wear might not be perfectly even, but who gives a fook.
but it's only like 50 bucks at Sears for an alignment, so cough it up. It's not worth doing a precise alignment at home.
Tire wear might not be perfectly even, but who gives a fook.
but it's only like 50 bucks at Sears for an alignment, so cough it up. It's not worth doing a precise alignment at home.