Welcome to the North American Subaru Impreza Owners Club Thursday March 28, 2024
Home Forums Images WikiNASIOC Products Store Modifications Upgrade Garage
Click here to visit TireRack
Brakes & Suspension Forum sponsored by The Tire Rack

Losing traction? Need new tires?
Click here to visit the NASIOC Upgrade Garage...
Go Back   NASIOC > NASIOC Technical > Brakes, Steering & Suspension

Welcome to NASIOC - The world's largest online community for Subaru enthusiasts!
Welcome to the NASIOC.com Subaru forum.

You are currently viewing our forum as a guest, which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our community, free of charge, you will have access to post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is free, fast and simple, so please join our community today!

If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us.







* As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. 
* Registered users of the site do not see these ads. 
Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 09-19-2003, 09:21 AM   #1
BrysImpreza
Scooby Guru
 
Member#: 3102
Join Date: Nov 2000
Chapter/Region: NESIC
Location: Northern, CT
Vehicle:
2018 Mazda CX-5
Storm Trooper White

Question How can you do a front end alignment yourself?

I've been switching out my suspension alot lately and I've thrown off my alignment. Is there any way to do a decent job on a front end alignment yourself?

Thanx!
Bry.
* Registered users of the site do not see these ads.
BrysImpreza is offline   Reply With Quote
Sponsored Links
* Registered users of the site do not see these ads.
Old 09-19-2003, 10:01 AM   #2
Eli
Scooby Newbie
 
Member#: 22135
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: NY
Vehicle:
17 WRX
World Ralley Road Rash

Default

Buy an alignment machine.

Seriously though... You wont be able to do a good job without one.
Eli is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-19-2003, 10:59 AM   #3
trhoppe
Scooby Guru
 
Member#: 7492
Join Date: Jun 2001
Chapter/Region: South East
Location: Hotlanta, GA
Vehicle:
No race cars
www.tomhoppe.com

Default

Quote:
Seriously though... You wont be able to do a good job without one.


You can do a great front end alignment, but you do need *some* tools. I use a SmartCamber gauge http://www.racerpartswholesale.com/art1.htm and a tape measure for the toe. You could use one of these $39 gauges as well http://www.racerpartswholesale.com/align.htm I used one of these with good results until I bought the SmartCamber.

-Tom
trhoppe is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-01-2003, 03:12 PM   #4
Shankster
Scooby Newbie
 
Member#: 19210
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Durango, Colorado
Vehicle:
2002 WRX Wagon
Silver

Default

Thought I'd revive this one.

Now that I have adjustments for height, camber, caster and toe I figure I need to come up with a do-it-yourself alignment. I don't want to have to go to Buba the alignment guy every time I adjust my coilover height. (anyway Buba only does it to factory specs and looks real confused when I open my hood to show him my Noltec camber/caster plates)

I bought a $10 doohicky from home depot for measuring angles to build roofing trusses. I can measure my camber to better than 0.5 degrees - not quite enough I know but I figure if I can at least get it consistent on either side I'll be fine (I think I can!). I suppose the most important thing would be to find an extremely level area to do it.

I have a couple of questions:
To measure caster do I just crank the steering wheel all the way to one side and then measure camber at that point?

When measuring Toe, is the measurement the difference between the rear of the tire and the front of the tire? Any suggestions for how best to do that.
Shankster is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-01-2003, 07:57 PM   #5
Patrick Olsen
Scooby Guru
 
Member#: 120
Join Date: Jul 1999
Chapter/Region: AKIC
Location: Where the Navy sends me...
Vehicle:
1997 Legacy 2.5GT
1996 Impreza coupe

Default

Quote:
Originally posted by Shankster
I suppose the most important thing would be to find an extremely level area to do it.
The trick I've heard for leveling is to get some squares of floor tile to use as shims. If you have a garage (do you?) measure out where the four corners of the car would be, and put a tile on each spot. Use a straight hunk of wood or something and a level to check side-to-side and front-to-rear. If one corner is too high, add a floor tile - they're pretty thin so you can (from what I've read) get pretty close using them as shims.

Now that I think about it, as I recall you want at least two tiles at each corner, so that as you turn the front wheels or adjust toe in the rear, the tiles can slide freely against each other.

Quote:
Originally posted by Shankster
To measure caster do I just crank the steering wheel all the way to one side and then measure camber at that point?
I think you need to know (1) what your camber is when the wheel is straight, and (2) how much (in degrees) you turned the wheel. Of course, I only vaguely recall reading all this, so I don't know how you convert those bits of data to get caster, but I think that's what you need to know. Aren't I helpful?

Quote:
Originally posted by Shankster
When measuring Toe, is the measurement the difference between the rear of the tire and the front of the tire? Any suggestions for how best to do that.
A friend of mine who does SCCA Road Racing in a Busch North car has a pair of aluminum plates that he uses to measure toe. The plates rest on the floor and go up flush against the face of each tire/wheel. Each plate has a slot about 1" deep cut on each end - put a tape measure through the slots on each side of the car and you can measure how far apart the fronts and rears of the tires are. Make them equal to get zero toe.

The other technique I've heard is to just eyeball measure to the center fronts and center rears of the tires. If your tires have a nice center groove or center tread block it might be pretty easy to do it that way. If not, I've heard of scribing a line with chalk, but I don't remember how you're supposed to do that such that it would be even around the circumference of the tire.

Pat Olsen
'97 Legacy 2.5GT sedan
Patrick Olsen is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-01-2003, 09:46 PM   #6
CTKAG
Scooby Specialist
 
Member#: 15001
Join Date: Feb 2002
Chapter/Region: NESIC
Location: Manchester CT or at any track
Vehicle:
STi V8 Spec C Power
NESIC TrackH0z # 10

Default

Quote:
The other technique I've heard is to just eyeball measure to the center fronts and center rears of the tires. If your tires have a nice center groove or center tread block it might be pretty easy to do it that way. If not, I've heard of scribing a line with chalk, but I don't remember how you're supposed to do that such that it would be even around the circumference of the tire.
The way we used to do quicky toe measurements at the track (on an asphalt modified) was to jack up the front end. put a jackstand in front of the tire and spin the tire. Use a screwdriver or other tool to scribe a line as the tire rotates. Do this for both tires. Lower the car - roll it back & forth a couple feet and measure the front & back of the scribe marks (at the same height off the ground).

Much more difficult to do on a treaded tire, but the concept should still work.

-Keith-
CTKAG is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-01-2003, 09:52 PM   #7
Steppin Razor
Scooby Specialist
 
Member#: 24035
Join Date: Sep 2002
Chapter/Region: BAIC
Location: San Francisco
Vehicle:
2002 GGA 5MT
Seal Gray

Default

tom, when you use the tape measure to measure toe, what points are you measuring, and how close can you expect to get the measurements?

did you have a hard time breaking the bolts on the tie rods loose the first time you did it? mine are TORQUED on there. since you can't get a torque wrench on there, how hard do tighten those bolts back down (seeing as how it's one of those things you REALLY wouldn't want to come loose). thanks for the help.

one last question, do you have a set of scales? and if so, have you considered moving to los altos?
Steppin Razor is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-03-2003, 09:34 AM   #8
trhoppe
Scooby Guru
 
Member#: 7492
Join Date: Jun 2001
Chapter/Region: South East
Location: Hotlanta, GA
Vehicle:
No race cars
www.tomhoppe.com

Default

Quote:
Originally posted by Steppin Razor
tom, when you use the tape measure to measure toe, what points are you measuring, and how close can you expect to get the measurements?

I just pick a groove in the tread and measure to that same groove on the front of the tire and the back of the tire. I have been pretty dead on. I would say +- 1/16 or so.

Quote:
did you have a hard time breaking the bolts on the tie rods loose the first time you did it? mine are TORQUED on there. since you can't get a torque wrench on there, how hard do tighten those bolts back down (seeing as how it's one of those things you REALLY wouldn't want to come loose).
Those things are on pretty tight. I get a hammer (or breaker bar) and a 17mm box wrench. I then bang on the wrench until it loosens. For tightening I just bang on it until it won't move any more I've never had them come loose.......yet

Quote:
one last question, do you have a set of scales? and if so, have you considered moving to los altos?
I just ballparked the car using the SCCA scales at nationals. Never bothered to go more in depth then that. In autox, you transition too much to make it worthwhile IMHO.

-Tom
trhoppe is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-04-2003, 12:58 AM   #9
Shankster
Scooby Newbie
 
Member#: 19210
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Durango, Colorado
Vehicle:
2002 WRX Wagon
Silver

Default

Just an FYI:
I found that one full turn of the tie rod on each side results in a toe change of exactly 1 inch. So each "flat" is 1/6" - kinda good to know if you want to make a quick adjustment at the track.

With my Home Depot doohickey I set camber on each side to -2.5 degrees (I'm guessing that could be anywhere from 2.25 to 2.75 but I think it's consistent from side to side). The car tracks straight and has amazing grip so I'm happy so far with my low tech alignment.

One note on the doohickey - I have rota wheels which have a nice flat center cap that the doohickey can rest against - don't think it would work as well on my stock rims - might have to rig something up to span from the top edge of the rim to the bottom edge of the rim that the doohicky could rest against.

I'm pretty unhappy with the word doohickey at this point - anyone know what the thing is called. It's like a protractor with a little pendulum on the inside with a pointer that always points downward (courtesy of gravity). You read the angle off the protractor.
Shankster is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-04-2003, 01:01 AM   #10
Shankster
Scooby Newbie
 
Member#: 19210
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Durango, Colorado
Vehicle:
2002 WRX Wagon
Silver

Default

Still looking for an answer on how to measure caster????
Shankster is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-04-2003, 07:06 AM   #11
Safir
Scooby Guru
 
Member#: 3873
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Tampa, FL
Vehicle:
. Paradise is
like Disney with hookers

Default

Quote:
Originally posted by Shankster
I'm pretty unhappy with the word doohickey at this point - anyone know what the thing is called. It's like a protractor with a little pendulum on the inside with a pointer that always points downward (courtesy of gravity). You read the angle off the protractor.

it is an angle guage

i know that, a above, you need to turn the wheel x degrees to teh right, measure camber, then turn it x degrees to the left, and do some simple math on the difference to calculate caster - but i do not know what they are, as I have access to a hunter alignment machine and just do my alignment on that most of the time
Safir is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-04-2003, 10:48 AM   #12
Jack
Add Lightness
Moderator
 
Member#: 13699
Join Date: Dec 2001
Chapter/Region: NESIC
Location: Hopkinton, MA
Vehicle:
2021 Building
It Better

Default

I have a camber/caster gauge. You can do caster measurement with just a camber gauge and a way to manually zero it, or read +/- degrees.

Turn the wheel to the left 15 degrees. Zero (or read) the camber gauge. Turn right 15 degrees. Read the new reading. Caster is the difference between the 2 readings.

For toe in, if you run zero toe (I do) then use something to get a consistant "wheel based" measuring point. On my Cobra, I have access to the flat lip, so use a 1" box aluminum rod. I then measure up with a carpenter's square at the front and rear of the wheel and mark the floor with a pencil. Do the same for the other side. Since I'm aiming for zero toe, I just adjust till the 2 are equal. Hint....since you'll likely have to do this several times to get it perfect, circle your marks with different shapes so as not to confuse yourself. First one a circle, second a triangle etc.

jack
Jack is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-04-2003, 08:23 PM   #13
ChrisW
Scooby Specialist
 
Member#: 4181
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: keeping santa cruz weird
Vehicle:
2003 Lancer Evo 8
It's Blue, ok?

Default

Quote:
Originally posted by Jack ffr1846
I have a camber/caster gauge. You can do caster measurement with just a camber gauge and a way to manually zero it, or read +/- degrees.

Turn the wheel to the left 15 degrees. Zero (or read) the camber gauge. Turn right 15 degrees. Read the new reading. Caster is the difference between the 2 readings.

For toe in, if you run zero toe (I do) then use something to get a consistant "wheel based" measuring point. On my Cobra, I have access to the flat lip, so use a 1" box aluminum rod. I then measure up with a carpenter's square at the front and rear of the wheel and mark the floor with a pencil. Do the same for the other side. Since I'm aiming for zero toe, I just adjust till the 2 are equal. Hint....since you'll likely have to do this several times to get it perfect, circle your marks with different shapes so as not to confuse yourself. First one a circle, second a triangle etc.

jack
That's good to know.

Here is how others have adjusted camber, including myself. I can get within 1/10 a degree accuracy using this method as measured on a hunter alignment rack.
DIY alignment
ChrisW is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Still running great?...How fast can you do it? pjloyd General Community 30 10-26-2007 09:36 AM
How can you tell between front Wagon sway bar and Sedan sway bar rukkie Brakes, Steering & Suspension 3 08-27-2004 12:30 PM
how long can you do nothing? Sephro Off-Topic 19 02-05-2004 06:28 PM
How can you prevent a front lip from scratching the bumper? thejean Interior & Exterior Modification 2 04-29-2003 10:59 AM

All times are GMT -4. The time now is 05:31 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.7.0
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Powered by Searchlight © 2024 Axivo Inc.
Copyright ©1999 - 2019, North American Subaru Impreza Owners Club, Inc.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission
Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.