Suspension Alignment
Discussion
How viable/affordable is it to deal with this at home?
With a full alignment on my car being £100+, I really feel restricted as to when and where I can tinker with my suspension. I'd love to have the equipment/knowledge to at least confirm that I've put everything back together with the correct camber, toe, etc.
I've recently fitted coilovers, balljoints and track rod ends on my car - all of which has required alignment (did it all at once to save money of course), but in the future I'd like to look at polybushing front and rear, and some new lateral arms too - but doing it all at once will be expensive.
Does anybody tackle this on their own, or is it worth just leaving to the pros?
With a full alignment on my car being £100+, I really feel restricted as to when and where I can tinker with my suspension. I'd love to have the equipment/knowledge to at least confirm that I've put everything back together with the correct camber, toe, etc.
I've recently fitted coilovers, balljoints and track rod ends on my car - all of which has required alignment (did it all at once to save money of course), but in the future I'd like to look at polybushing front and rear, and some new lateral arms too - but doing it all at once will be expensive.
Does anybody tackle this on their own, or is it worth just leaving to the pros?
The equipment used in a proper alignment bay is thousands of pounds, you are never going to fully replicate this at home.
You can buy simple tracking and camber gauges for reasonable cost but the accuracy of them and what you want to achieve out of them can be painstaking and time consuming. A nice level floor is a must.
You can buy simple tracking and camber gauges for reasonable cost but the accuracy of them and what you want to achieve out of them can be painstaking and time consuming. A nice level floor is a must.
I think it depends on what you're trying to do. Something like the steering is quite easy although as has been said you need a level floor, enough room to roll the car backwards & forwards to settle the suspension and lots of patience. The more you do it the quicker you become, but for most of us it's a rare job and hence be prepared to take some time at it.
I set tracking on my cars and if you look around the internet you'll find lots of guides with equipment varying from kit like the gunson's roll-over tracking gauge, chalking lines on the tyre tread itself or even from lengths of string down the sides of the car. All work well enough providing you take the time to measure carefully. I use two identical tape rules which makes the job a bit easier and that works.
Complex stuff like setting up adjustable suspension is more of a problem. If you want perfection then the advice I had was that you need to set the corner weights on a rig, which is quite tough to DIY without spending a few grand. I've read of people using several weighing scales with planks across for lighter cars or jacking one end and then equalizing the other end ride height from a level datum which aims to do a similar job although it's not true corner weighting.
When I did mine I knew that I needed to get both wishbones across the car at the same angle and that basically that they should be horizontal across bolt centers. I used a small laser level which could output a horizontal line, then adjusted to that. In fact I bought 2 levels (Ebay) so I could set up both sides at once without moving the level tripods.
You can just faintly see the red line on the mounting bolt and in practice it's easy to check that inboard and outboard bolt heads are aligned. Is it as good as corner weighting ? probably not, but I'm happy enough with it.
I set tracking on my cars and if you look around the internet you'll find lots of guides with equipment varying from kit like the gunson's roll-over tracking gauge, chalking lines on the tyre tread itself or even from lengths of string down the sides of the car. All work well enough providing you take the time to measure carefully. I use two identical tape rules which makes the job a bit easier and that works.
Complex stuff like setting up adjustable suspension is more of a problem. If you want perfection then the advice I had was that you need to set the corner weights on a rig, which is quite tough to DIY without spending a few grand. I've read of people using several weighing scales with planks across for lighter cars or jacking one end and then equalizing the other end ride height from a level datum which aims to do a similar job although it's not true corner weighting.
When I did mine I knew that I needed to get both wishbones across the car at the same angle and that basically that they should be horizontal across bolt centers. I used a small laser level which could output a horizontal line, then adjusted to that. In fact I bought 2 levels (Ebay) so I could set up both sides at once without moving the level tripods.
You can just faintly see the red line on the mounting bolt and in practice it's easy to check that inboard and outboard bolt heads are aligned. Is it as good as corner weighting ? probably not, but I'm happy enough with it.
I got sick and tired of having my track set incorrectly at garages years ago... (about 20!)
I bought a set of Dunlop tracking gauges from a garage that was closing down and have used them ever since. They are accurate. The reason I say that is that they can be calibrated; you put them together, look down the tube and adjust the scale to zero before using them on the car.
They are great for the front track as its self-aligning, all that will happen if you get one side out, is the steering wheel will not be straight.
The rear gets a little tricky as in practice, if say the track is 2 mm toe in, it would be possible to have 2mm one side and none the other, instead of 1mm each side. What I have used for years is a straight piece of aluminium angle iron, 3 meters long. By placing this on the rear wheel and along the car body, you can see if one side is out. I use the tracking gauges on the car backwards (remembering that readings are now opposite!) to set the track.
To set the camber, I made a camber gauge out of a piece of 25mm square tube. This has a mounting bracket at right angles to mount a digital inclinometer. Sticking out the other side of the tube from the inclinometer are adjustable bolts that contact the wheel rim. (I have several holes drilled in the tube to cater for different wheel diameters) to calibrate this I use an upright spirit level in the vice. (If you swap the inclinometer from side to side on the spirit level you know the spirit level is accurate as well!) With this I can get the camber really accurate!
For many years though, I used the gauge below, but it’s been replaced by the digital one now though!
Is all of this accurate? Well, a few years ago I took my car in for a couple of new tyres… they offered a “free” tracking check. I let them do it and asked for the readings, which they gave me and said it was out. I took the car home, calibrated the gauges and checked it. It was spot on. So much for the accuracy of their equipment (or the operator?)
Last year my mate had his MX5 on a hunter rig as he said my set up was “Heath Robbinson” they charged him £220 to adjust the front and rear track and camber. He did not show me the print out, but I checked the geometry using my equipment… I got it VERY VERY close to what they said!
I bought a set of Dunlop tracking gauges from a garage that was closing down and have used them ever since. They are accurate. The reason I say that is that they can be calibrated; you put them together, look down the tube and adjust the scale to zero before using them on the car.
They are great for the front track as its self-aligning, all that will happen if you get one side out, is the steering wheel will not be straight.
The rear gets a little tricky as in practice, if say the track is 2 mm toe in, it would be possible to have 2mm one side and none the other, instead of 1mm each side. What I have used for years is a straight piece of aluminium angle iron, 3 meters long. By placing this on the rear wheel and along the car body, you can see if one side is out. I use the tracking gauges on the car backwards (remembering that readings are now opposite!) to set the track.
To set the camber, I made a camber gauge out of a piece of 25mm square tube. This has a mounting bracket at right angles to mount a digital inclinometer. Sticking out the other side of the tube from the inclinometer are adjustable bolts that contact the wheel rim. (I have several holes drilled in the tube to cater for different wheel diameters) to calibrate this I use an upright spirit level in the vice. (If you swap the inclinometer from side to side on the spirit level you know the spirit level is accurate as well!) With this I can get the camber really accurate!
For many years though, I used the gauge below, but it’s been replaced by the digital one now though!
Is all of this accurate? Well, a few years ago I took my car in for a couple of new tyres… they offered a “free” tracking check. I let them do it and asked for the readings, which they gave me and said it was out. I took the car home, calibrated the gauges and checked it. It was spot on. So much for the accuracy of their equipment (or the operator?)
Last year my mate had his MX5 on a hunter rig as he said my set up was “Heath Robbinson” they charged him £220 to adjust the front and rear track and camber. He did not show me the print out, but I checked the geometry using my equipment… I got it VERY VERY close to what they said!
to add to the above, I was in one of the fast fit tyre places a few months ago having some tyres fitted. On the hoist was a big Hyundi that was having the alignment adjusted.
Being nosey, I went over and watched the guy do it. it was a sophisticated bit of equipment and I was impressed that they could bring the setting up on the large screen and adjust them dynamically and actually see the readings move as they did the adjustment.
He did the front, which was OK... when he got to the back, the rear track was out by a bit on one side, as it was just into the red on the screen. He made the adjustment and bought it into the green, but as he did this, the camber setting went way into the red! he locked everything up and lowered the hoist.
I asked him if he was going to adjust the camber to which he replied "its not adjustable on these mate and its better to have the track right and the camber out!"
I could see the camber adjustment eccentric bolts on the top arm! The car went out worse than it came in!
you can have the best equipment in the world...
Being nosey, I went over and watched the guy do it. it was a sophisticated bit of equipment and I was impressed that they could bring the setting up on the large screen and adjust them dynamically and actually see the readings move as they did the adjustment.
He did the front, which was OK... when he got to the back, the rear track was out by a bit on one side, as it was just into the red on the screen. He made the adjustment and bought it into the green, but as he did this, the camber setting went way into the red! he locked everything up and lowered the hoist.
I asked him if he was going to adjust the camber to which he replied "its not adjustable on these mate and its better to have the track right and the camber out!"
I could see the camber adjustment eccentric bolts on the top arm! The car went out worse than it came in!
you can have the best equipment in the world...
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