Any suggestions on how to do a 4 wheel alignment at home?

[Jason]

Does anyone have any ideas/suggestions/tips on how to do a 4 wheel alignment at home?

I've got one of these http://www.trackace.co.uk/ which does an ok job of measuring the angle between wheels, thus allowing me to set the front toe.

But rear toe needs to be set relative to the centerline of the car. There seems to be no obvious flat spot that makes an easy to use reference. I've tried using the string method, but given that there aren't any matching points on the front and back of the car that have the same width I find getting the strings properly aligned really fiddly and difficult. I also don't have a good way to raise and lower the car without messing up the string alignment.

Any ideas on how to set rear toe reasonably quickly without buying a multi thousand dollar alignment machine? I've got a two post lift and floor jacks to work with for raising the car to add/remove shims.

Thanks.

[FABombjoy]

I completed a DIY 4 wheel alignment this summer, front toe/caster and rear toe/camber. There was some discussion in a thread I started here:

http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?18943-Demystifying-toe-alignment-specifications

That thread kept going off the rails and I never went in to details of methods.

What I used:
-A car mounted strings fixture. This seems like the only rational way to do strings, I can't imagine setting up a box and expecting the car to never move.
-Some 3D printed fixtures I made that attach to the wheels & hold engineering rulers in place (helps center the strings faster)
-Some laser printed angle guides for caster
-A water level
-Some wheel cribs to help level and adjustments easier
-4x cheap cutting boards for turn plates
-Angle aluminum and engineering rulers to make tires that were "virtually larger" for more precise degree measurements. Was able to measure over about 39" rather than just the wheel widths.

What I struggled with most was repeatability of caster measurements. The angle guides & a carpenter laser improved that situation immensely.

The end results are really good. Car tracks straight with equalized caster, and with a little less than stock toe-in (.22 deg front, .15/.18 rear) the handling leads pleasantly and predictably towards neutral. With the shims on the rear, removing a shim was going to push it past the target toe-in, so erred on the side of less rather than more.

[Jason]

I completed a DIY 4 wheel alignment this summer, front toe/caster and rear toe/camber. There was some discussion in a thread I started here:

http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?18943-Demystifying-toe-alignment-specifications

That thread kept going off the rails and I never went in to details of methods.

What I used:
-A car mounted strings fixture. This seems like the only rational way to do strings, I can't imagine setting up a box and expecting the car to never move.
-Some 3D printed fixtures I made that attach to the wheels & hold engineering rulers in place (helps center the strings faster)
-Some laser printed angle guides for caster
-A water level
-Some wheel cribs to help level and adjustments easier
-4x cheap cutting boards for turn plates
-Angle aluminum and engineering rulers to make tires that were "virtually larger" for more precise degree measurements. Was able to measure over about 39" rather than just the wheel widths.

What I struggled with most was repeatability of caster measurements. The angle guides & a carpenter laser improved that situation immensely.

The end results are really good. Car tracks straight with equalized caster, and with a little less than stock toe-in (.22 deg front, .15/.18 rear) the handling leads pleasantly and predictably towards neutral. With the shims on the rear, removing a shim was going to push it past the target toe-in, so erred on the side of less rather than more.

Would you be willing to share the details of your strings fixture and the 3d models?

[Josh]

Are you scared to take it to a shop? Its a quick and affordable alignment with the right equipment. Or you can spend a day in your driveway trying to figure it out yourself with undetermined results.

[FABombjoy]

Would you be willing to share the details of your strings fixture and the 3d models?
Strings kit is the BGR200. 3D models would not be of use as they are tailored for my aftermarket wheels & lugnuts. They attach to the lugnuts but with a ring that centers a multi-use pad to the face of the wheel. Then I made up some metal ruler mounts and attached with bolts & wingnuts. The for the front caster, attached a piece of flat steel bar to mount up the magnetic carpenters laser.


Are you scared to take it to a shop? Its a quick and affordable alignment with the right equipment. Or you can spend a day in your driveway trying to figure it out yourself with undetermined results.
C'mon now, some of us enjoy spending 2 weeks and 10x the money just for fun!

[FABombjoy]

A few pics:
https://imgur.com/a/BFiZ5a5

I used a Tenhulzen 1100p caster/camber gauge. It's ok.
There are several similar gauges on the market. You can use a ruler and a bob too.

Many of them have instructions which specify the eyeball to be used as reference for caster but you will never get repeatable measurements that way.
The laser and paper with 20 degree reference marks made a world of difference.

The numbers on the final measurements are strange. Everything is in mmx100, with my virtual tires being 78cm length. Again much easier to be precise using angle stock & rulers, plus I could hold it to the tire with one hand & adjust the tie rod with the other.

[Jason]

Are you scared to take it to a shop? Its a quick and affordable alignment with the right equipment. Or you can spend a day in your driveway trying to figure it out yourself with undetermined results.

I guess I'm just tired of having to take it to the shop. I generally find it more convenient to mess about with things in the evening then work out the logistics of getting the car to and from the shop (or waiting at the shop) during the day. The car is used regularly and needing an alignment for one reason or another seems to crop up fairly often. Certainly being able to do front toe myself has saved lots of time and money. I can get that done in less time than it takes to drive to and from the shop.

And I just like being able to do stuff myself. Getting the list of things that I need to take the car to a shop for as small as possible is a hobby. At some point I may get myself wheel balancing and tire mounting equipment.

[mark w]

I use Quick Trick alignment tool for home alignment. My custom suspension needs disassembly up front to adjust it, so doing this at a shop is not possible

[Josh]

I use Quick Trick alignment tool for home alignment. My custom suspension needs disassembly up front to adjust it, so doing this at a shop is not possible

My front suspension has camber, caster, and of course toe adjustments and does not need to be disassembled to adjust. Took it to a local shop and it was in and out in less than an hour. What is your setup?

[Helirich]

I have done alianment s on my truck several times with good results. But I consider the Delorean a bit more precise. If you really want to do it, I would have some pieces made to clamp on your wheels that could hold a lazar parallel to the wheel. You can determine a number of things by marking a spot on a board and moving the board back a set distance and measure the new spot.

Im courious about your suspension also.

[mark w]

My front suspension has camber, caster, and of course toe adjustments and does not need to be disassembled to adjust. Took it to a local shop and it was in and out in less than an hour. What is your setup?


my upper A arm is custom and has Rod ends on the end that connects to the frame original pivot bolt location. I can adjust camber and caster that way. to screw the rod ends in or out, I need to pull out the upper pivot bolt. lower arm is a modified, shortend and boxed original one, located by a custom sway bar. shock is now a coilover, using a 10" 2.5" dia spring. the upper and lower mounts of the coilover are a thru bolt setup. the lower attachment is on top of the lower arm now, and the upper is on brackets that go up from the frame shock towers into the storage compartment. the left and right side upper shock pivot/thru bolts are connected together with a bar that goes across- aka strut bar.