Anybody do their own alignments?

[kz]

It's very useful information. I have the BMR links installed and they're great, but they (at least mine) require greasing every 1,000 miles or so. I have a set of SPC arms on hand and when I've got a week or two of downtime, I'll swap to the SPC's.

If you wouldn't mind - post some feedback on how you like them - I am thinking of switching from SPC to BMR this winter. Do the bearings require greasing ?

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[JAJ]

If you wouldn't mind - post some feedback on how you like them - I am thinking of switching from SPC to BMR this winter. Do the bearings require greasing ?

Well, from an adjustment, NVH and safety standpoint, they're great. As for the greasing, they don't talk about it on the web page, but they do offer grease as an option, so when I ordered mine, I bought a tube of their grease and picked up a second grease gun on Amazon. It's really not obvious what the grease is for, but I figured if they offered it, it must have a purpose, so I ordered it.

Well, it does have a purpose. The red poly bushings need to be greased regularly. As I said, I do mine every 500 to 1000 miles. You know it's time when the rear suspension starts to squeak/groan with every movement. The Zerk fittings are not installed on the units in the glamor shot on their website, although if you know where to look you can just see the edge of the hole where it goes. They're also out of view in all of the as-installed photos as well. The grease gets pumped into the inside of the red bushing and it flows out around the central steel sleeve that the inner bolt goes through. After a couple of years, it's made a real icky mess around the inner end fitting on the subframe.

Regarding the outer end rod ends, I installed these boots:

Seals it RERS36PK Seals-it RODOBAL Rod End Dust Boot Sets | Summit Racing

It's a bit tricky to install the boots (you absolutely need the pliers they sell), but if you leave aside the BMR bolts and nuts, and instead reverse the OEM outer bolt and nut end-for-end and "capture" the nut inside the dust boot, it'll seal up tight and the rod-end should last very well. Also, installing the inner end is a lot easier if you just reuse the OEM flag bolt and OEM nut. It's long enough to work with the SPC lockouts - that's how my BMR links are installed: the inner end has the OEM bolt and nut held in place by an SPC lockout plate.

 

[danpass]

I used a string to align front and rear tires on CBR600F3 race bike. Never had an alignment issue.

I’ve never done it on a car though.

 

[Egparson202]

The biggest impediment for me is finding a safe and reasonably easy way to elevate the car so the adjustments can be made without raising and lowering the car repeatedly to gain access to the adjusters.

For those with experience, how do you do it?

 

[CJJon]

The biggest impediment for me is finding a safe and reasonably easy way to elevate the car so the adjustments can be made without raising and lowering the car repeatedly to gain access to the adjusters.

For those with experience, how do you do it?

See post #69

 

[Egparson202]

See post #69

That works. Thanks.

 

[Basspro302]

Well, it actually wasn't a joke

First, it's not actually "string" in the fuzzy cotton sense, I use 30 lb test fishing line, which is about 0.5mm thick.

Second, lets talk about what "wheel alignment" actually is: camber is the angle by which the wheel diverges from true vertical when the vehicle is on an exactly flat surface with the tire pressures equalized and the wheels set to the straight-forward position. Toe is the deviation of the wheels measured relative to the vehicle centerline under the same standard conditions.

When it comes to measuring camber, the term "the string never lies" comes from the fact that a weighted string can only ever hang at true vertical. It's incapable of hanging at any other angle. So, if you're careful, you can measure the wheel's deviation from true vertical with considerable precision. With a little care and patience you can easily measure camber to better than a tenth of a degree accuracy.

As for toe, well, if you center the car in the string box by measuring out from the center of each hub center cap, even an easily seen and fixed centering error of 1 mm from end to end is only 0.02 degrees. Again, a little patience, measuring the distance from the string to the wheel can easily deliver better than a tenth of a degree accuracy.

As for the high-end laser systems? Well, they exist because patience is the enemy of profit. They can be accurate for sure, but the reason they're popular with shops is speed. They're intended to deliver a factory-spec alignment in the shortest possible time. It's how the shop makes money.

The problem is that the factory specs aren't particularly demanding - the allowable error published in the factory specs for the S550 are +/- 0.75 degrees of camber and +/- 0.2 degrees of toe.

And that's why I said that anyone with a print-out from a shop's alignment system doesn't actually know what they've got until they've checked with string.

You say they are incredibly accurate then proceed to say you do know what you have until you use string?
You know when you get a print out it has the numbers on it lol

 

[Norm Peterson]

You say they are incredibly accurate then proceed to say you do know what you have until you use string?
You know when you get a print out it has the numbers on it lol

But what you don't know is how careful the alignment tech was in setting up. The machine may be dead-nuts on (if set up and calibrated properly), but the print-out can't be any better than the sloppiest error source in the process - that being the human setting up your car and hanging the targets.

The numbers are almost meaningless unless you know that everything that went into obtaining them was done carefully and properly.


Norm

 

[Gearz]

The biggest impediment for me is finding a safe and reasonably easy way to elevate the car so the adjustments can be made without raising and lowering the car repeatedly to gain access to the adjusters.

For those with experience, how do you do it?

Quickjacks. I don't have space for a 2-post lift, the Quickjacks are a decent compromise. Before that, floor jack and jackstands. Good core workout.

 

[Egparson202]

Same as many other things, professionals are doing it for the money so their tools make them faster but not always better. There’s truth in the old saying if you want it done right, do it yourself. Of course you have to learn the principles and master some techniques. Once you clear those hurdles it’s more a matter of patience. I know I had a very hard time finding someone to do a proper competition alignment only to learn he got into it by doing it for his own car before taking on business from others.

 

[DaveR.PP2]

I use Snap-on turntables on my own fabricated stands that have acme thread legs for leveling with both Snap-on bubble caster camber gauges and a Longacre bubble gauge for older cars. For my newer vehicles I use the Longacre digital caster / camber gauge with tripod type mount to alloy wheels. For toe gauge I use a Longacre gauge with the sliding pencil type measurement and I also have a Snap-on toe gauge that's about 50 years old but works perfectly. I have a 2 post lift and drop the car on the stands which allow me full access to tie rods and everything. I generally bounce the suspension on stands first so as to get the car to sit as it should at ride height.

Beyond that, unless I'm entering a sanctioned race I can also go to a professional race shop owned by friends of mine with a dedicated alignment bay with computerized digital and laser capabilities.

Although I'm no longer a full time mechanic and haven't been making a living as one for decades, I've engaged my older equipment and supplemented them with Longacre Racing stuff with what I believe are excellent results.

 

[danpass]

I do. Method:

I set the front camber first, if I'm changing it - usually either just check it or change it between street and track/autox. During autox season I'll just leave it maxed out negative camber<1>. I use a Longacre camber gauge although you can now get pretty decent camber readings using a straight edge on the rim lip and a level app on the phone.

Any experience with those camber adjust levels that magnetically mount on the brake disc?

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[Gearz]

Any experience with those camber adjust levels that magnetically mount on the brake disc?

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No I haven't used them. Keep in mind that a 2-pc rotor has just a little bit of float in it to allow for axial misalignment. I don't feel any slop in the GT350 rotors, those pins are tight and I like that design that seems to allow only radial movement. I like the Longacre gauge I use that touches the rim at 3 places. I can move it easily from one wheel to the other.

I wish I could afford the hub stands, and a set of scales. Maybe someday. That really is the way to go though, lots of room to make adjustments and super easy to do measurements.

 

[GTIIIL]

What is the opinion of using a toe gauge , instead of the string setup? Nobody has mentioned it so I’m guessing there are accuracy issues with it?

 

[kz]

What is the opinion of using a toe gauge , instead of the string setup? Nobody has mentioned it so I’m guessing there are accuracy issues with it?

Doesn't it do same thing as toe plates ? If yes, then it measures total toe, rather than individual for each wheels which is what you need string setup for.

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