punkindrublic

well since i'm cheap and have lots of time on my hands i tackled the home made alignment again... last time i did it i would jack the car up take off both front wheels, put it straighter... then wheels back on lower car then test drive...

well today i got creative, i found out i could adjust the tie rods without even raising the car for one so that saves lots of time between test drives... and then i remember somebody posted a pic of a race team checking alignment with some fishing line and some jack stands...

so i set up all that and it became really easy... got her nice and straight now... in total including time making up the fishing line apperatus it took about 2hrs...

so if you figure wheel and tire zone charges $115 tax in for an alignment i basically got paid $57.5/hr today tax free to boot plus free alexander's in the fridge all afternoon to cool me down

imported_loudsubz

yes but your alignment is still half assed, the computer alignment at shops is far superior to that of your concoction, but kudos for being cheap

Brett

So you were changing what? The camber? The toe? Nothing?

Sounds like a good idea but is your car really properly aligned now?

punkindrublic

ummm well heres what happened... i had it aligned properly like 4 months ago on the race springs... then put the stock springs on and had some toe in... then put on those toms coils and it still pretty good...

then i installed a camber kit and got some major toe out... like probably 5° easy combined...

so ya i busted it up and its pretty good... drives perfectly straight so i'm happy... it couldn't be out toe wise by very much if anything though... sure its probably not accurate to 0.00 degree's but i can't imagine it being that detramental to tire wear

fishing line ownZ though

Brett

How did your camber kit change the toe? Shouldn't it have changed the camber? When i had toe problems in the back it just smoked through tires.

imported_kIeRaN

wow, good job rick, i never knew u were so cheap lol

punkindrublic

well it did correct the camber... but at the same time threw the toe out of whack

imported_JookSingKid

how how???

punkindrublic

how what? it was easy... had the car out all night and perfect handling, no pulling, no weirdness

imported_JookSingKid

how do you do the home made alignment with fishing line?

punkindrublic

well the pic the guy posted used jack stands all at the same height then you run the string from front the back on both sides so it touches the tires mid way up...

so if the string touches say the front of one tire but doesn't touch the rear then you know you have toe out... and if it touches the rear of the tire then toe in...

pics would explain better but i'm to cheap to buy a digicam... but basically you just giver till when you look down the string its as smooth as possible

imported_gatherer

Camber kits just affect camber.. however with the toe setings when you toe out or in the car the minute difference in the angle of the wheels affects the camber as well... best way to see this is on the computer at wheel and tire zone... (Then again being in the car as they do the alignment for my autocross car I didn't get to see much till they handed me a printout.)

Please note I have a stock car. on stock hondas (double wishbone ones) the factory adjustments are only for Toe you can't adjust anything else. go to a alignment shop with a messed up alignment for the "before" get them to align it and print out your before and after alignment setings... you'll find Camber also changed as they set the toe....

punkindrublic

it was weird when installing the camber kit though cause the drivers side would go out of whack a little but the passenger side would be way out to the point of making the car shat *** to drive