Anyone doing their own alignments? If so what setup are you using?

[CSM]

Thinking about doing my own alignments this coming season on both cars.
Anyone here doing their own alignments?

I am thinking about ordering these to help
https://www.amazon.com/Tenhulzen-33...11&rps=1&s=automotive&sr=1-50#customerReviews

 

[jeffreylyon]

I have a pair of sticks of angle iron with stops welded onto 1 end and a couple of tape measures for toe and use the rotor for caster with the angle finder in included in the listing that you posted. It's a bit of a PITA but useful when I'm constantly ripping into the suspension. The angle finder was pretty cheap and the iron was scrap.

As I'm writing this I wonder why I just don't build something that attaches to the wheel studs....

 

[Dpro]

Thinking about doing my own alignments this coming season on both cars.
Anyone here doing their own alignments?

I am thinking about ordering these to help
https://www.amazon.com/Tenhulzen-3300-2-Wheel-Alignment-System/dp/B00PKI0YSU/ref=sr_1_50?dchild=1&keywords=alignment&qid=1609715821&refinements=p_85:2470955011&rnid=2470954011&rps=1&s=automotive&sr=1-50#customerReviews

Those look sick,.... edited for reading mistake.

 

[jeffreylyon]

Those look sick, too bad they will only handle 7.5 inch width.

7.5" sidewall height, not wheel width. You do everything from the outside so wheel width doesn't matter.

 

[Dpro]

7.5" sidewall height, not wheel width. You do everything from the outside so wheel width doesn't matter.

lol my bad for not reading closer.

 

[CSM]

Thinking about doing my own alignments this coming season on both cars.
Anyone here doing their own alignments?

I am thinking about ordering these to help
https://www.amazon.com/Tenhulzen-3300-2-Wheel-Alignment-System/dp/B00PKI0YSU/ref=sr_1_50?dchild=1&keywords=alignment&qid=1609715821&refinements=p_85:2470955011&rnid=2470954011&rps=1&s=automotive&sr=1-50#customerReviews

After looking into these it looks like you can only measure total toe, rather than toe per wheel.

I am thinking of doing a project in the coming weeks making boxes/risers for all 4 wheels with turn plates for the front wheels, and then making some sort of rig for a string based toe box.

 

[SteveS]

Toe per wheel isn't something that exists, really, unless your steering wheel isn't centered. And unless you're running circle track there's no reason to run your wheel not centered.

 

[CSM]

Toe per wheel isn't something that exists, really, unless your steering wheel isn't centered. And unless you're running circle track there's no reason to run your wheel not centered.

Can you elaborate a bit?

My concern is that, with toe plates, your only reference point is the other wheel on the same axle. Thus you're only able to capture total toe.

Lets say you wanted to dial in mild toe out, say, -1mm total. Ideally you'd hit -0.5mm toe on each side. With toe plates, you could have +3mm on one side and -4mm on another, and the plates would still read -1mm total toe. Does that make sense?

Also, having an alignment done to a toe box, a perfect rectangle used as a reference point, will align all 4 wheels to the same reference point, so you don't run the risk of screwing up how the car tracks because you've messed up thrust angle Front to Rear (at least thats my understanding of the terminology here)

 

[pwhitefist]

I do my own alignment on the ST and tracked it all season. I just bought toe plates from Amazon ($60) and angle finder gauge from ebay for like $10.
1. Measure camber by sticking the angle gauge on the rotor before jacking up the car
2. Take one wheel off, measure camber again
3. Calculate difference
4. Adjust camber bolt to get the desire camber
5. Lower car with wheel on
6. Double check the work
7. Repeat on other side
8. Measure toe using plates
9. By this time your toe should be way off like toe in way off
10. Make sure your steering is straight and lift both wheels up to adjust toe!
11. Lower your car and check toe again
12. Grab a beer
13. Test drive

Note: I usually just max out my camber so I skip step 1 and 3. After playing with it a couple times you can do alignment in 30 mins or less.
Disclaimer: I'm not a pro but I take my car to pepboys for free alignment check and they are pretty close to what I wanted.

 

[SteveS]

Can you elaborate a bit?

My concern is that, with toe plates, your only reference point is the other wheel on the same axle. Thus you're only able to capture total toe.

Lets say you wanted to dial in mild toe out, say, -1mm total. Ideally you'd hit -0.5mm toe on each side. With toe plates, you could have +3mm on one side and -4mm on another, and the plates would still read -1mm total toe. Does that make sense?

Also, having an alignment done to a toe box, a perfect rectangle used as a reference point, will align all 4 wheels to the same reference point, so you don't run the risk of screwing up how the car tracks because you've messed up thrust angle Front to Rear (at least thats my understanding of the terminology here)

In your scenario, to go straight ahead, you'd have to turn the steering wheel to the right.

 

[johnny5]

If you want to do toe, look into a smart string set up (https://www.smartracingproducts.com/smartstrings)

 

[CSM]

If you want to do toe, look into a smart string set up (https://www.smartracingproducts.com/smartstrings)

So I thought about splurging on a set of these, but ended up ordering toe plates with a camber gauge built in.

 

[CSM]

So I ended up using some Summit Bucks and drove to Summit today and bought the Tenhulzen Toe plates w/ a built in camber gauge (not my photo but example of what I got)

I am going to install my new shocks, springs, and sway bars on my Scion this weekend and play around with these toe plates to check and adjust alignment. I'll report back my thoughts on these.

I know this is not nearly as good/ideal as a "string box" setup, but I didn't want to spend a lot of money right now and these toe plates will be nice to throw into the trunk for test and tunes and track days.

 

[CSM]

Finally got around to playing with these last weekend.

I installed my sway bars on my Scion and checked my alignment using the Tenhulzen plates. They are pretty easy to use. I am going to try and use them to adjust my alignment maybe this weekend, we will see.

So far pretty happy with them. Will be a nice item to throw in the car for events.





Alignment is out of spec based on what I told the alignment shop to do last year.
Going to dial in -3* Camber up front with 0 toe, and -2.25* in the rear with 1/16" total toe in.

 

[The_Ryan]

Finally got around to playing with these last weekend.

I installed my sway bars on my Scion and checked my alignment using the Tenhulzen plates. They are pretty easy to use. I am going to try and use them to adjust my alignment maybe this weekend, we will see.

So far pretty happy with them. Will be a nice item to throw in the car for events.
View attachment 38292
View attachment 38291



Alignment is out of spec based on what I told the alignment shop to do last year. Going to dial in -3* Camber up front with 0 toe, and -2.25* in the rear with 1/16" total toe in.
View attachment 38293

I've always wanted to get a set of these, but how do you get under the car to adjust the toe without having to lower the car back down to check it?

 

[CSM]

I've always wanted to get a set of these, but how do you get under the car to adjust the toe without having to lower the car back down to check it?

I plan on raising the car, making adjustments, lowering, and checking. Not ideal but its what I have to deal with at the moment. I also have Race Ramps so I guess I could just raise the car or drive them onto the ramps, make adjustments, and then drive off and check alignment. Again not the most ideal but that way I could torque everything while under a loaded suspension

Long term once I get my house and garage I may buy or build some 8-12" blocks designed for this specific purpose (perhaps with turn plates) and use those in conjunction with a Smart String setup https://www.smartracingproducts.com/smartstrings like @johnny5 recommended above

 

[The_Ryan]

I plan on raising the car, making adjustments, lowering, and checking. Not ideal but its what I have to deal with at the moment. I also have Race Ramps so I guess I could just raise the car or drive them onto the ramps, make adjustments, and then drive off and check alignment. Again not the most ideal but that way I could torque everything while under a loaded suspension

Long term once I get my house and garage I may buy or build some 8-12" blocks designed for this specific purpose (perhaps with turn plates) and use those in conjunction with a Smart String setup https://www.smartracingproducts.com/smartstrings like @johnny5 recommended above

Yeah, unfortunately this is what has stopped me from buying these in the first place. Maybe it's not as big of a pain as I think though

 

[CSM]

UPDATE:

I set my alignment this weekend using the Tenhulzen plates on my Scion. Here is what I ended up with:
Front - 1/64" toe in, -2.8 LF and -2.9 RF
Rear - 3/32" toe in, -2.35 Camber both sides

I am going to schedule an appointment to have the alignment checked on a super fancy rack near me sometime in the next 2 weeks. More to come!

 

[CSM]

Got an alignment today on my FRS using a Beissbarth touchless rack. These are world class racks, only 3 in the country right now. I'm lucky one is 15 min from me.

Here is an interesting look at before (by my toe plates), before (as measured by the Rack), and after

 

[MauiRoads]

Coming from the Miata world, I have the Paco Motorsports hub stands. Works great on my ST, Miata and MR2 Spyder. True 4-wheel alignments. No need to drop the car between adjustments. Highly recommended.