I've been thinking I would rather spend money on equipment than paying somebody to do alignments and the conveinence factor of having said equipment at home/the track to play with is cool too. Longacre has a digital camber/caster reader that looks cool but I don't know if it will work on our car (HERE) and I also thought a homedepot trip could duplicate this SMARTSTRINGS and be custom fitted to the car. Let me know if you have any experiences good or bad or just opinions on whether it'd be worth it. Thanks!!

 

Or for the ballers, check this out: ART

 

It's worth it if you like tinkering and you are patient. I've recently done both my cars (over and over ). I'll explain more later when I have time.

Get the Smart Camber tool, not the Smart Strings.

 

How does the Longacre gauge measure caster without turning the wheel? I don't know if it would work on our car. Maybe someone else can comment.

After much tinkering, what I ended up with that works very well:
- the SmartCamber tool ( http://www.smartracingproducts.com/p...martcamber.htm ) [I got the hands-free accessory but it's not necessary]. You could just use a ruler and do some math but this makes it much easier/faster and it's a neat tool for lots of uses.
- rigged up my own smart strings system using a couple of 8' aluminum C-crosssection rods from Home Depot cut to 75", couple of bungee cords to attach one to the rear below the bumper and couple of plastic suction-cup hooks for attaching the front bar to front bumper. I installed a couple 2.5" screws an inch in from the ends of the rear bar for attachment of the string, and another screw in the middle to prevent it from slipping/spinning against the black plastic hollow below the bumper where the rods sits horizontally. For strings I use fishing line with rubber bands at the ends so you can easily attach and retach from the bars (the long screws on the rear bar allows adjustable height of attachment, and the suction cups can be placed at the proper height at front so the strings traverse the wheels at hub-height). The rubber bands also allows the string to stay in place even if you accidentally bump them, and they are always taut. Attach the strings equidistant from the ends of the rods and equidistant from the opposing hubs and you have your perfectly parallel string box . Total parts less than $20 vs almost $400 for Smart Strings .
- for turn plates I use plastic grocery bags (spray of silicone inside optional); very easy to turn the wheels from outside the car with your hands for caster measurements and they are negligible in height (and priceless!)
- for leveling the floor buy a bunch of 1/8" thick, cheap linoleum-type tiles for shims from Home Depot. I also got an 8' long square-crosssection aluminum rod to use with the SmartCamber level to level the four tire contact points on the garage floor. Get extra tiles so you can build up roll-off platforms as necessary (depending on if you even need tiles at any corners to level the floor) for settling the suspension between adjustments and measurements.
- a digital caliper also made it easier to measure toe accurately, though not necessary.

Some day if I have time I should write this up with pics, with all the little tricks and things to avoid that I learned from trial and error.

If you are leaning toward doing this I'd go for it! When you do it yourself you get the satisfaction of knowing that the job wasn't rushed or not finished exactly right because the shop has other appointment waiting or won't spend more than x hours, or didn't torque all the bolts to spec or where you want them.

How much should I charge for doing custom alignments in my garage?

 

I saw the smartcamber as well, somebody had one at the track last weekend. It's good to know it works any you like it. I was a bit perplexed on how the unit longacre is selling automatically calculates caster too
That's a great idea with the grocery bags, do they get torn up pretty quickly though? I'll have to think about if there's something that's a little more durable but stay at a similar price point

Thanks!!

 

The grocery bags don't tear even after many turnings of the wheels, but the concrete on my garage floor is quite smooth. Even if your floor is smooth and level you could still put a tile under each wheel to ensure a smooth surface, or use two tiles with grease in-between them. But bags are disposable trash so who cares if they tear. And because they are negligible thickness, they don't interfere with my method of measuring the +/- 20* turns for measuring caster (I have lines permanently marked on the floor and use a level or straight edge against the tire to line up parallel with the lines).

 

You apparently don't have any dogs Those things are like gold around my house and you definitely don't want holes in them.

 

I use thin squares of masonite. Two under each tire make fine slip plates. I mark them "inside" on one surface. I always put the inside surfaces together to keep a nice clean slip surface.

 

I would have patented the plastic bag method of use but I didn't think I could sell them for much. Hadn't thought of dog owners who race .

 

Pics please