anybody ever mess with front end alignment at home?
anybody ever use the do-it-yourself at home camber/caster gauges, are they any good?

I'm considering buying one of the kits out of summitt, they were around $100-200 I think.
I assume I would have to measure, then jack the front of the car up to be able to reach under there to adjust caster, camber, and toe, then drop it back down and remeasure? Is it possible to reach under there with the car on the ground?

For those who have done front end alignment adjusting, how sensitive is it turning nuts? How many turns of the nuts before you have a noticeable change usually?

I had alignment done, the first time they set it up with around +4.8 deg caster on front left and a little over 5 deg on the right, giving me the road crown theory which I don't agree with. camber was i think -0.1 deg, and toe was zero or slightly toe in, can't find the printout at the moment. They said caster was less on the right when they started which was why it was pulling right. Well after a week i didn't like it. Previously the car pulled the right slightly on the highway and wheel was off, now the wheel was slightly to the left and car pulled slightly to the left. I brought it back and asked to even up the caster, and they did. printout says 4.9 for both left and right. but camber +0.2deg left and +0.1deg right, +0.01 toe left, +0.00 toe right. Car feels like it pulls almost as much to the left as it did before pulling to the right. maybe i'm just being ****, I don't know. but how significant is 1/10 of a degree of camber difference, and how significant is 1/100 deg of toe difference? Provided the shop reported caster accurately, my hope is to get under there and adjust things slightly then drive it and keep doing so till i'm happy. car has 58k miles, and have oem 10-spokes with goodyears on it and i'm fairly certain i don't have a tire problem.

 

There are a couple of "PITA issues" with doing an alignment at home....Most of the "alignment gauges" that are sold through the speed shops or race equipment dealers, use a magnetic base, which is designed to stick to the old style, steel hubs on the front of the car. Current F-bodies don"t have this style of hub anymore, the 3rd gen cars did, but neither the 3rd nor 4th gen cars use a wheel that allows the necessary access to the hub to get this gauge in place, so it becomes a moot point.

Secondly, being able to get the car "at rest", in one place, with the suspension loaded, yet still allowing access to the various adjustment bolts is VERY important. A set of 4-5" ramps would do, but you'd still need something like turn plates, under the front wheels, because you need to be able to turn the wheels to set both your caster angle and your toe-in.

Taking a measurement, jacking the car, making an adjustment, etc, isn't the most accurate way to do it, but assuming it was, it would still take HOURS to get it done that way.


IMHO, the numbers you're giving for your alignment specs certainly seem to be right where you should be. If the car "pulls", you mave have a tire that has a shifted belt, which has changed its rolling resistance. If all of your tires are the same size, try switching the front tire for the rear, and see if that changes you "pull". If it does, you have a tire problem, not an alignment problem.

 

Exactly what leadfoot4 said its a pita to do alignments at home I am lucky to have a shop close by that will do it to whatever specs I want for about $40. I used to sit there and do it on my old car I used to bend the tie rod adjustment bolts all the time (the roads by my house were under construction huge potholes in temp road) so I would spend an afternoon with it and get it almost perfect the car had a old steering box we all called it wonder steer lol. Once I found the shop I stopped doing then. Plus one on the tires recently I my dad and I did all the tie rods and idler arm on his truck adjusted it to steer straight took it to the shop got it back and it was pulling really bad way worse than what it was before the tie rods and idler arm was replaced had new tires put on and its been perfect since didnt even touch the alignment after the tires either.

 

alot of people are intimidated by allignments and for good reason, if you are familiar with the suspension setup and how a 1/16th of an inch can drasticly change toe, camber and caster and what it actually means as far as how it'll affect your handling steering response etc. then go for one of those kits well worth it, but if not and your unsure then id just pay the cost of a computerized allignment just make sure u take it somewhere that will actually adjust the camber and caster(camber seems to allways go out on f bods) u may also need the bolt kits. good luck

 

You will also need the turnbuckle tool (one end hooks into one of two holes in the lower arm, the other end hooks into a hole in the k-member) which lets you precisely move camber/caster about.

Drive the front up on ramps and place the rear on jackstands, I like to have the car level; under the front ramps spray graphite or teflon lube so the tires can be steered (when finished you can get it off with brake clean and driving).