DIY Toe?

[daveb91]

Anyone do thier own toe adjustments? Can you give me any pointers? Like what do you use as a point of measurment and such thanks!!

[jason33hs]

After getting "precision" alignment done, paint a line across the nut to the threads to the tie rod end. Dial in your toe in/out by adjusting using turns of the rod. I don't know how precise you want to be, but the guys that did my last alignment allowed be to play with the settings until I figured how much toe out I could by x amount of turns. For autocross, I usually run 1/4" toe out according the turns I make. Other than that, invest in some strings to build a rectangle and geometry skills to set toe. It's not hard, but it can be time consuming to set up.


Anyone do thier own toe adjustments? Can you give me any pointers? Like what do you use as a point of measurment and such thanks!!

[administerturbo]

you can also get two tape measures. put one in the front of the wheels and one in the back (running underneath the car). subtract the difference or just eye is up. not precision, but you can certainly get it close.

[gtfour77]

You can also make yourself a "box" around your car with a couple of conduit pipes that you can buy at lowes for a couple of bucks. You put them on two jack stands on the front and in the rear and put a thin string along both sides of the car.... Here is a pretty elaborate write up on this, you don't have to go that far to get decent toe though..
http://au.geocities.com/ozbrick850/wheels-diy-alignment.html

I have a home brew type setup in my garage that is plenty for autocross and if you take your time it's good enough for street driving...
Here is a pic of something similar to my "alignment rack"...
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.k-series.com/Images/Tech/DIY_ALIGN/DIY_ALIGN-4.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.k-series.com/tech_detail.php%3FTech_ID%3DDIY_ALIGN&h=480&w=640&sz=48&hl=en&start=2&um=1&tbnid=PNF5EYOZMaX0_M:&tbnh=103&tbnw=137&prev=/images%3Fq%3Ddiy%2Balignment%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1 %26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN

I have seen two different methods with this system to be used... You can either center the "box" around you actual vehicle centerline or you can go by the hubs.... From what I understand the centerline method is better as it's the actual car that you're aligning, not just the driveline... Finding the true centerline can be a PITA though...lots of measuring and marking... My celica has a couple of marks on the front and rear bumpers that signify the true centerline of the car... You can easily go by the hubs also which is much easier but not 100% correct from what I understand.... (did this method on Troy's Pontiac and he said his steering wheel was not straight although the wheels were poiting perfectly straight. Remember, the driveline is hardly ever true and centered to the actual car that it is bolted to. Mine is about 1/4 inch off the actual body centerline as an example...
Hope I didn't confuse you too much, if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask.
Oh yeah, make sure your tire pressures are the same on both sides of the car. If your steering wheel is fairly staright and you have not moved a lot of things (like when replacing tie rod ends or struts) you can just use the tape measure method as Nate mentioned above.... measure same points of the tire up front, then same measuremetn in the rear of the tire and the difference is either your toe in or toe out... make sure you move the tie ord ends the same amount on each side, that way yout steering wheel will stay straight as it was before...

[gtfour77]

I knew I could find it...here is a quick pic of my setup...
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z41/gtfour77/Alltrac%20NEW/Celi1.jpg

[ShortysTRM]

Yeah, Martin got my alignment perfect in the front, then the steering wheel was crooked when I test drove it. The rear of my car must be slightly off-center, because we took extra time to be sure the wheel was perfectly straight every time we measured.

We need to find a shop that will offer us a discount on computer/laser alignment. If I could get a $20-30 alignment, I'd get 3 or 4 a year lol. As it is, I can't afford 1 a year because my alignment will be changed every time I change the suspension.

[gtfour77]

Troy, if you go to Sears they have a 6 month alignment. You can go back as many times as you want within the 6 months. I think it's about $60 though...
I have done that several times before I got my diy system...

[ShortysTRM]

That's a nice concept. I thought I'd heard of other places doing the same thing, but I'd never heard of anywhere that did it for sure.

[johnnytavo]

Appalachian Tire does Front Alignment for 30 and full for 50.

I should have definitely done the Sears alignment when I took apart my suspension eleventy-billion times

[gtfour77]

Appalachian should have the 6 month warranty also... check your paperwork.

[johnnytavo]

Appalachian should have the 6 month warranty also... check your paperwork.

If I can find it I will, or I will just stop by next time I go back to Elkins

[daveb91]

Thanks guys good info there!