Anyone know any basic Alignment tricks ?

[gregdunn at prodigy.net (gregdunn)]

More trouble than it's worth. (and it ain't worth much)
Spend the $50.
Go to a shop.
________


I've gotta interject.  When I was in college and wrenching in a shop to make
ends meet as a very poor college student, I spent $50 on a camber gauge.
Best $50 I ever spent.  I was playing around with alignment settings and
pulling things apart a lot so if I were to pay a shop to realign me every
time I would have been out big bucks.

A couple caveats.  Make sure you get both strut mounting bolts tight to the
correct torque.
Make sure you adjust the tow AFTER doing the camber.  Adjusting the camber
changes toe, adjusting toe doesn't change camber.

Make sure you have a level area to measure your camber.  If your car is on a
1 degree incline, that 1 degree negative camber turns into zero on one side
and two degrees on the other.  Comprendas?  I took a couple plastic beakers
with stands, epoxied some vacuum fittings to the base (after drilling holes
to insert the fittings into) and connected the two beakers with windshield
washer tubing.

Presto.  Instant water level.  With one piece of 1/8" plywood I had a
perfectly level spot to do my alignments and marked the floor so I knew
where to repeat the measurements.

Greg

cheap bastard that would rather spend money on tools and learning than
paying for someone else's house.