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Alignment tool suggestions

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Old Nov 10, 2003 | 12:27 AM
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JT-KGY's Avatar
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From: Los Angeles, CA
Alignment tool suggestions

Could someone suggest a good camber/toe tool??
And where to get one at good price?

Thanks,
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Old Nov 10, 2003 | 06:29 AM
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DGS
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From: MidTN
Re: Alignment tool suggestions

Originally posted by JT-KGY
Could someone suggest a good camber/toe tool??
And where to get one at good price?
Camber: You need a good baseline. I got an aluminum T-square from Ace Hardware, and attached a couple of identical bolts, using pinch fittings (also from Ace). With the bolts adjusted right, the bolt heads rest against the top and bottom lip of the rim, leaving the T-square arm as a reference baseline. (A spirit level assures that it's really vertical.) Then a direct reading angle gauge (also from Ace) reads camber directly. Accuracy: about a half a degree, if you're careful.

Quick hint: Measure base camber, then, with the car raised and the tire off, measure the angle of the brake rotor (replace a couple of lug nuts, if needed to hold the rotor tight). Then you can adjust camber by the required number of degrees by adjusting the rotor angle.

Toe: String, plumb bob, crayons, and a tape measure. Drape the string over the tire along a tread line, letting the plumb bob down until it contacts the floor. Mark the point with a crayon. Repeat at rear of tire, and on other front tire. Measure the distance between the front marks and rear marks and take the difference. Adjust by the difference between the distance between front and rear marks and the rim diameter. Accuracy: an eighth to a quarter inch.

Not as "precise" as a laser alignment machine, but I managed a better alignment on my Celica using these tools than the dealer managed in two tries with a $70K Hunter machine. (Precision tools are useless without attention to detail.)

Last edited by DGS; Nov 10, 2003 at 06:31 AM.
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