I am looking for input from those of you who may have used some of the products out there. Here are some of the ones I'm looking at. Any advice or recommendations would be appreciated!


http://www.pegasusautoracing.com/pro...asp?RecID=5547
http://www.pegasusautoracing.com/pro...asp?RecID=1206
http://www.pegasusautoracing.com/pro...asp?RecID=5124


Thanks!

EVOlutionary

 

1. I'm cheap

2. You can use a digital angle gauge and build a simple rig for it. This is an awesome way to check camber. The angle box is $40. The square rig can be built in lots of ways for very little money (i.e. carpenters square etc). http://grizzly.com/products/Digital-Bevel-Box/H8131





3. Those toe plates are $$$ for what they are. Just grab some aluminum square tubing if you want to roll like that. I prefer to string the car for toe adjustments.

 

I would forget the smart camber thing.

I've used a setup similar to this for 2 years now, and it matches laser racks.

http://www.tomhoppe.com/2009/02/chea...ber-gauge.html

The longacre toe plates work well, if you already know the car is straight and you are just looking to make small changes. Remember they only tell you total toe and not individual toe, so over time you'll probably have differing amounts of toe on each side.

HTH

John

 

To expand on John's comments. The Longacre plates make small adjustments on a street car or any adjustments on a racecar with a splined steering wheel hub a breeze. Sometimes it takes a few tries to get everything equal and straight on a car with a fixed steering wheel, but its still not too bad. I align my daily driver with them, which is fun when i go from -1* camber to -3*+ for the track... things tend to move a lot.

I use a 24" Crasftsman laser level to check camber and rear thrust. My buddies have a camber gauge similar to the 3 leg Longacre and its simple and easy to use as well.

Spend the money and go digital for a camber/caster gauge!!

-Marc

 

Great info guys! Thanks!

 

Personally I just went out and got a life time alignment at Firestone for $180. I've made friends with the store owner and he has his best technician do my car every time. Saves me the time and headaches of adjusting this on my own. To each his own.

 

That would be one option if I just wanted a generic alignment once a year. I doubt if Firestone would be too happy when I had the car in there 10 times a year telling them the exact settings I wanted . . . Plus, it's a little hard to drag the alignment rack to the track to test out different settings!

 

Any toe plates will work. They are all the same. I have the smart camber gauge and love it. All the alignments I have done with it have been spot on when they have taken it to an alignment shop.

Billy Brooks

 

They don't seem to mind when I do it. That's actually how I got hooked up with corporate sponsorship. After a few times the manager came up to me and was like "what in the world are you doing with that car"? It started with just free labor and is now _deep_ discounts on tires, parts, service, fluids, etc.

It is all about finding the right store. They are all corporate owned, but the managers and district managers have a lot of authority.

d

 

^ I've taken my car to Firestone twice in one day when I was playing with settings (and getting told that's too much rear camber ). They use the lifetime as a bit of a loss leader to get you into the store.

 

I do it. Before and after every weekend I drop her off for an alignment at my local firestone. I have a tech that also drives w/ the SCCA do the alignment. Beats the heck out of doing it myself.

 

Interesting.

This has got me thinking. I would really like to be able to self-align the car this year. There's really nobody local that can do it for me as the car sits so low, shops claim they can't get it on the generic alignment racks. Staying tuned...

I have a friend that aligns his with jackstands and strings; probably the same 'string method' as someone else mentioned above.
He also fashioned a really nice peice of aluminum with levels on it to guage the camber.

 

I have recently started doing self alignments as well. On the evo the bolts are very easy to get to relative to other track cars I have had (wrx wagon). I used laser angles and string, and found that the string was much faster and just as accurate for toe.

I use a angle gauge from harbor freight that came in a level, removed the electronics part and fastened it to an aluminum tri pod like T that bungie cords to the rim. This holds it in place while I reach around and crank the camber bolt. I can see the read out and its a one person job without having to jump up and down a hundred times.

My input would be that alignments move all over the place depending on your driving. I am a track guy when my car is running (haha), and aggressive canyon driver otherwise. The alignment changes and I kept needing to get it redone. Life time alignment shops can cancel your purchase if they know you track or do any type of racing so be ware. Keep it a secret (don't roll in with R compounds, etc).

For me, because of the above logic I would go for the DIY because you can adjust, review, etc the alignment all the time. Once you have your tools and process down its an easy 30 minutes task on a lazy weeknight. Not a particularly dirty task either. Doing it yourself 12 times a year is way better than paying lots of cash or doing it just once a year and spending 140, or whatever.

You can always do 12 yourself and get one PRO reference alignment a year. Its a great DIY to help you understand you car and suspension geometry.

M

 

My local Firestone used to do all my tire mounting and dismounting for free until they got a new manager. Then they stopped supporting our local car club. . .

The only alignment rack I can get my car on easily without removing a bunch of stuff is the in-ground rack (at floor level) at the local Belle Tire. I'll probably be seeing them a few times this year . . .

 

Having been in road racing the past ten years, I have had nothing but great experience with all of the longacre products. Not only are they always precise, they are durable too. Longacre tests all of their equipment like no other company, as a matter of fact we have about six tire gauges, and all are accurate down to the tenth.

I love my longacre products and will not be looking away from them anytime soon.