[s-cars] Alignment hacking

[Theodore Chen]

if you don't have an electronic level, you can measure camber with a
simple bubble level and a ruler.

for the amount of camber change you're proposing, the impact on toe will
be minimal.

and you can measure toe using strings and jackstands.  set up two parallel
lines along the car, and use those to determine your toe.  it's not difficult
to do.

i use cheap commercial vinyl tiles from home depot.  i place two under 
each front wheel, with grease between the tiles.  this allows the wheels
to move freely, and this really improves the accuracy of your alignment
settings.

-teddy

--- Kevin Day <kday at ultrameta.org> wrote:

> Okay... I guess I can figure out how much to move the strut to push the 
> camber out by 0.5 degrees.  I just need to measure the length of the strut.  
> But how I can calculate how much this adjustment will affect toe?
> 
> Camber adjustment calculation:
> 
> Let S = length of strut from ball joint to camber plate
> Let D1 = distance mount is inboard from 0 deg.  at -1.2 deg. camber
> Let D2 = distance mount is inboard from 0 deg.  at -0.7 deg. camber
> 
> D1 = sqrt( s^2 - ( s * cos(1.2) )^2 )
> D2 = sqrt( s^2 - ( s * cos(0.7) )^2 )
> 
> (This is assuming the camber plate slides parallel to the ground, which I
> don't think it does, quite, but close enough I guess.)
> 
> So D1 - D2 is amount I should move the strut plate outboard if I am at
> -1.2 and I want to be at -0.7. 
> 
> If I assume the strut length is 18", this says move the mount outward by
> 0.157" on each side.  I guess that's in the ballpark, eh?
> 
> What are the odds I can do this with a ruler and not make the alignment
> even worse?  Hmm... 
> 
> It'd be easiest to do this with the wheel lifted off the ground, right?
> 
> -Kevin
> 
> 
> On Mon, Nov 07, 2005 at 09:35:43PM -0500, Tom Mullane wrote:
> > Kevin,
> > I suppose you *could* do that, but when you alter camber, you alter toe. 
> Push
> > the tops of the struts out for more camber, and you toe the car in...which
> > maybe isn't a terrible thing, since that will help wear the outside edge of
> the
> > tire too.  
> > Tom 
> >  
> > Date: Mon, 7 Nov 2005 20:29:19 -0500
> > From: Kevin Day <_k_d_a_y_@_u_l_t_r_a_m_e_t_a_._o_r_g>
> > Subject: [s-cars] Alignment hacking
> > To: _s_-_c_a_r_-_l_i_s_t_@_a_u_d_i_f_a_n_s_._c_o_m
> > Message-ID:
>
<_2_0_0_5_1_1_0_8_0_1_2_9_1_9_._G_B_1_4_3_1_9_@_u_l_t_r_a_m_e_t_a_._o_r_g>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
> > 
> > This may be a silly question, but bear with me.
> > 
> > I had my car aligned back in May after installing 1992 S4 springs
> > instead of the stock 1994 springs.  The printout I have shows -1.2
> > camber measured on both RF and LF after the alignment.  The inside
> > of the front tires is wearing quite a bit faster than the outside.
> > (Not a surprise to some of you I'm sure.)  Since I have new tires
> > on the way, I want to fix the wear issue.
> > 
> > So the question is: given that I essentially need to add a fixed amount
> > of positive camber to each side, can I possibly do this in my driveway?
> > 
> > Thanks (even if your answer is "don't be a dumbass, go get another
> > alignment")
> > -Kevin
> >  
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