DIY alignment question

We do a lot of suspension maintenance on the rallycross beretta. That means it needs a lot of alignments. At around $100 a pop for a shop to do it is hard to justify on a car we have maybe $300 invested in. But alignments suck to do at home. Measure, jack it up, adjust, set it down, roll it back and forth to get the suspension settled, repeat for the next hour or four. Real alignment shops have those plates on the rack that let the front wheels move freely so the suspension isnt in a bind. That got me thinking, if i had something similar it would make it a lot easier. So i thought why not these ? They should function the same, beside raising the front up an inch or two. If that is an issue it could be corrected by parking the rear tires on 2x8s. Would this idea work? What i would really like to do is come up with a safe way to do this dolly idea but while raising the car 12-18 inches so i could slide under the car and make adjustments with weight on the wheels. Any ideas on that? Am i missing any important aspects that shoot my plan in the ass? Thanks

All you really need is two 12" square sheets of light sheet metal with a layer of grease between them under each wheel. 

I use large vinyl floor tiles that were on a "get it out of the store" cheap price. The entire box held 8 tiles - perfect!

I used to use a sprinkling of table salt to help them rotate, but later switched to grease - I prefer the salt.

I actually had a 4-wheel alignment machine for a while, but it took longer to set it up than it did to do the alignment my old-school way.  Yeah - arguably more accurate, but without a drive-on hoist, it wasn't easier.

I've seen in a lot of videos of race shops that they will pick the car up on a lift and then set it down on fabbed up steel stands that are roughly 2x2x2'. Plenty of room to get underneath and make adjustments. They'll have adjustable feet so they can make them perfectly level too.

I use my corner weight scales and rolloff platforms whenever I can. With my S2000 I have *just barely* enough room to get underneath and turn the adjusters. Oh BTW, for those thinking about rolloff platforms, if you think you'll be able to roll the car on and off the scales by yourself, you can't. So I just do whatever I can to minimize friction with grease tiles, trashbags, etc.

Some pieces of thin laminate cut into squares works when the laminated sides are put together.

use multiple pieces to get the car level where you’re doing the alignment and mark the outlines and pieces with paint to make setup faster next time.

we eventually built stands to raise the car enough to sit on its tires and the plates and allow us to slide underneath and adjust the toe.

you still have to bounce the car and roll it back and forth to be sure of the alignment.

I have a pair of these. So far I've really only used them to set toe because I've always been cramped for time, but one you get your process figured out, I would think these would fit your needs pretty well. (They do 4 lug and 5 lug now!)

When i was Dwarf car racing I used plastic cutting boards under the wheels the 1/16 sheet type  come in a 4 pack so buy two packs for around $8.  Camber and Caster got measured with an angle finder peldulum type but later i switched to digital cube type made for saw blades just stick ti the the brake rotor. camber is read wheels straight caster is full lock right minus full lock left or incase of one car i had 1.5 turn each way as it didn't turn the same angle to the right as it did left..

I use similar tire castors for alignments (already had them anyway). Made some 2x4 cribbing that sits on top of the castor to get some extra height. Some string and alignments are easy.

But if you must buy, alignment turntables do exist.  NMNA .  But please let us know what you find.

I forgot to add, I use my longacre turn plates on the front wheels when checking for caster, but honestly grease tiles work just as well if you don't need to do caster sweeps. If I'm working on something that I don't plan on adjusting caster or it isn't adjustable then I'll just use the tiles.

I've never bothered with the caster settings on it, I definitely don't get super scientific with the alignments. I set the camber and toe to as close as I can get to zero, which is the factory spec. I like the idea of building a stand for each wheel to get it up off the ground, I'm not sure I like the idea of trusting my life to it.

In reply to gearheadmb : All of my life I’ve done alignments with nothing more than 2  pieces of string and 4 cheap jack stands.  Oh and now days a digital infrared thermometer.  ( in the 60’s through the 80’s I just used my hand)  

Hey before you start to laugh, doesn’t your wife check her kids temps with her hand?  Well normal is 98.6 and she can feel a temp of 100 degrees can’t she? 

I put my hand on tires to feel what chamber I had. It didn’t matter what the number was as long as the tread was equally warm across it’s whole width. If the inner edge was hot I straightened the tire up, if outer edge was hot I laid the tire down. 

If the center was hotter I lowered tire pressure if the edges were hotter I raised it. 

Go ahead and poo-Poo that if you want but Roger Rager showed me how to do that and he led the Indy 500 using an old engine from a bus!  

In reply to gearheadmb :

I have a few sets of dollies like your link.  They won't work for what you are looking for.

The casters have to orient themselves with each other before they will roll freely.  You have to push pretty hard to get the car started rolling (after which it is fine).  That would effectively be the same thing as binding, so no they won't work.

I usually use 2 pieces of 12" square vinyl floor tile with a little grease in between.  They work great!

I would suggest doing this on top of something. I use my scales, which lift the car about 2".  That is enough to make accessing under the car for adjustments a little easier.  So, the "stand" you described to get the car off the ground doesn't have to be elaborate or unsafe.  Just a few chunks of 2x12.   

On the Jeep I usually tape-measure the toe (turn plates would definitely be nice).  Camber isn't adjustable without changing ball joints, so that gets ignored.  I set caster mostly by feel.  

I built some turntables with these bearings and plywood.  I built blocks for the rear wheels to set on to keep the car close to level.

In reply to pushrod36 :

Those things get expensive fast!

Actually, the cheapest way to do it is to cut a gallon ziplock bag in half. Put the two sheets on top of each other on a flat surface. Works better than grease plates. Any plastic will work. Thicker can be better for long term durability.

Our race team has the budget for all the latest gadgets, and that is what we use.

That being said we put them on our scales as a flat surface, which allows us to get under the car to adjust in place. However, I've used the plastic at home with great results. Also works to move a car around a garage with a good floor and race slicks.

SVreX said:

In reply to gearheadmb :

I have a few sets of dollies like your link.  They won't work for what you are looking for.

The casters have to orient themselves with each other before they will roll freely.  You have to push pretty hard to get the car started rolling (after which it is fine).  That would effectively be the same thing as binding, so no they won't work.

I usually use 2 pieces of 12" square vinyl floor tile with a little grease in between.  They work great!

I would suggest doing this on top of something. I use my scales, which lift the car about 2".  That is enough to make accessing under the car for adjustments a little easier.  So, the "stand" you described to get the car off the ground doesn't have to be elaborate or unsafe.  Just a few chunks of 2x12.   

I hadn't thought about the caster bind, that is a good point. Thanks

I made this with bearings under the stand I made. Turns easy. I did not want to spend $ on turnplates. Plastic bags just seemed funny 

I bought a set of cheap turn plates but I've used the greased tile trick with success as well.  I've got some stands that I made to set the car on so I don't have to jack it up each time I make an adjustment.  The stands are just 2x4s with a Luan top.  Some of the stands have more layers of Luan than the others to compensate for the slope of my shop floor.  If I put the correct stands in the locations marked on the floor then the tops of all r stands are at the same hight. In this picture my Formula Ford is sitting on them but they're plenty strong for the 3,400# Camaro in the background.  Please excuss the messy shop.

So, side question, and I don't mean to thread jack, but if you only adjust camber (on a Miata) does it screw with the toe and caster?

My toe and caster are great, but I would like to see if I can get more front camber without having to pay for an alignment. 

In reply to gearheadmb :

You're making it a lot harder than it needs to be.  
rule 1 

start out square.  4 wheels pointed the same direction. Same tire pressure, same amount of camber and caster. I use string and tape measure. 
now drive the car like you want to drive it.  
 

rule 2. 
come in hot and take tire temps.  Inside, middle, outside. All 4 tires as fast as you can. one person takes temps. One writes them down. One of those infrared digital temp gauges work best. I paid $29 about 3 decades ago. They probably are about $15 now. 
 

Rule 3 

figure out what you want to change and by how much.make it big enough so you can see if you're going in the right direction.   
 

rule 4

go back out and drive it.  Is the car faster or slower?  Better or worse?  make sure it's always the same driver driving the same way.  
The  tires will tell you what they want but don't be surprised if the driver wants something different.  
 

Rule 5 

the stop watch is the judge. If the car is faster with the tires happy the tires win the arguemen. If the driver is faster his way the driver wins the argument.  
 

You'll drive yourself nuts trying to get one exact set of numbers.  Let the car tires and the driver determine what works best.  
Be prepared to change to adjust to the next track.  Some tracks want more  or less camber  caster.  Depending on a track layout and temps.   
don't forget rain will need another set.  
Just  keep a good set of records  and eventually you'll know, OK I'm running at Elkhart Lake this weekend and it's forecasting heavy rain. 3 thick shims on the left front. 2 thin on the right front. The small swaybar in the rear and the 1 inch bar on the front with the mounts 1&3/4 inch from the end.  26 pounds of tire pressure front 23 rear.  Unless temps drop below 50 then go to 28 & 25  3/4 front sway bar 2&1/4 inch from the end  

In reply to _ :

Yes you have to re-set the toe if you change the camber or caster on a Miata. Toe is last move on all cars except the newest race cars and Lotus Elise/Exige.

One thing and the first is to make sure the surface you are measuring on is level or your settings will be off.

In my garage I had to use shims on the right side.

I have a couple turn tables that are free to anyone who wants to come and get them.   Shipping is out since they weigh a "ton".

I'm way too late to suggest the 'greased sheets' method but I will suggest something perhaps even cruder. My plastic drive-on ramps rotate on smooth concrete really well. When im aligning at home I usually drive up on those ramps and then set toe with a tape measure. It usually takes more than one try if i'm trying to get it good enough to give back to someone else, but i also have access to a real alignment machine most of the year so im not shooting for 'perfect' at home. 'Good enough to get to work' is about all.