you have to have special machinery to get it in line properly if i'm not mistaken.

 

Yeah... not gonna happen lol. Every vehicle is going to be different... there is no set amount of "inches" the outer tie is to be spun on the inner tie rod. The is not exact spot where the caster or camber is going to be exactly at spec. All cars are different.


Just go get it aligned properly...

 

So there is no formula or DIY way to do it?

That guy with the mustang is what they call me

 

DIY- Drive to a shop. Pay money. Leave. End DIY

 

+1, i just got my wifes car aligned and its only like $70.

 

It can be done. It's just painstaking as f*ck and you likely won't get it absolutely perfect, but you can get close. My brother and I did it after installing a 6" lift on my F150. This was a temporary fix to drive it home (1 1/2 hour drive) until I could get a real alignment. The dude about **** after he attached all his fancy laser gear alignment stuff because we got it within spec. We could've just gotten lucky though. I dunno.

We raised the front end, marked the centerline of the tires with a nail while I spun the tire to mark it all the way around. Then start adjusting the tie rods until the measurement from centerline to centerline on the front and rear of the tires is equal. Then drop the car and measure again. The weight of the car on the suspension will affect the toe-in or toe-out. So you'll have to raise it up and adjust for that multiple times until you get it right.

As I stated, it's a pain in the dick, but you can do it.

If you mess up and fry your tires, then you know you did it wrong.

 

Put a 10inch lift on my f350 and aligned it myself perfect cruising at 85 on the highway hands off the wheel straight as an arrow. My pops had some old timer trick with measuring between the rear of the front tires across and front across then adjust til they are the same wont be perfect but pretty damn close, drove it like that for 20,000 miles too

 

Just dish out the money on an alignment. It will cost you more if you screw it up because you'll have to get new tires and an alignment. In the last year I've spent $290 on 3 alignments. A small shop screwed up my alignment because they still do them manually with measuring tools instead of investing in a computerized lazer machine. Had to spend $100 last Novemeber to have a buddy at the dealership correct the alignment after the out side edges of the tires were already worn. After the winter I got new tires so had a site sponsor on my local mustang forum do an alignment for $90 cause my buddy no longer worked at the dealership so he couldn't do the little adjustment that was needed for free. Today I got rid of the Steeda bumpsteer kit I had and replaced with Moog outer tie rod ends and will be getting the car re-aligned tomorrow for $100 at a shop that works on and does alignments for exotic sports cars and super cars. Since I drive the car year round the heim joints on the Steeda kit were rusty probably causing creaking noise I've been hearing for the past 2 months. I had the entire front end checked out and this seemed like the cause. Greasable tie rod ends will be much better since I do drive the car in the winter.

 

What he said^^^
After my lift install, I had no choice but to spend two hours drinking beer and trying to unfuck my alignment. The front end would've ripped right off if we'd tried to drive it with the toe-out it had.
Notice after spending hours doing that, I still had it checked by a real alignment shop before I fried mud tires that cost 325$ a pop.

 

Im about at this point & I'm not looking forward to spending the dime

 

Man I was hoping for closer, guess I'll just have to find something local dang it

 

I'm not sure where you are... but if you have a Farm & Fleet near you, that's where I work.

 

They can align a lowered car for that cheap?

 

And I'm located near champaign

 

We have 3. One for the alignment bay. And 2 for lifts.


---------------------------
Not online. On the phone.

 

to get in the ballpark I would think you could tie a string (like kite string) on the rear of the rear tire, pull it straight out from the wheel (no bend), pull it tight, and see if it lines up. and then adjust the front tire to sit flat against that tight string.

 

I did the alignment on my car to get it to the alignment shop and I did the alignment on my festiva.


All you need is a plum bob, measuring tape and mental competence.

 

Theres plenty of YouTube videos one of the better ones shows you how to get your garage floor perfectly level using tiles a bucket of water and a measuring stick. I would drop the link in butbim using our godforsaken iPad and it's not very apparent to me how to grab a link with out emailing it to my self arg!

 

Toe adjustements are easy. Search online and you will find numerous examples of using jackstands, string, tape measure.

I installed steeda bumpsteer kit and X2 baljoints recently and had to adjust toe.

 

Jesus Christ i thought my wheels were dirty lol

 

Just pay to get it done properly. Setting the toe is one thing but I hope you know how to set camber + caster and where the adjustments are made. You will also want to find out the range (on toe, camber and caster) you are allowed if you plan on doing it yourself.

Sure I've done alignments in my driveway.. but that was with lifted vehicles with front solid axles.. way easier. Any bafoon could toe those in.

 

I've eye-balled it a few times and the alignment was dead-on....

 

I use the string method, however make sure you take measurements with the car sitting on the ground, not in the air!
When the car is sitting on it's springs suspension geometry changes, so all readings and changes should be done with the car supporting it's weight to be accurate.
I use a Level to adjust camber, and for caster I set my CC plates halfway which is ballpark, but the Maximum Motorsports instructions says not to go more than halfway positive for caster.
When I do the string method I set the front tires a touch (1\16th) toe-in, since that is original spec.

 

We convinced the wheel alignment class at my school to use my car as a diag example cause I just changed my A arms and my alignment is SUPER ****ED, if I drove anywhere i think my car would split in half lol, also had a hell of a time adjust my coilovers on an unlevel as **** parking lot lol big pain, but I think I got it all right!! my ball joints were so bad you could hold the old a arms in your hand and shake em and the ball joints would slap around lol. kinda excited to see what a proper alignment and good ball joints along with new A-Arms and coilover installed CORRECTLY will do, espcially seeeing as how when I did the coilovers the first time I left the coil springs in

 

Well Id post some pics on what it looked like while we had the line run before the toe was fixed but I cant figure out how to post a picture for ****

 

Well the computer tells them measure ments for your year make and model to factory specs . When you have different suspension (aftermarket) the computer no longer has the alignment specs for the suspension. They change the computer to manual mode and these big disc are mounted to each wheel that measure the distances and wheel spread. You adjust tie rods in the front until the 4 discs communicate an even distance between them. I just finished an ASE cert class for chassis and suspension and this was a huge part of it haha so learned how to use the new machines.

 

My shop charges $45.

 

I paid $150 last alignment..bull **** because he KNEW NO ONE ELS COULD DO IT

 

I got a lifetime alignment from firestone, was like $120 or so. I've used it more than enough for it to pay for itself already. They've never given me any hassle about doing it.

 

You can do it, if you buy a Camber/ caster gauge, toe plates, and some string, and level ground. But I can guarentee the gauge is upwards of 300+ that's if they even make a way to attach it to our wheels/ hubs