Alignment Guy is retarded....

[JasonC]

take it in to a shop. watching a video isn't the same as a readout.

jason, you should be punishing the racism, sexism, and prejudice along with the personal attacks.

I'm not going to be an overbearing admin that's going to police this site like the Gestapo. But when someone goes out of their way to go on a tangent like that. I'll do something. Otherwise members usually keep the others in check on their wrong doings.

[L8 apexr]

When I do my own alignments I put the car on stands with the stands as close to the outer ball joints as possible,you need to bounce the car and probably tap the bottom of the stands outwards to not bind the arms.Makes it much easier to check/set/reheck and repeat untill happy without jacking and guessing,dropping the car and rechecking and then jacking and repeating untill correct.

[LJ851]

I see what he means and I have wondered this myself. Picture you have the steering wheel straight and the wheels are parallel but pointed at a slight angle left or right. The toe measurements still come out correctly as the wheels are parallel but they aren't exactly straight because there is no reference point to straight.

I'm probably not being clear here but picture them like the sides of a parallelogram while the wheel is pointing straight.

Front toe is a total number, there is no left and right toe. You could set the toe with your steering wheel not centered or your steering rack not centered but that wouldn't be very smart. An alignment guy on his fancy machine could also do the same thing. It would still drive perfectly with the steering wheel crooked however.

[squidmaster]

take it in to a shop. watching a video isn't the same as a readout.

jason, you should be punishing the racism, sexism, and prejudice along with the personal attacks.

[chadthestampede]

As far toe being equal that is what the steering wheel is for. If you didn't center the wheel when you started (toe boards or fancy alignment rack) you only have yourself to blame.

I see what he means and I have wondered this myself. Picture you have the steering wheel straight and the wheels are parallel but pointed at a slight angle left or right. The toe measurements still come out correctly as the wheels are parallel but they aren't exactly straight because there is no reference point to straight.

I'm probably not being clear here but picture them like the sides of a parallelogram while the wheel is pointing straight.

[seatown88]

I bought these last summer in order to make toe adjustments. They appear to be from the manufacturer of some of longacre's parts.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Toe-In-Plates-/170844478703?pt=Race_Car_Parts&hash=item27c71fdcef&vxp=mtr

They work great for what I need.

[funcrew]

So basically, you measure the front and the back of the boards and the difference is the toe in, and you adjust your tie rods to whatever you want it to be? Do you do it off the ground or on Ramps?

You drive the car onto a level concrete surface and gently stop. The suspension has to be completely settled to get an accurate reading.

[chadthestampede]

So basically, you measure the front and the back of the boards and the difference is the toe in, and you adjust your tie rods to whatever you want it to be? Do you do it off the ground or on Ramps?

You measure the front and back of the boards and adjust the tie rods until they have the same measurement.

Off the ground will give you an inaccurate reading and be impossible. Ideally on a level surface possibly with something under the wheels to help them rotate when you adjust the tie rods.

A video demonstrating their use:

[Vivek]

So basically, you measure the front and the back of the boards and the difference is the toe in, and you adjust your tie rods to whatever you want it to be? Do you do it off the ground or on Ramps?

[LJ851]

FYI, unless you measure off the wheel and not the tire, a tape measure alignment will not be very accurate. I used a few piece of wood trim taped to my tires once (tires were wider then the wheels) to get it close to drive to the alignment shop. Got it perfect down to the 1/32" and was off almost 2º. Not to mention, using boards doesn't take into account if the amount of toe is equal or not.

I'm going to have to disagree with you. I'm not sure how you were so inaccurate with your set up but i have been using this method for years and it is very accurate.Maybe you had a slightly bent wheel?

I have had the adjustments verified on state of the art alignment racks and they are well within spec. That goes for complete 4 wheel alignments with camber, castor, and toe (911) using only string and jack stands. My experience is that it is as accurate as i want it to be.



As far toe being equal that is what the steering wheel is for. If you didn't center the wheel when you started (toe boards or fancy alignment rack) you only have yourself to blame.

[AndrewBird]

FYI, unless you measure off the wheel and not the tire, a tape measure alignment will not be very accurate. I used a few piece of wood trim taped to my tires once (tires were wider then the wheels) to get it close to drive to the alignment shop. Got it perfect down to the 1/32" and was off almost 2º. Not to mention, using boards doesn't take into account if the amount of toe is equal or not.

[zig553]

oh good, racism is still going strong
i was worried since missippi just recently abolished slavery, thats not a joke, its real

yeah, i figured once that last nail that missippi was holding things altogether with was lost,,,,well you fill in the blank...

and i got even more worried whe the harlem shuffle outbreak hit....

but thanks bmwguy325is for showing me there is still 'hope'.



if only you could post a conferate fag waving in the breeze behind this ...... oh sweet dream......



i see youre in utah...what a shocker there.. you vote for romney becuase he was the best candidate
not cause he was white
not cause he belongs your cult. are you the cult that believes some alien zorg dumped in a volocano 20 billions years ago or are you the cult of the guy who found some solid gold tablets that only he could read that said 12 year old wives were ok? sorry i get my religious crazy groups all mixed up cause i throw them all in together, sort of like my screwdriver drawer in the tool box.
i'd call you a douche bag but dbags get near waffleswaffleswaffleswaffleswaffles and serve a purpose.
youre just a waste of a sperm cell. your dad should have shot that load on the wall

What the hell are you talking about?

[Earendil]

Since toe is the only adjustment possible on a stock E30, i personally have no idea why anyone would go to an alignment shop ever.

For the price of one alignment you could buy a set of toe boards and adjust your own toe forever and ever, it is not difficult at all.

Last I read up on home brew alignments, a level surface was required. Of my last 3 houses I lived in, one had a sloped gravel drive way and the other hand a tilted short little paced spot. I finally have a place with a garage so this is at least possible, but my guess is that "most people" don't do enough to their suspension to warrant doing alignments with any sort of frequency :)

What's that saying? Something about a pot calling a kettle black, I think?

He said "black"! Racist!

[kickinindian]

thanks LJ851 for the link!

also thanks for the timeout JasonC

[funcrew]

This is what you want.

http://www.longacreracing.com/catalog/item.asp?id=152&catid=5

..

This. It's cheap, DIY, easy to understand, and gives you complete control over the only adjustment in a stock E30 suspension. Just make sure your wife gives back the tape measure after she borrows it, 'cause you need 2 identical ones from the same manufacturing lot.