Borrowed a fastrax self alignment tool from a friend, and did my own alignment last night.

Unbelievably simple!

Took me a couple hours, but thats with me being overly **** about stuff and not really knowing what i was doing.

I used a laser level to help identify a line parallel to the car- and a couple sections from the sunday paper as turntables for the front wheels.

Anyway, just thought i'd toss the comment out there, as it was really easy, and nice not to have to hassle with trusting a shop to work on my car and or fight with them to use modern specs I want instead of the crappy factory specs.

:thumbsup:

 

btw, in case anyone cares, the specs i aligned to were

-1/4* camber
+1 1/4* caster

Toe-in is 1/8"

After i drive it a little bit, I think i may try and loosen the pass side cross shaft again and see if i can slip one more shim in to give the pass side a little more caster to overcome the road crown... but we'll see how lazy i am and how it feels on the road. it was late last night and i didn't road test it.

 

That is good to know.

FWIW, here is a link to the website for those that might not know about these tools:

http://www.spcperformance.com/PROD_D...OOLFASTSM.html

I've thought about picking up a set of these. For about $200 you can purchase both of the tools from Summit. I don't think you can do a thrust angle alignment though.

 

i don't think i'd spend the extra $$ on the toe measurement part- the tool tends to be pretty delecatly hooked on the car. I wound up using a velcro strap to hold it to the wheel tightly as it kept wanting to fall off.

For measuring toe- i have a 3 foot peice of wood & a 3 foot peice of angle aluminum. Mark the center, and two outter marks to measure from. (i cut a notch the aluminum at the marks so the tape measure will stay put better)
I bungee cord them to the tires- then measure in front & behind the tires- subtract the difference and there is your toe.

 

Interesting.

So you're saying the caster/camber tool doesn't even stay hooked to the wheel like it is supposed to? Is your friends worn out or is it just a poor design?

 

His is the same fasttrax setup you posted a link to- It is supposed to stay on the wheel by adjusting the 3 fingers out to "clamp" on the inside of the wheel lip.

Problem was for me, maybe my rims are too slick or something, but it would just pop off. It was no problem though, iwht it adjusted tight to the wheel, i just looped the velcro around one of the wheel spokes and snug to the tools top arm and it held fine.

I did a bunch of reading about using this tool and others for alignments and it was a pretty common complaint that it needed extra help to be secured to the wheel so i was prepared.

Its actually a pretty good design, but i think it would be difficult to design something that will work with every possible wheel style out there.

There is another style tool that attaches to the wheel hub- but unless your hub is perfectly flat, it would require you to take off the center cap for your wheel.

Now that i've used this one, i would probably buy one for myself if/when i need to align another car. It pretty much pays for itself the first time you don't have to pay a shop.

 

I use the Longacre bubble level tool that magnetically attaches to the hub after removing the cap. Works well. I use long pieces of straight wood and tape measures to set toe in.

 

Thanks for the info. From what you've said it seems like a decent tool. I might have to pick one up sometime.

 

The alignment shop I used to go to, used bungee cords to hold their caster tool onto my wheels and it was a Bear tool or Snap On. A high dollar tool. Just hook into the slots in the wheels...

 

I use plastic trash bags.

Norm