7 dollar wheel alignment rig - only slightly ghetto

[roadsailing]

Ok, first up I’m not pretending for a minute this was my idea, it is pretty straightforward and I saw it in a zoom/hpi/drift battle magazine anyway (they just showed photos of a kit they bought off ebay, so it isn't their idea either) but it took seeing it to make me realise how simple it was,

So I am putting it here.

This setup is pretty much only good for setting static toe, having said that you will get better wheel alignments out of it than some i have seen shops do.

I’m not sure how you would get 2mm or whatever toe in, but most of the time you just want zero toe anyway, and you can measure that with this setup.

To build it you will need:

2 tape measures (mine cost $2.50 each at bunnings)

Some wood, 2X4 inch for the feet and some 1X2 inch or so for the straight sticks, probably a better idea to use square steel or aluminium tube as it won’t warp like wood will.



this is the whole thing, it is basically two sticks, one is just a stick the other has tape measures on it so you can measure the difference in distance front and back. I put the tape measures 1 metre apart as 1 metre seemed as good a distance as any.

The feet should be as high as you can get them without the tape contacting any part of the body of the car.



This is the side you measure from, the dumb stick is set up like this on the other side, with the tapes hooked onto it. The difference between the two readings is your toe in or out.



Here is some detail of one of the tape measure mounts. note the alloy plate the tape measure clips to to keep it in place. You simply read off the measurement at one side of the "straight stick" and compare it to the other one.

that’s about it, I would suggest hand picking your two tape measures and making sure they read the same distance, or not using the end when you fasten them to the straight stick on the other side (for example, secure them in place so 50mm is at one edge of the straight stick)

Also it might give you better results if you put blocks between the rims and the straight sticks (especially if you have raised sidewall lettering) tyre sidewall seems to give me reasonable measurements but I haven’t used it to align my car yet.

Enjoy!

[willwal98]

looks good. Personally if I were to be using this type of setup i'd prefer to take the reading from further up the tyre (bigger blocks under the stick). Would make it easier to line it up and tyre pressure would be less influence.

[WDE_BDY]

looks good. Personally if I were to be using this type of setup i'd prefer to take the reading from further up the tyre (bigger blocks under the stick). Would make it easier to line it up and tyre pressure would be less influence.

Except if your car low then it wont fit. Although you could build it up so there is a high board to rest against the wheel and a connected low board to put the tape measures on.

Callum

[Ben Wilson]

I've used a different method:

Just strectch a string across two jack stands at hub height. Find a datum on the car and measure front and back to make sure the string is parrellell to the car. Then just measure from the front and back of the wheel to the string.

[Wezelton]

I like what you have made there, but the only downside to timber is it is often not perfectly straight. Personaly i would use aluminium angle or tube, its cheap enough and milled straight. But with aluminium, if you weld the frame together it MAY warp. I would bolt it.

But either way, i think i'll make one up, learn more about my car

Wes.

[thechuckster]

fwiw: this is what i've seen a few rally cars do:
-make jigs to attach to rear and front of car - purpose of jigs to attach long horizontal bar to front and rear of car that is at same height of wheel centres at full droop
-put matching marks on the ends of both bars

to use:
-attach string from front bar to rear bar running along side of car
-use matching marks on both bars and on both sides
-use metal ruler to measure gap from string to tyre face or rim edge on either side of hub centre
-difference at each wheel will indicate toe in/out

[roadsailing]

bit of an update, i have used this a few times now, and it works pretty good, i usually just aim for a smidge of toe in and thats it, toe out feels a bit too wierd.

[Billzilla]

I've been doing my cars using gear much like that for nearly 20 years. It's just as accurate as the gear in the expensive shops.
I can also do camber very accurately, though castor is harder to do.

[roadsailing]

i would suggest getting one shop wheel alignment to make sure everything is even, then taking it from there, no need to go back to a shop unless you bend something majorly.

i dont think you need to measure camber and castor so much (apart from making sure you get them even) as its more a case of "needs more" or "needs less"

i castered mine up by fitting KE70 strut tops, but with my new suspension i bet the rubber mounts are flexing a lot more than they used to.

[allencr]

I'd keep the measurments closer to the OD of the tire/tyre.
The toe is greatly exagerated with it setup so far in front & in back of the tire.
Otherwise its fine, but string is quicker & closer to the wheel center.

[Mos]

-make jigs to attach to rear and front of car - purpose of jigs to attach long horizontal bar to front and rear of car that is at same height of wheel centres at full droop

Don't really follow why you would do this at full droop. Isn't static toe set up at ride height?

Mos.

[Biggo]

for camber, would it be possible to use an extened pendulum set on th top and bottom of the tyre? Ive seen a hpi video that used a rather fancy version of this setup, but for more ghetto u could just use one of them plastic 180 deg. thingys