It's time. I need to pick one up. Looking for the cheapest way out possible, honestly.
Ive never used one. Never seen one in use. Have no idea how to actually use one.
What do i buy? How do i use it?
Been doing half ass alignments for my daily drivers and toys for a couple of years, and its the caster that always kicks my shiny.
After banging my head on an alignment for a week I took my car to my friend at the tire shop. He has a 4 post lift with the full laser alignment setup. 10 minutes later my car drove like it was on rails.....
I no longer bother, I line it up by eye good enough to make it to the tire shop.
Dailey's Goodyear - Hillsboro OR
If I want changes to the factory specs he's glad to do so.
That is my baseline, I can make changes from there, if I get too far off base or hit something I can go back and start over.
I have paid tne man when i beat my head for too long.
However, on Amazon theres some magnetic base gauges for 1/2 the price of paying the man.
Id love to make a dollar go further.
I've had good luck with the Fasttrax gauge. It wasn't too hard to learn how to use it. When I got mine, I first used it on a vehicle with a known alignment, so I had a reference to know if I was reading it right. It has saved me quite a bit over the years.
I have the FasTrax gauge. If you are trying to be cheap, use a straight edge, level and a calculator. Or some string and jack stands. The Esprit shop manual shows you how to do it with string. But for ease, the FasTrax gauge is the way to go. I also put a straight edge on the back wheels and a laser level pointer on the straight edge for the back wheel alignment part, so they are both pointing in the right direction. And I have a HF toe gauge that I don't think they sell anymore.
I didn't sit through the whole video but seeing the stuff on the table seems like the one I made. I just used old school bubble level Watch this
I have one of these but I bought it years ago at about a $100 less.
https://www.pegasusautoracing.com/productdetails.asp?RecID=1206
It works and has saved me hundreds of dollars for both my friends and I. You just need a level surface and the SmartCamber tool can help you get that. I use 1 ft X 1 ft squares of 1/8 and 1/4 inch hardboard to make level pads for each tire of the car. Some people have used floor tile as well and I see no reason that would not work as well. To level the pads to each other get a length of square tubing or something that is straight and stiff whose length is at least the wheelbase of your car. Put the Smart Camber tool on that and add pads to get to zero.
You'll need to log in to post.
