DIY Alignment Guide - Align Your Car At Home

After establishing ride height and placing driver weight in the car, check the tire pressure. This slick, 60-psi, analog gauge from Intercomp is much more accurate than those cheap pencil gauges we used to use. We also took the time to convert our old, rusty lug nuts to a set of McGard tapered-seat lug nuts.

After establishing ride height and placing driver weight in the car, check the tire pressu

What Tools Will You Need?
Like any other job, the better the tools, the more accurate the result. We've experimented in the past with digital angle finders, which work very well but require math to calculate caster angle. Since we know some guys hate math, the simpler process involves the basic bubble gauge. This technology has been around almost as long as the automobile, and if you pay attention, you can do a great alignment with almost any bubble gauge. We found a great billet aluminum bubble gauge at Intercomp through Summit Racing for only $169.95, which sounded reasonable. If you are lucky enough to own several cars, you could easily recoup the typical $50.00 alignment charge in only three jobs. Plus, you'll have another bitchin' tool to upgrade your toolbox. That alone is worth the price of admission.

There are plenty of sources that claim you need a set of turn plates to do an alignment correctly, but while handy, they are not essential. Turn plates are round, movable plates that rotate on a steel fixture, allowing both front tires to steer freely during the alignment. This allows you to perform the 20-degree turn-in and turn-out for measuring caster. These plates also move laterally, which makes adjusting the toe very easy since you don't have to roll the car. We found a set of used turn plates at the swap meet for $30.00, which is a super price because new ones can cost $600.00 or more. We also used a set of aluminum toe plates from Intercomp to measure toe. Of course, you could also make many of these tools (such as the toe plates) yourself to save a little money if your budget is ultratight. If you can only afford one tool, go with the bubble gauge.

Reading camber is really easy. Just place the bubble on the brake hub, level the gauge, and read the camber on either the positive or negative scales. Only one scale of the two will be active, in this case negative camber. The bubble indicates 3/4 degree of negative camber.

Reading camber is really easy. Just place the bubble on the brake hub, level the gauge, an

How To Align Your Muscle Car
The first step to a quality alignment is to establish the car's ride height. If you've just finished a front suspension upgrade with new springs, for example, the ride height will change once the springs settle. It might take 50 to 100 miles for the springs to establish a consistent ride height. Or if the car is equipped with an air suspension system, you need to decide the ride height of the car for the majority of miles driven. Anytime the ride height changes, camber, caster, and toe will also vary. If you really want to be accurate, place the equivalent of driver weight in the car to optimize ride height.

Once the ride height is set, camber is the first setting to check. Most bubble gauges are equipped with a magnetic adapter that allows you to place the gauge on the brake hub. Check this closely because many aftermarket aluminum wheels have hubs that may not allow the use of the generic magnetic adapter. Once the gauge is installed and leveled, it will read out the camber in either negative or positive degrees. Let's say the gauge reads 1/2 degree positive camber. A good muscle car starting point is 1/2 degree negative. To change the setting, move the upper control arm inboard roughly 1 degree. Cars equipped with an upper control arm are generally mounted with a cross-shaft. Inserting an equal number of shims between the framerail and the cross-shaft on both mounting bolts moves the upper control arm inboard on both studs and creates the necessary negative camber. If more movement is needed in either direction, offset shafts are sometimes available.

By Jeff Smith

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