http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/LONGA...36558479QQrdZ1

or say this one?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/LONGA...32537924QQrdZ1

 

Yep. But I prefer the type that mounts to the wheel lip rather than the spindle. You want to align the car with the wheels on at ride height so I find it simpler to read from the wheel lip rather than fitting the gauge to the spindle (and hoping the surface is true).

It's common to use an adaptor that fits to the wheel and then fit your magnetic spindle type gauge to that. These are commonly called "hands free" or "Dunlop" adaptors:

 

i dont konw it looks really iffy to me

i'd say spend $90 on a real allignment rather than $120 on that thing

 

Yea, but the shop alignment is only once, and you can't align the car differently at the track. The guy I help crew for (GT3 BMW 2002) has one of these:

http://www.longacreracing.com/catalo...d=1219&catid=5

They're easy to use, and have the benefit of being able to check and re-align the car an infinite number of times, so use it twice and it's payed for itself. We changed the setup a couple different times in one weekend using that gauge and some car mounted strings for toe. Many racers have gauges like that, it's makes setting up the car so much easier when you can check everything.

 

Damnon, that second picture, I have considred that unit, but it is hella pricey. What do you use on track days? And I have seen a version of that wheel adapter as well. But is the reading accurateon gauges liek that when the car is up on stands? Or do you have to measure the camber and caster while the car is on the groudn each time?

 

By the time you have a gauge and a handsfree adaptor you're going to have $250-$300 in it unless you find some deals. They still pay for themselves quickly when you consider a decent 4 wheel alignment is often $100.

I steal my friend's SmartCamber gauge. $250ish with adaptor. Available at lots of places.

http://www.soloperformance.com/Defau...&productID=916

You can't align a car while it's wheels are in the air. You need the car at ride height with the weight of the car resting on the tires so the suspension is resting just as it will on the road. You can use some sort of platform under each tire to raise the car for convenience. Ideally you'd align the car with ballast equal to your weight resting on the driver's seat as well.

 

The surface the car's on also needs to be level for the gauge to read correctly. You can use thin sheets of plywood, or whatever to shim the surface to be level.

Those hands free adapters will only work properly on wheels with some lip. On the BMW, he was using some Team Dynamics wheels that didn't have any lip at all, so it wouldn't have worked.

 

Most of the digital gauges and many bubble gauges can be caliberated to an uneven surface.

They'll work on any wheel. If the wheel has no lip the adaptor won't hold itself in place and you'd merely have to hold the pins of the adaptor against the outer edge of the wheel each time you make a check. If this is a pain a little resourcefulness will solve the problem: bungee cord the adaptor to the wheel.

 

Well the point I was trying to make was precisely that, it won't hold itself on without a lip.

With an uneven surface wouldn't you have to reset the gauge when going from side to side? It's pretty easy to make the surface level.

 

So your saying I would have to jack the car up on say 4 strong boxes or somethign and do the alignment while its on the boxes right?

 

Leave the car on the ground, check the numbers, jack it up, change something, put it down, roll it around and bounce it to get it settled, then chack again. Repeat untill done.

Putting it on boxes wouldn't be good, because the suspension probably won't be in it's resting position when you put it down, which will skew the results. Besides, do you want to be under the car when it's on boxes?

 

Well sturdy large metally boxes, or concrete. But I guess I can go up and down up and down...just a pain in the *** with a lowered FD....

 

Simplest way to raise the car is to stack several 2x12's under each tire. This makes a pad that will raise the car about 4.5". You don't need to be able to crawl completely under the car, only enough to reach the tie rod ends and your camber adjusters (lower control arms on an FD for instance).


Sure. On the digital gauges this involves pressing a button. I prefer to work with a level surface as well, but it's not a requirement.