DIY Wheel Alignment.

[Albert27]

 Got to have two new tyres and the outer edge is a bit worn so wondering if the alignment is out. Wouldn't mind saving myself £50 if it's not too complex and possible to DIY.   Does anybody on here do this and how easy is it to do?

 

Any advice welcome....

[andypsp]

you will have no way of knowing how far to adjust it etc. tracking is not normal £50, go to a small local garage around £15 to £20 

[isetta]

are both worn equally on outer edge?   if only one, not so likely to be tracking.  is it from taking roundabouts too fast? 

I have done it myself but it is not that easy.

Firstly you need a tracking guage. I made one out of a long sturdy metal pole - longer than width of car.  On each end I welded motorbike wheel spindles at right angles to the pole.- the type that have a hole through end like pic here(as opposed to a hexagon).The threaded ends welded to ends of pole.

lay pole in front of the front wheel. positioned so that the motorbike wheel spindles are upright and the holes in ends at 3 o'clock, 9 o'clock position on front wheels of car. slide a long stud through each wheel spindle hole so that it touches the wheel rims. wind a nut onto the stud to mark the position on the stud where it goes through wheel spindle. now remove the whole tracking guage and position it behind the car front wheels. slide the studs with the nuts on through the holes in wheel spindles. you can now tell the difference in measurement by how much more or less stud length you need to touch the wheel rims.  Of course your wheel rims need to be nice and even. some people will say that you should roll the car one half wheel turn so you are measuring from same position on wheel rim to allow for any uneveness of wheel. 

you need to do it with with usual weight on car wheels (not jacked up).  You then need to adjust the track rod ends to adjust. you need to do each side by same amount otherwise steering wheel will no longer be in correct position when going straight ahead. I do not disconnect the track rod end. I undo the lock nut on the rod and then turn the rod to adjust.  two things here - when undoing/doing up the locknut you need to hold the track rod end with another spanner  (not always that easy) to avoid too much twisting strain on the ball joint. and you need to make sure you do not tear the gaiter when twisting the rod - make sure the rod can turn in the gaiter end (remove clip or whatever).

And this is not going to get it as accurate as a garage using proper professional equipment but for me it's good enough to know if it somewhere near correct after changing steering components. 

All in all, not a very easy DIY task to be honest

 

[Albert27]

2 hours ago, andypsp said:

you will have no way of knowing how far to adjust it etc. tracking is not normal £50, go to a small local garage around £15 to £20 

Cheers Andy.  It's about that i think for front wheel alignment but have heard that 4 wheel alignment is the best and costs around £50.  I have had just the front's done in the past, at Halfrauds for £30.

Thanks isetta for all that info.  Gotta say it does sound on the complex side so might just opt to get the tyre place to do it.  Have heard of people doing it with string too lol .  It is just on the one wheel as you mention it, and only mildly worn on the edge but more noticeable than the other side.  I don't hang about but I'm not your boy racer type on roundabouts!   Maybe I'll just monitor it on the new tyres as it was the very outer edge and not in the 3/4 breadth of the tyre so still legal.

[andypsp]

don`t bother with 4wheel alignment you won`t notice much diffrence if it is out. front tracking more important and keeping the tyre pressures correct too helps your tyres last that bit longer matey  

[MJNewton]

I've had great success with the Trackace and wrote up my initial experiences a few years back here (for a Hyundai Coupe but obviously will be essentially the same bar the figures). I must admit it can give you brain ache if you over-think things but I've always been a fan of maths and so quite like this kind of task!

My motivation was partly out of interest but, unfortunately, more the case that I just don't really trust garages these days (a sweeping generalisation I know!) to do some jobs properly.

[stef123]

As it doesn't take any measurement from the rear wheels I assume you have to take the thrust angle for example to be bang on then? @MJNewton

I wouldn't mind having some gauges of sorts to check out my own motor. It certainly needs looking at as I am getting uneven tyre wear but also twitchy steering lol. 

 

[MJNewton]

Yeah, you can't factor thrust angle in (or of course adjust it). It'll never be as good as a good 4-wheel alignment, but you could argue it's better than a bad one! Trackace have been saying for years they were going to bring out a rear add-on but nothing has materialised. 

[Albert27]

4 hours ago, MJNewton said:

Yeah, you can't factor thrust angle in (or of course adjust it). It'll never be as good as a good 4-wheel alignment, but you could argue it's better than a bad one! Trackace have been saying for years they were going to bring out a rear add-on but nothing has materialised. 

MJ - is the trackace fairly easy to use for a novice?  I'm no mathematician or Car expert ..........

[MarksST]

Get it done properly or not at all, if it's that far out you'll save most of the cost of it in not having to replace a tyre earlier than expected.

find somewhere that has a Hunter setup.

[mjt]

11 hours ago, MarksST said:

find somewhere that has a Hunter setup

. . . . . and more importantly knows how to use it properly. I had mine done on one but it wasn't done properly and I had to have it done again at a different garage.

[MJNewton]

11 hours ago, Albert27 said:

MJ - is the trackace fairly easy to use for a novice?  I'm no mathematician or Car expert ..........

I probably wouldn’t say it was ‘fairly easy’ but then equally I wouldn’t necessarily cause it ‘fairly difficult’ either! It’s a bit like many other tasks e.g. changing a timing belt – the individual steps aren’t all that difficult, but it is important that each is done properly, in the right order etc, otherwise the overall result will be wrong.

 

In your case, with a particular issue and (I am assuming) no particular desire to do this regularly (I maintain quite a few cars for friends and family so there’s justification to invest time and money into these sorts of tasks), your best course of action is likely to be to pay to get it done. How you find somewhere is the challenge in my view given I have doubts about whether they all know how to do the job properly. Don’t be put off by my cynicism though – the picture probably isn’t anywhere near as bleak as I am painting!

[stef123]

The biggest issue is going to be how do you get in to make changes without disturbing everything lol. 

[FatHead1979]

IMHO it's a job that if it needs to be done then it needs to be done properly which pretty much means putting your hand in your pocket!

(Better than being chucked into a ditch by your car because the tracking is miles out).

[stef123]

But that's exactly where only those with the competence to set tracking should be using it. If it uses the same basic principles as basic tracking at a garage then there shouldn't be an issue. The difference with some of the 'basic' garage equipment is that they are easier and quicker to set up for commercial purposes - time is money n all that. 

i only ever pay £20-£25 for basic tracking and never had any issues until now where I have some wear on the inside edges of my tyres. I've not had it done for a long time to be fair. If the above system is reliable and actually gets good results I'd be happy to try it. I look after more cars than I care to count but even on my personal cars/family cars it would pay for itself very quickly.

i have my own tyre machine and balancer but I can still get the same results, possibly better results at home lol.