Re: More On Wheel Alignment

Posted by Doug Linden on December 19, 1997 at 16:06:25

In Reply to: Re: More On Wheel Alignment
posted by Marco Tahtaras on December 17, 1997 at 11:48:17

:
: : Marco

: : Befor I "got smart" from reading all the excellent technical information on this site and other material, I took my 31' Roadster to a front end shop for an alignment check.The old timer there had real time experience on these cars.Although he did not do the actual alignment, he gave careful and specific directions to the younger set doing the work.They first jacked up the front of the car and while spinning the tires, sprayed white paint on the center area of the tread.Then with a stationary scribe on the floor, made a very fine line in the center of each tire.With the car back on the floor, a rod with a pointer on one end and a scale on the other on stands about 6" high, was then used to obtain the correct toe-in.I have since duplicated this process on several cars and have had excellent results.

:
: Dave,

: I had seen the centerline idea(on tread surface) before, but had forgotten about it. The major advantage to it is removing untrue spinning tires/wheels from the equation. Any other method requires true spinning tires or multiple efforts to average toe-in and compensate. The advantage to knowing the original measuring points is understanding that the farther from the centerline (spindle) the measurement is taken, the greater the toe-in measurement should be. A toe-in of 3/32" is within spec and is enough to compensate for measuring at the more extreme fore and aft of the axel.

: One of the most important tips in the original instruction is "Pull car forward at least three feet before---". This step helps compensate for play in the front end and best simulates actual driving.

: I plan to expand my wheel alignment page and would like to include your centerline method as well as some insightfull comments from DJ. Voyce (with permission).

: Thanks for the imput,

: Marco

In case anyone was wondering, an alignment tool similar to the one pictured in Marco's wheel alignment page can be purchased from you local NAPA store.The tool is listed in it's tool catalog and I think cost around $60.
Doug




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