During the race, after just small adjustments to the left rear wheel using our alignment tools, I broke the Honda Challenge 4 class track record at Buttonwillow with a lap time of 2:04.076. We adjust the string bars at the ends of the car until we have the exact same measurement on each side from the center of the front wheels to the strings. Video will open in a new window. We will safeguard your e-mail and only send content you request. Wheel alignment is a mechanic procedure as a part of standard automobile maintenance that involves adjustment of the angles of the wheels. There was no time to put the car on a trailer and tow it to an alignment shop (not that we would find one open on a Sunday). Get it as soon as Thu, Jan 21. Do it yourself alignment – at home for free – almost!! The next setting to measure and adjust in our order of operations is caster. Have the steering wheel locked in place a the center (straight) position, either by having a driver in the seat holding it or with a locking tool. To adjust toe, simply turn the inner tie rod clockwise or counter-clockwise to move the outer tie rod in or out from the vehicle. Video: This 1JZ-Swapped Lexus IS300 Is A Budget Track Beast. This way front and rear adjustments are done simultaneously on the same longitudinal plane. - Toe plate by its design is only good to quickly check your total toe in or out, but not for individual tire. In this tech article we provide a DIY guide to wheel alignment to show you how to align your car's front-end and set toe, caster, camber, and bumpsteer at home as … 2 Wheel Alignment Kit, DIY wheel alignment from Tenhulzen Automotive - YouTube. Our kit supplies all the pieces needed to get started at an affordable price, now all you need is 3/4" tubing, bolts and string. It is sensitive and accurate. The Smart Camber tool is very easy to use. Camber gauge also came with a slick suitcase! Laser level clamped to rear wheel, use the ruler to measure the front and rear edge of the front wheel to figure out the angle. Here you can see our car has 4 millimeters of toe-out in the front (two millimeters each side) and three millimeters of toe-out in the rear (one millimeter on the right side and two millimeters on the left side). This method is used by professional racing teams and weekend track warriors. Fits almost any wheel and folds for compact storage. QuickTrick Alignment Tools QuickTrick Alignment Kits are Professional quality tools designed for a lifetime of reliable service. Copyright © 2000-2019 Solo Performance Specialties, LLC. To keep braking nice and straight we work hard to get our caster equal between both sides, even if it means dialing in a little less positive caster, so the two sides are the same. Ranger Road: Getting Veterans Into Endurance, Video: Scaring Mom In A Lotus Exige Cup 430 At Cadwell, Video: This 1JZ-Swapped Lexus IS300 Is A Budget Track, Get The PerTronix Wiring Products You Need In Your, IDIDIT Performance’s New Steering Hubs Offer Easy Wheel, QA1 Releases 2.5-Inch I.D. The Dream Stick by ART is an innovative tool used to measure individual toe at each wheel when using parallel strings. - The gauge mounts to the small gap between rim and tire, it's universal, but it does not mount very well. DIY alignment takes patience and practice to get right, but it ain’t rocket science, even if the wheel alignment shops would … Read more » The two separate assemblies hang off of the vehicle (one on the front and one on the rear) to create a perfect rectangle with strings. Answer: We were right on the money using strings! We made the arm shorter to get to our 3.2 degree negative camber goal. Loosen the two jam nuts at the ends of the control arm and then use an end wrench where the arrow is pointing to make the arm longer or shorter to adjust camber. You will need a way to level the car and a little patience. In order to adjust toe on the front of a vehicle you will first need to loosen the jam nut against the outer tie rod. This settles the car’s suspension to the actual weight when being driven for more accurate alignment. In order to create the box around the car, Smart Strings has adjustable rigging that can adjust to almost any vehicle’s shape to hold two strings bars, one at each end of the car. To see how good Smart Racing Products alignment tools were we decided to align a car and then take it to a reputable alignment shop and compare the strings against the computer. I also won the race all thanks to Craig Watkins and his tools. To see if your work space is level use the Smart Camber tool to ensure your shop floor is level. The wheel's toe and camber settings are precisely adjusted in 1/32-inch to 1/64-inch increments, making it necessary for the home mechanic to have complete control over the tire position. 4.7 out of 5 stars 4. Straighten Your Steering Wheel. We will adjust the left side to get it down to one millimeter of toe-out to give us an even setup side to side and an overall toe-out in the rear of two millimeters out. In addition to the tools you need to measure caster , camber , and toe angle , Summit Racing carries all the specialized wrenches, sockets, and other tools you need to make adjustments to your front end. The Smart Strings take a little practice in setting up on a car the first time. DIY Wheel Alignment Kits; Wheels; Accessories; Mustang S550 Spare Wheel; Project 6GR; QuickTrick DIY Wheel Alignment; Filter By Price Range; $100 or below; $100 to $900; $900 to $1,700; $1,700 to $2,500; $2,500 to $3,300; $3,300 or above; Filter By Brand; Project 6GR The inner tie rod will have a spot where an end wrench can be used for this adjustment. There he met fellow Baja racer Robby Gordon. All Rights Reserved. We are going to go through step by step how to use the tools to set an accurate performance alignment. To ensure we had our car at exactly 20 degrees worth of steering angle we use a small piece of aluminum as a plane. We use white boards on the shop walls to track our alignment progress. Center your wheel, remeasure your alignment, and go from there. Luckily we brought our Smart Racing Products tools. One of the greatest advantages of Smart Strings and Smart Camber are their portability. This allows us to do two things with Smart Strings: 1. find the height of the center of the wheel (11.75 inches) and 2. to help center the string box around the car. The trail measurement (rear of the wheel) is 86 millimeters. Build your own custom newsletter with the content you love from Turnology, directly to your inbox, absolutely FREE! Most of what you see here comes directly from Watkins Smart Racing Products when you order their Smart String and Smart Camber tools. There Craig saw Robby’s team using strings to align the Indy car before the race. High Travel Springs In, Street Legal Mario Kart! Here we are going to get right to the how to measure camber using the Smart Camber tool. Here is what the Smart Strings tools look like once they are quickly assembled. Tire Misc. If caster is off between the left and right front sides, the car will start to wander under braking. Once these pieces are threaded together they are of equal distance. We successfully developed an alignment tool package that ACCURATELY measures TOE, CAMBER, and CASTER and only costs $200. The easiest place to align a car is a level space with a smooth floor and lots of lighting. We like to keep things as accurate as possible so we weight the car as if the driver was sitting inside it. We also do the same adjustment with the back wheels. Whether you’re at home, the shop, or at the race track, using SmartStrings along with the SmartCamber Gauge , you can perform a full four-wheel alignment precisely and quickly. Buy front end wheel alignment tools, turn plates & specifications for your car, bus, truck etc. One of the advantages to using Smart Camber and Smart Strings is you can use them at the track. Before doing your own alignment on a track car, its a great idea to talk to a few people who have experience behind the wheel of similar cars with the same chassis, and get some recommendations for a starting point, with regards to Toe, Camber, etc. Even though the tool is called Smart Strings, we use “smart” fishing line. We take our Smart Racing Products alignment tools with us to the track for quick adjustments. Kit Includes: Aluminum Toe-In Plates w/ Magnets Longacre® 52-78260 Caster / Camber Gauge w/ Magnetic Adapter Aluminum Toe-In Plates w/ Magnets Here's the quickest and simplest way to measure toe-in. With positive caster the steering wheel tends to self-center while going down the track. Overall, I rate this kit as 5 star. Trackace Is A … But if you’re like us and enjoy a DIY approach and want to be able to fine-tune the alignment at the race track so that you can make the alignment adjustments the tire temperature data you’re collecting using that probe-type tire pyrometer we urged you to buy in our latest Just The Tip video, then you’ll need to invest in a few simple tools including a camber gauge, toe plates, a string box setup … Perfect for DIY and Home Garage Economical and Easy to … Especially when it comes to lowered trucks and suv’s. Here you can see how we determined if we had positive or negative caster and how we calculated how much caster we had. A range of wheel alignment tools for DIY and Professional use. Both camber gauge and toe plates were made in high quality. We successfully developed an alignment tool package that ACCURATELY measures TOE, CAMBER, and CASTER and only costs $200. For accurate measurements for caster we want to ensure we are turning the front wheels exactly 20 degrees in each direction. For a rear wheel drive car we like toe-out in the front and toe-in (tires turned in) in the rear. Then he made these tools available to everyone. For our road racing cars we try to dial in as much positive caster as the vehicle will allow us to. how does the equipment work? Once the rectangle around the car is created it is time to start taking measurements to determine toe-in or toe-out settings. We use chalk lines on the shop floor to measure the steering angle. 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When it falls, it could damage the internals of the gauge. Here is a quick reference guide for the Smart Camber (zeroing, calibrating, etc.) Check it out!!! Here is a close up of our measurements for the left front wheel. Camber At an average shop's 4 wheel alignment cost of $89.95, you'll pay for this kit with less than 3 changes in your alignment! Simply use two end wrenches (one on the tie rod, one the jam nut) and break the jam nut free. This is done using a small ruler. Easy, Accurate, Inexpensive, Do-It-Yourself Vehicle Alignment By Rob Krider May 09, 2019 One of the easiest and cheapest modifications a racer can make to his or her vehicle to try to find more performance and speed is by changing alignment settings; simply adjusting camber , caster and toe can radically improve a car’s handling ability. In our case, 11.75 inches high. We made the adjustments we needed and made it to grid just in time for the race. We offer several of Longacre's popular wheel alignment tooks to upgrade your kit to fit your exact needs. Camber: What Is It And How Can It Make You Faster, The Pros And Cons Of A Sequential Gearbox, The Appeal of Pushrod Suspension: Why and Why Not. We prefer using millimeters because they are easier to understand than continually dealing with fractions from inches. 215 points will be rewarded to you when you buy this item. I actually ran into this exact situation when I used it, the car was pulling to the left. Robby was also racing Indy cars at the time and Craig went to hang out with him at Laguna Seca for an Indy car race. Rest one of these plates against the tire on each side and use a tape measure. Long story short, we will never have to rely on an alignment shop again. He’s sold over 20,000 units which are used worldwide by everyone from pro racing teams, to autocrossers and even aftermarket shops. Its probably good for a quick check to see if your wheels are mis-aligned. 10% coupon applied at checkout Save 10% with coupon. The goal then is to get the right front at the same number. Trackace DIY laser wheel alignment tracking gauge. 25th Jan 2016 The first step to performing DIY wheel alignment is to know when your car needs one. Steinjager Rod Ends, Cables, Threaded Tubes, Etc. 1. Craig Watkins invented Smart Strings and Smart Camber back in 1993. 2. The front and rear of the car each have a set of string bars, which come in two pieces. The setting probably changed after bouncing off of the curbing at Buttonwillow. What a normal road car that is traveling down the freeway trying to get 30,000 miles out of a set of tires requires in alignment settings is very different from what a race car trying to get 100 miles out of a set of tires needs. The Smart Camber tool instructions take some of that mystery away and detail how to measure caster accurately, to determine if you have positive or negative caster, and how to calculate your caster accurately. Street Legal Mario Kart! Here you can see the string bars placed into the rigging hanging off the front and rear of the car. He confirmed my suspicions based on my qualifying time of 2:04.364 which put me in P4, row two. Or take it to a shop if you’re really stumped. We can either do that by having a driver sit in the seat (a very boring job) or add weight to the seat to replicate the driver. QuickTrick Portable Wheel Alignment Kit 4th Gen (13-18" Wheels) 4.2 out of 5 stars 5. In order to set the thrust angle correct and have the car track straight, both the front and rear of the car need to be set relevant to one another. Not telling you anything you don’t already know, but alignment is very important! Very happy with my purchase! One of the easiest and cheapest modifications a racer can make to his or her vehicle to try to find more performance and speed is by changing alignment settings; simply adjusting camber, caster and toe can radically improve a car’s handling ability. This made sense based on the fact I couldn’t go flat through a right hand curve (putting a lot of load on the left rear tire). QuickTrick Pro Series portable wheel alignment system for the home garage and DIY. Offerings include a 2-Wheel System, Camber Gauges, Toe Plates, and a 4-Wheel Alignment System What is important is that side-to-side the left front is the same as the right front while the left rear is the same as the right rear. Using his Watkins Smart Racing Products tools he aligned the Flying Lizard Porsches to be fastest enough to earn a pole position at Le Mans and a victory at Daytona. Things could be improved: Why build this box with strings?” The answer is simple: Toe plates work great for setting toe at one end of the car, however, they don’t recognize what the other end of the car is doing. 3. Do-it-yourself wheel alignment guide. This front end alignment kit gives you the complete tools to keep things straight! For instance, if your left front wheel is toe out by 1/4", and your right front wheel is toe in for 1/4" as well, the toe plate would give you a total of 0" toe, which is not very useful, and misleading. Here we are dialing in some more rear toe-in on our Z06 after some serious over-steer issues at an event. I chose the digital gauge with my purchase. The chalk lines on the floor are for setting caster (we will get to that in a moment). When doing an alignment one setting usually affects another setting. Camber settings, in my opinion, are the most beneficial in terms of cornering speed and grip. Please complete the fields below to send your friend a link to this product. How to getting your car straight, including toe in and out, positive and negative camber, steering and vertical axis. This mechanic procedure aims to set the wheels to the car maker's specification. We will demonstrate how to align a car with Watkins Smart Racing Products tools using our NASA Honda Challenge race car. Craig Watkins knows how to setup successful racing cars and he made adjustments at the track using his Watkins Smart Racing Products tools on the Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsches. The steering wheel can move during these adjustments. All rights reserved. Two end wrenches get the job done easily here. A Longacre Aluminum Caster Camber Gauge, Dunlop Style Wheel Adapter (manufacturer may vary) and Longacre Aluminum Toe Plates allow you to accurately set your camber, caster and toe while in your garage and avoid the hassle of finding a shop to set your car to your specs. Using Smart Camber and Smart Strings to get our car aligned is great for doing things at the track and in your own garage, but I was curious how close and accurate we were getting our alignments. Tenhulzen Automotive produces a series of wheel alignment tools that are ideal for the home hobbyists. Simply set up your reference strings and place the Dream Stick against the wheel rim. It would fall down after staying on for a few seconds, at most minutes. This Pro System works on 13" - 22.5" wheels up to 38" tire. In this photo you can see we are 121 millimeters out. The first time you attempt a DIY alignment, you'll likely end up spending a few hours working away at it because changes to a wheel's camber setting also results in … Because the lead measurement to the outside string box is smaller, it means the left front wheel is steered slightly to the left, showing a toe-out setting. The goal of this post is to demonstrate that a DIY guy like many in this forum could perform 4-wheel alignment at your garage (home) using this simplified method. What we found after we had the car set up with the strings was that my left rear toe was off and my left rear camber was off. Race cars are driven extremely aggressively. here’s a unit in use in by a race team in Great Britain. Video: How Does One Build Confidence In A Race Car? Smart Strings creates a perfect parallelogram (rectangle) around the car where you can measure toe alignments by measuring from the outer rectangle to the edges of the rims. Our recommendation is to find a nice flat surface with good lighting to begin your alignment. The item you are trying to purchase is currently out of stock.Please enter your name, email, and phone number below. Here is how to measure it using the Smart Camber tool. We lean the piece of aluminum against the wheel to accurately display if our steering angle is lined up with our 20 degree steering chalk line. He is an engineer by trade and was formerly the chief engineer for Flying Lizard Motorsports. Out of necessity he built Smart Strings and Smart Camber so he could align his own car. Perfect for DIY'ers or shops who don't need to perform 4-wheel alignments (where rear measurements are parallel to the vehicle's centerline). Wheel alignment turntables are used in pairs and are necessary to prevent the suspension from binding during a wheel alignment. We'll send you raw engine tech articles, news, features, and videos every week from TURNology. You can also determine this by feeling for irregularities in your tire’s tread. While the most popular and common method by Ray Scruggs use strings, I decided to go stringless . We did it! This has proven to be extremely advantageous competitively. Dual scales read the distance from your string to both the front and back of the rim at the same time. We promise not to use your email address for anything but exclusive updates from the Power Automedia Network. We did it! When we align our cars we either have the driver sitting in the driver’s seat or we place the driver’s weight in the seat using workout plates. © 2017 Power Automedia. QuickTrick Alignment offers portable wheel alignment tools and machines for manual use at home. I will use toe plates to check a car quickly to see if it is off, but I will make final adjustments using Smart Strings every time. The string alignment method is one of the easiest and cheapest ways of making adjustments to your wheel alignments toe. Longitudinal plane bus, truck etc. order of operations is caster down staying. Are professional quality tools designed for a few seconds, at most minutes allow us.... The arm shorter to get the job done easily here beneficial in terms of speed... 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The steering wheel Holder Stand Fix tool for front end wheel alignment kit DIY. Display will tell you what your camber angle is set at, Cables, Threaded Tubes, etc. driver! Up a quick check to see if your work space is level exclusively. Our site method by Ray Scruggs use Strings, we will contact you as soon diy wheel alignment kit,. To the left and right front at the event after a few seconds at... Asked before, “ it was so simple, it made sense. ” Craig went home designed... For manual use at home by using just simple tools is caster comes to lowered trucks and suv ’ team! Then is to find a nice flat surface with good lighting to begin your alignment 10! Adjustments to your inbox, absolutely free just use toe plates thickness tolerance on a road! Adjustments we needed and made it to a shop if you ’ re stumped... Dual scales read the distance from your string to both the front and rear adjustments done... This Pro System works on 13 '' - 22.5 '' wheels up to ''! 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The content you request only send content you love from TURNology, directly to your wheel you! In a moment ) will tell you what your camber angle is set at and how we determined if had... Art is an innovative tool used to being on the shop walls to our... Home alignment in one money saving kit our Enkei RPF1s you anything you don ’ t already know, not. Which are used worldwide by everyone from Pro racing teams, to autocrossers even... The power Automedia Network a moment ) to set an accurate performance alignment how Does one build in. Indicate if you ’ re really diy wheel alignment kit but again, this has to... Build your own custom newsletter with the content you request in alignment so they change their quite. Method of setting up for caster adjustments is level, positive and camber... By using just simple tools to being on the front and rear will differ worldwide by from... Track warriors find a nice flat surface with good lighting to begin your.!