ausmini :: View topic - Wheel Alignment How To

Ummmm, that is a very bad way of doing a wheel alignment. :shock:

It is not accurate in any way whatsoever.
It does not allow for the differences in track between the front and the rear.
It will be wrong. It will be very wrong. It will be tyre scrubbingly wrong.

The proper way to do it is with a string and a ruler but the string must not be mounted to the tyres. The string has to be supported away from the tyres and the two strings (one on each side of the car) must be parallel.
If the two strings are not parallel the alignment will be wrong.

So get your two strings parallel and then measure the front and rear of each tyre.
This is how race teams set toe.

how do you make sure that the car is perfectly straight between the two strings?

should you not measure to the wheel? tyres can wear unevenly if there is already misalignment, then you try and align by measuring to something guaranteed to keep it stuffed :roll:

I use some paralell bars that fit to the wheel studs. I have not any pics of them and the last bloke to borrow them I think still has them.
They consist of two almin. round bars machined to exact length, drill/tapped to fit wheel studs. There is a length of 3/4" alumin square 1.2 mtrs long tube bolted to the ends of the round bar at one end of square tube. Each tube has the diameter of the wheel marked from the other end back along the bar. These marks are in the exact same position on each bar.
One of these bar set-ups is fitted to each wheel and with jack under susp arm the tyres are just touching the ground. With the rear bars facing forward and front bars backwards you can check rear subframe alignment to body and front wheels.
To adjust toe in/out on front wheels have bars facing forward and measure dist bewteen coresponding marks.ie if front measurement is wider then you have toe out. Do the same for rear wheels.
Turn the bars vertical and the over the dist of the marks you can adjust camber of wheel.[ground needs to be flat and level or trim this with jacks]
I have used this set-up for many years and it is easy to set-up the center line /toe/ caster on all wheels in the one set-up.
The bloke that has the bars might post some pics of them :)

Author:	Wombat [ Wed Jan 28, 2009 8:01 am ]
Post subject:	Wheel Alignment How To
Got this from the Mini Mania Forum - if you have duplex printing available you can turn it back into a booklet. Wheel Alignment PDF

Author:	simon k [ Wed Jan 28, 2009 9:52 am ]
Post subject:
excellent I love the little annotations and extra drawings on the pictures

Author:	66S [ Wed Jan 28, 2009 10:29 am ]
Post subject:
Hi David, Thanks for that. This is quite simple but people should be made aware that there is often some run-out in the tyre and rim and one might fine a different reading if the alignment is done, the wheels rotated half a turn and then rechecked. Al

Author:	Morris 1100 [ Wed Jan 28, 2009 5:33 pm ]
Post subject:
Ummmm, that is a very bad way of doing a wheel alignment. It is not accurate in any way whatsoever. It does not allow for the differences in track between the front and the rear. It will be wrong. It will be very wrong. It will be tyre scrubbingly wrong. The proper way to do it is with a string and a ruler but the string must not be mounted to the tyres. The string has to be supported away from the tyres and the two strings (one on each side of the car) must be parallel. If the two strings are not parallel the alignment will be wrong. So get your two strings parallel and then measure the front and rear of each tyre. This is how race teams set toe.

Author:	simon k [ Wed Jan 28, 2009 8:27 pm ]
Post subject:
Morris 1100 wrote: Ummmm, that is a very bad way of doing a wheel alignment. It is not accurate in any way whatsoever. It does not allow for the differences in track between the front and the rear. It will be wrong. It will be very wrong. It will be tyre scrubbingly wrong. The proper way to do it is with a string and a ruler but the string must not be mounted to the tyres. The string has to be supported away from the tyres and the two strings (one on each side of the car) must be parallel. If the two strings are not parallel the alignment will be wrong. So get your two strings parallel and then measure the front and rear of each tyre. This is how race teams set toe. I tried doing it like that once with 2 pieces of wood - was OK, but not flash... I need to do my back-end some time soon how do you make sure that the car is perfectly straight between the two strings? any comment on the use of shakeproof washers under the big nuts at the back?

ausmini https://www.ausmini.com/forums/

Wheel Alignment How To https://www.ausmini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=49656	Page 1 of 1

Author:	Morris 1100 [ Wed Jan 28, 2009 8:32 pm ]
Post subject:
simon k wrote: how do you make sure that the car is perfectly straight between the two strings? You need to find a centre point at both the front and rear and measure from that. Or work from a couple of points and work it out from there.

Author:	mickmini [ Thu Jan 29, 2009 8:04 am ]
Post subject:
should you not measure to the wheel? tyres can wear unevenly if there is already misalignment, then you try and align by measuring to something guaranteed to keep it stuffed

Author:	Morris 1100 [ Thu Jan 29, 2009 3:44 pm ]
Post subject:
mickmini wrote: should you not measure to the wheel? tyres can wear unevenly if there is already misalignment, then you try and align by measuring to something guaranteed to keep it stuffed You can measure to the wheel but you have to remember that the toe-out figure is taken at the tread, so if you measure to the wheel the amount of toe-out at the tread will be greater than it should be. The wear on a tyre due to misalignment is on the tread and not the sidewall, but one way to get a good accurate mark to measure from is to jack up the wheel and spin the wheel to check for run-out and then hold a pen against the tyre while you spin it to get a line around the tyre to measure from.

Author:	drmini in aust [ Thu Jan 29, 2009 8:27 pm ]
Post subject:
We all measure at the tread but technically that is wrong, BMC in their dimensions specified a radius which puts it somewhere on the sidewall...

Author:	david rosenthal [ Fri Jan 30, 2009 10:16 am ]
Post subject:
I use some paralell bars that fit to the wheel studs. I have not any pics of them and the last bloke to borrow them I think still has them. They consist of two almin. round bars machined to exact length, drill/tapped to fit wheel studs. There is a length of 3/4" alumin square 1.2 mtrs long tube bolted to the ends of the round bar at one end of square tube. Each tube has the diameter of the wheel marked from the other end back along the bar. These marks are in the exact same position on each bar. One of these bar set-ups is fitted to each wheel and with jack under susp arm the tyres are just touching the ground. With the rear bars facing forward and front bars backwards you can check rear subframe alignment to body and front wheels. To adjust toe in/out on front wheels have bars facing forward and measure dist bewteen coresponding marks.ie if front measurement is wider then you have toe out. Do the same for rear wheels. Turn the bars vertical and the over the dist of the marks you can adjust camber of wheel.[ground needs to be flat and level or trim this with jacks] I have used this set-up for many years and it is easy to set-up the center line /toe/ caster on all wheels in the one set-up. The bloke that has the bars might post some pics of them

Author:	Wombat [ Fri Jan 30, 2009 10:40 am ]
Post subject:
david rosenthal wrote: I use some paralell bars that fit to the wheel studs. I have not any pics of them and the last bloke to borrow them I think still has them. They consist of two almin. round bars machined to exact length, drill/tapped to fit wheel studs. There is a length of 3/4" alumin square 1.2 mtrs long tube bolted to the ends of the round bar at one end of square tube. Each tube has the diameter of the wheel marked from the other end back along the bar. These marks are in the exact same position on each bar. One of these bar set-ups is fitted to each wheel and with jack under susp arm the tyres are just touching the ground. With the rear bars facing forward and front bars backwards you can check rear subframe alignment to body and front wheels. To adjust toe in/out on front wheels have bars facing forward and measure dist bewteen coresponding marks.ie if front measurement is wider then you have toe out. Do the same for rear wheels. Turn the bars vertical and the over the dist of the marks you can adjust camber of wheel.[ground needs to be flat and level or trim this with jacks] I have used this set-up for many years and it is easy to set-up the center line /toe/ caster on all wheels in the one set-up. The bloke that has the bars might post some pics of them :) Thnks for that David Even a sketch would help - I'm a visual person

Author:	david rosenthal [ Fri Jan 30, 2009 2:27 pm ]
Post subject:
These pics might give an idea of the set-up. With 4 you can do all the wheels at one go. The front bars are put horizontaly in front of the car, and the rear ones behind the car.

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