superloaf

Has anyone out there used these things? Do they work? Are they accurate? Can I use them to set the car to factory specs or are they only useful for relative adjustments? (In other words, to add more negative camber, etc.)

Sam Lin

Yes, Yes, Yes, any specific spec you want, NOT relative.

Sam

Skip Wolfe

Hardest part about using them is finding a perfectly level chuck of concrete to park your car on. Other than it a piece of cake.

Wormhole

I've used the smart camber with very good success. It allows you to calibrate on a ground that’s not level.

Geo

A friend of mine won a weekend of free beer on a bet. He was racing and one of his buddies bought an expensive laser alignment rig. My friend bet him that with a smart camber gauge and his homemade toe plates (and I think some string, but certain) that he could measure alignment to within 1/32" of what the laser set-up read. They can work that well if you know what you are doing.

superloaf

Yeah, I wondered about having a level surface. Does the compensation work ok? Also, is the camber measured with the front wheels off the ground or do you have to measure with the tires contacting pavement? If you can do it with the wheels off the ground, how is that accurate and if you can't, how do you make adjustments?

Any extra pointers on these gauges would be appreciated as I really need to adjust my car and I'm tired of all the retarded wheel alignment shops in Los Angeles that set the toe and tell me that's all it needs when I can look at the front wheels and see the negative camber.

Geo

All alignment settings can only be measured with the car on the ground.

BTW, if you decide you do need to go to a shop, there is one all the SE-R guys in LA use. I can't remember the name right now but if you're interested, I can get it for you. The shop is supposed to be absolutely top notch and he even made a fixture to correct toe on the late SE-R that is not factory adjustable. The wait is apparently not short with this guy either. He does a lot of race alignments from what I understand.

superloaf

So you measure and then jack up the car, take wheel off, make an educated guess adjustment, put it back on ground and measure again? Wouldn't this take forever, especially when one adjustment affects the other (camber to caster that is)?

Any info on these by someone who owns one or has used them would be greatly appreciated. I really want to be able to do alignments myself but the lack of information on these items prevents me from buying one. Even on the Longacre and Smart Camber sites the info is sketchy at best. This makes me think they don't work. So to these companies--you should put a tutorial of how they work if you want to sell them! I'd buy one rather than posting asnnoying questions on Rennlist!

Geo

What we do at the race track is pretty much exactly what you mention. Even if we could make an adjustment with the car on the ground, to get a truly accurate measurement you need to roll the chassis forward and back a bit to take all the stiction out of the tires and suspension.

What alignment shops have is plates that the tires set on that takes the stiction out of the tires. They usually don't do anything about the suspension.

Do some searching on the web for DIY alignments. There are a few good ones out there. And just because you don't understand or they don't walk you through the whole process doesn't mean they don't work.

A really good DIY alignment can certainly take some time. As you play with the adjustments you'll get a better feel for how much adjustment to make to get you around where you need to be.

superloaf

Thanks George. You're the first person I've heard from with some firsthand knowledge. I mean I can sort of guess how these things work but until I hear from someone in the know I don't really learn anything. Anymore details you can give (or anyone else) would be appreciated. Which gauge do you use?

Geo

It's been a while for me. Usually we just mess with toe.

The Smart Camber gauge uses a digital protractor to do all the stuff it must. You first calibrate the gauge by setting zero with the gauge vertically and then horizontally. Then, assuming you have the little wheel contact thingies adjusted right, you just place it up against the wheel and read off the camber. I haven't messed with castor to be honest so I don't know exactly how it's done. I know it's a little more complicated but not that bad.

superloaf

Yeah, I did a search about DIY alignment and found some good info about doing it MacGyver style. One guy lists all the stuff for around $20 using parallel strings, standard levels, plumb bobs, etc. I guess I'll try that first and see how I do. I figure if I can deal with that, then I'll buy a Camber/Caster gauge and it should be fairly easy. Toe is fairly straight forward. Camber is a little more complicated and caster is camber measured at 2 different spots with the wheels turned.

As far as camber goes though, I know the ideal way is on level ground but can't I just subtract the values from how far from level the wheel is? It seems like that would work but everything I've found says to do it on level ground. Easier said than done in my white trash backyard! I'd rather just do it mathematically. Anyone know if that will work?

Geo

Using strings is MacGyvering it. That's how people have been doing it for a long time.

If you had a 911 you could buy Smart Strings that attach to the car and make it even easier.