Scott at Team Harco

Absolutely. You're final measurement relies on that guesstimate. Guess well, my friend.

Goughary

I do everything with smart strings and a camber gauge.

They paid for themselves the first time i used them. Highly recommend.

sweet victory

What camber gauge are you using?

I'm looking at the Longacre Digital Caster-Camber gauge. Any other brands you think I should be evaluating?

Goughary

This one...

JTT

I have the same one.

Porschetech3

I found this Stringless Alignment for DIY'ers a while back at Pelican. For about 50 bucks in part/ lasers I think it will be a good method. Using the "17 foot rule (204")" makes the calculation for angle to degrees to fractions simple and accurate. I don't like his "plumb bob" camber gauge though, I have a magnetic camber gauge that sticks to the wheel bearing nut. With the car at proper height for adjustment and some good "slip plates" I think this would be as good as any 60k alignment machine can do, "it's all the the set-up and careful measurements" .. http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsc...nt-diyers.html

turkis_tii

I also have seen professional teams using fishing reels and fluorescent lines at a race, so adopted that. I looked at laser levels, e.g., from Harbor Freight, but the +/- 0.125 or greater tolerance threw me off. The relatively expensive ones, Bosch, etc., are not a lot better. Back to fishing line and 1/2” conduit pipes hung from front/rear body parts and leveled. Also need to ensure car is sitting level and centered, can easily get +/- 1 mm.

Mike Billings

Next time you use that camber gauge (I have Longacre) just hold the smartphone up to the wheel or hub and see what number you get.

sweet victory

Along with tooling, I'm investigating different shimming techniques to account for an unlevel slab. My favorite method I've seen so far is a guy using 1/8" plastic tiles to shim and work as slip plates. He would sprinkle some ionized salt between the plates to act as ball bearings.

What methods are you guys using to level the ground?

JTT

I'm using tiles too. Picked them up from a local flooring place as old stock at no cost (they would have given me the case to get rid of them). I smeared grease between them myself and it seems to work well.

Did you pick up a set of SmartStrings?

cds72911

I leveled the 4 post lift on installation (there are nuts on top of each of the posts that allow you to adjust the height of the locks), and do the work on the lift. This makes it much easier to access all of the adjustments on the car.

NuttyProfessor

Great thread. Learning a lot here. I've done minor adjustments on my steering alignment, but never realized that these kits existed. I figured precise alignment couldn't be accomplished without those fancy 60K systems at the service centers.

Porschetech3

The +/- .125 accuracy tolerance of the "cheap lasers" is at 100 feet. If working within the 17 feet, the accuracy would be less than +/- .025 (less than 1mm)...

sweet victory

I haven't made any individual purchases yet; would like to make sure I have a solid plan for leveling, toe, camber, and caster before hand. Since you're not using a turn plate, how are you measuring caster? I'm liking the Longacre camber caster gauge, but you need a turn plate to measure +/- 15 deg. of wheel movement for the tool to measure caster angle.

sweet victory

Wishing I had room for a 4 post lift. Dang LA sized garage.

I only have a 2 post lift, so I like how smart strings hang off the car. Plan is to leave arms under the lifting points (not touching of course). When I need to make an adjustment, I can pick up the car/smart string assembly all at one time, make my adjustment, and drop back down onto slip plates. My only worry is when picking up and droping the car, I may get variance in my measurements from the suspension not completely settling out. In theory, the slip plates should prevent that, but I don't have the experience to confirm that.