philooo

During my PSS upgrade I was thinking about camber plates and other fancy alignment stuff, but after this alignment problem, I am not sure my local shop can handle complex alignments. Are camber plates really useful unless you are an experienced driver ? I am fast but nothing like a track rat

EastBay

Set your front toe to 0 and forget about it, you now have zero camber on the front, good for tire wear. You really don't need much camber unless you are tracking it. I like as little caster as I can get for around town.

Looks like you got a 'nice' street alignment the last time.

I bought my own alignment tools since it is so hard to find shops/people that can figure this simple stuff out.

philooo

Funny you mention that, as I was about to do the same ! can you list what equipment you have ? I was under the impression that you need :
- 4 turning plate, BTW my shop had real nice turning plate in the front but simple circular piece of wood under the rear tire and it seems to do the trick.
- a system with perpendicular bars and string
- some 'stuff' you place on the rim, which usually come with a digital level

right ?

Any good DYI home alignment ?

gota911

Agreed! My wife had no idea I spent $2,800 for tires for my 996 in 3 years of ownership. What she doesn't know won't hurt me!

BTW, I already have amassed $17.23 in my "secret fund" to get another Porsche! Another 55 years and I'm good to go!

EastBay

I bought a Smart Racing Smart Camber tool along with a set of Longacre toe plates, works for me.

Over on Pelican there is a good thread on DIY alignments

philooo

did you compare your home made adjustment with a professional machine ? I wonder how accurate you can get with those tools. I have to say that the smart camber tool and the longacre plate seems pretty easy to use... interesting

EastBay

I go by drive-ability (you know this part after your travails) and tire wear. Accurate is a relative term in alignments. It is not rocket science at all.

Pretty easy stuff, toe has the biggest drive-ability factor, camber is just the tire lean, and caster you usually never need to touch unless you have a pull or low speed sluggishness or high speed wandering.
Once you play around with the settings you will see. Try it, you 'll like it.

BTW, I go by inches for toe and degrees for castor/camber. Those new style print outs like you have are just BS to confuse people.

One careful person with simple tools can easily do a better job than an idiot with all the high tech stuff.

philooo

did you ever feel the need for turning plates ? what are you putting under you wheels so that you can adjust them to the new setting. Looks to me like turning plate are the most expensive item

EastBay

I don't have turning plates. Lots of people use 2 pieces of linoleum tile with grease in between and I think Harbor Freight sells cheaper plates if you think you need them.

take a look at this thread on Pelican lots of good DIY info
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsc...upgrade-9.html