Corner Balancing and Alignment at Home

[wahwill]

Anyone here corner balance and align their car at home? If so, what is your set up?

I will be installing coilovers on my track car and my local shops are charging a pretty penny to corner balance and align. I'll likely be making constant suspension adjustments and will need to rebalance and align multiple times, and having to go to the shop every time will likely bankrupt me.

I figure it'd be better if I just pay up front for the equipment and do it myself. However, I do not have the perfect level floor nor a lift (might pick up a quick jack though).

What solution do you guys have for this?

[DukeofAlexandria]

Originally Posted by wahwill

Anyone here corner balance and align their car at home? If so, what is your set up?

I will be installing coilovers on my track car and my local shops are charging a pretty penny to corner balance and align. I'll likely be making constant suspension adjustments and will need to rebalance and align multiple times, and having to go to the shop every time will likely bankrupt me.

I figure it'd be better if I just pay up front for the equipment and do it myself. However, I do not have the perfect level floor nor a lift (might pick up a quick jack though).

What solution do you guys have for this?

Don't bother with it; without the proper equipment and tools it's already hard and honestly not worth your time.

Get an alignment to a zero balance, or cambered degree of what you want and then keep VERY good records and measurements in what you adjust. You should be able to come out on top if you are making 1-3 turns on coil overs and locking them in place consistently over time.

Start with a baseline, adjust from there and use consistent steps/technique to adjust.

-Duke

[DRLane]

I wrote a detailed post and of course I was logged out twice without it saving. Sorry!

TLD Write Again: Disagreeing with The Duke, it's practical and straightforward to do at home with some equipment, patience, and the initial time investment getting a repeatable level base. Hitting berms, spins, offs, etc tend to throw the alignment out of spec and testing ride heights will require alignments.

There are so many options but like you I'm working with QuickJacks and thus these were the two cost effective routes I considered. Full disclosure I still use my buddy's rack and smart strings late at night (often before a track day) so take it with a grain...

1. Smart Strings (or homemade with dedicated mounting points on the chassis).
2. Hubstands (Motive Engineering makes some compelling and affordable options).

Getting a level surface is key and the most exhaustive part. Probably going to take hours... Find adjustable tables that are low enough to work with the lift height of the QuickJacks. Once level (back, front, sides), mark the garage floors and all adjustable items to keep it 99% perfect for the next future alignment. If you're running smart strings once the box is square, mark everything to eliminate the pains of adjusting and remeasuring hub distances.

General items regardless of Strings vs Hubstands:
- Scales
- Weight bags to replicate driver weight
- Steering wheel lock
- Excel model for alignment & corner balance
- Millimeter tape measures, digital calipers
- Camber / Caster gauge

Corner balance, then set caster, then camber, then align toe.

Good read if you're unfamiliar with basics on string alignments
https://blog.fcpeuro.com/at-home-ali...align-your-car

[tsk94]

In with DRLane on this one. Been doing them myself at home for a number of years now. I won't repeat what he just said, but the setup I use is pretty much identical. Once you take the time for all the initial setup (leveling floor, getting the alignment system setup, etc.) it's a pretty smooth process, and just becomes more efficient the more you do.

A quality DIY string alignment at home will match any digital alignment from a reputable shop. If you like working on your car yourself, it's something I'd suggest.

[Kelse92]

It's expensive up front cost but totally worth it. A set of strings, camber gauges, and scales is a couple thousand $ proposition, but well worth it in savings if you can DIY and do multiple alignments a year.

[wahwill]

Originally Posted by DRLane

I wrote a detailed post and of course I was logged out twice without it saving. Sorry!

TLD Write Again: Disagreeing with The Duke, it's practical and straightforward to do at home with some equipment, patience, and the initial time investment getting a repeatable level base. Hitting berms, spins, offs, etc tend to throw the alignment out of spec and testing ride heights will require alignments.

There are so many options but like you I'm working with QuickJacks and thus these were the two cost effective routes I considered. Full disclosure I still use my buddy's rack and smart strings late at night (often before a track day) so take it with a grain...

1. Smart Strings (or homemade with dedicated mounting points on the chassis).
2. Hubstands (Motive Engineering makes some compelling and affordable options).

Getting a level surface is key and the most exhaustive part. Probably going to take hours... Find adjustable tables that are low enough to work with the lift height of the QuickJacks. Once level (back, front, sides), mark the garage floors and all adjustable items to keep it 99% perfect for the next future alignment. If you're running smart strings once the box is square, mark everything to eliminate the pains of adjusting and remeasuring hub distances.

General items regardless of Strings vs Hubstands:
- Scales
- Weight bags to replicate driver weight
- Steering wheel lock
- Excel model for alignment & corner balance
- Millimeter tape measures, digital calipers
- Camber / Caster gauge

Corner balance, then set caster, then camber, then align toe.

Good read if you're unfamiliar with basics on string alignments
https://blog.fcpeuro.com/at-home-ali...align-your-car

If I understood correctly, since you use strings without hubstands do you jack the car up, remove wheel, adjust, repeat for corner balancing? And also the same for aligning minus having to remove the wheel?

I do not have a quick jack yet and wondering if it’s worth investing in one just for this reason.

[DRLane]

For the purposes of my post, the strings and hub stands would be two different alignment systems.

Corner balance:
Scales are what you need for the corner balance. Lift the car, lower on scales. Take measurements. Lift, remove wheel to access the spring / adjust height. Put wheel back on and settle suspension. Lower back on to scales. Rinse repeat ad nauseam until you get preferred setting.

Alignment:
Strings you leave the wheels on as you'll use the hubs and wheel edges for measurements. A
Make adjustments by getting under the car while it's sitting on the leveled tables.

Hub stands you would put the whole car on the hubstands. You'd then have access to make adjustments.

Did you review the FCP article? It's a tedious process that definitely requires precision for any benefit. If this doesn't sound in your wheel house it'll be best to find a shop and workout a plan with them.

Alternatively you could get a "lifetime alignment" at Firestone tires for like $200. Unlimited alignments, assuming the car won't have trouble getting on their rack. And more importantly you're accommodating to them working on the car…

I'm picky and my buddy is meticulously obsessive regarding race car alignments and thus measurements are within .00 of a millimeter. Lots of ways to skin a cat.

[bigjae1976]

DIY it.

I have access to a Hunter alignment rack. It gets serviced and calibrated once a month. A string alignment is better. The rack makes it a 15-20 minute job so how can I resist?