You can adjust the wheel alignment angles of your car with your own hands using available tools and simple devices. In this material we will talk about how to do wheel alignment yourself at home, and what difficulties are most often encountered when adjusting wheel alignment angles.
Incorrect alignment adjustment can cause, for example, rapid wear of tires, or the fact that when driving in a straight line, the car will pull to the left or to the right.
At the end of this article you will find a video that explains and shows in detail everything you need to know about wheel alignment.
First, let's look at the theory: wheel alignment - what is it? What are the wheel alignment angles and how does the car’s behavior on the road depend on them?
Wheel alignment - what is it?
Camber is the angle between the vertical and the plane of the wheel. It ensures reliable contact of the tire with the road (see picture above).
Toe is the angle between the direction of travel and the plane of rotation of the wheel. The stability of the car in corners and tire wear depend on it.
On rear-wheel drive cars, the wheels should be slightly turned towards each other - this is called positive toe. When moving, they move apart and become parallel. For front-wheel drive vehicles, on the contrary, the toe-in should be negative (see the diagram below). Caster is the longitudinal inclination angle of the king pin. This parameter very rarely needs adjustment, only on a newly assembled front suspension from new parts, so we will not consider its adjustment.
Repairing the suspension or steering (replacing the same shock absorbers or steering joint) leads to a significant change in the wheel alignment angles. Daily use of the car also makes adjustments to these parameters over time, so the need to adjust the wheel alignment periodically arises.
It is best to adjust wheel alignment twice a year, during seasonal tire changes. During this time, you will fall into a hole more than once or run over a curb, causing the chassis to become loose and the angles to change. Timely alignment adjustment will cost much less than a set of new tires.
In 1955, American engineer Lee Hunter developed the first wheel alignment stand. Sensors mounted on the wheels sent focused beams of light and accurately measured angles. That's why the stand was called optical. But already in 1969 it was connected to a computer, and in 1995, 3D technology was first used to measure and adjust angles.
True, Soviet car enthusiasts managed without any stands or computers - using wrenches, calipers, thread and a plumb line, they adjusted the camber and toe angles with their own hands.
Instructions for adjusting wheel alignment yourself
Pay attention to three points on which the wheel alignment angles on a car greatly depend:
Serviceability of the chassis (read more about car suspension diagnostics). Tire pressure. Loading the machine. Be sure to check the tire pressure before adjusting the wheel alignment and make sure that you haven’t accidentally forgotten a couple of bags of potatoes or cement in the trunk
