Alignment; tricky to find specialist?

[Road Ready]

Long story short, I hit a really big pothole at sufficient speed to break a wheel. 

 

I'm on my way to replacing the wheel with the help of Josh at Rocky Mountain Caterham. It seems like a good idea to get the alignment checked. Do I need a special shop/special equipment for that or would a regular alignment shop be able to do it?

 

I'm in western NC

[sf4018]

A competent regular shop can do it, there are lots around that are not, particularly the high street ones so make sure you trust them. I had my whole suspension tuned by a Porsche service center during initial setup after the build as they have some top quality tools and equipment (toe, camber, corner weights, etc). After that I purchased the tools to do it myself. If your just talking toe then this will do the trick...

Tenhulzen 3300 Tenhulzen Two-Wheel Alignment Systems with Toe Plates | Summit Racing

...it's basic but does the job. There are tons of others too.

[Croc]

Look for a quality alignment or race workshop and ask them to also corner weight the car at the same time.  Someone who works on setting up open wheeler race cars (e.g. Formula Ford) will know their stuff.  

 

 

[kayentaskier]

Here are some pics when my suspension was set up, including corner weighting. The work was done at the world headquarters of Rocky Mountain Caterham by Nathan Down, former Caterham Engineer and still Formula Ford driver, builder and coach. As a point of reference for the weight, the car is a 2020 420R, with leather seats, windshield motor delete, no heater and track day roll bar

Jim

[coffee break]

If the wheel was wacked enough to require replacement, it would be a good ides to check all the front end. Bent arms and cracked welds come to mind.

[kayentaskier]

11 hours ago, kayentaskier said:

Here are some pics when my suspension was set up, including corner weighting. The work was done at the world headquarters of Rocky Mountain Caterham by Nathan Down, former Caterham Engineer and still Formula Ford driver, builder and coach. As a point of reference for the weight, the car is a 2020 420R, with leather seats, windshield motor delete, no heater and track day roll bar

Jim

Edit: WINDSHIELD WIPER MOTOR delete. Not sure what these weigh, but not in sequential 

[CarlB]

On 5/8/2021 at 4:52 PM, Croc said:

Look for a quality alignment or race workshop and ask them to also corner weight the car at the same time.  Someone who works on setting up open wheeler race cars (e.g. Formula Ford) will know their stuff.  

 

 

Croc is correct. You want someone who is familiar with racing and preferably open wheel or sports racers. I have never had good luck with commercial shops even ones that specialize in high performance work.