alignment checking tool

[Mondo]

This looks simple enough for even me to use

 

[slngsht]

hmmm... camber is the easiest one to measure.

toe and caster are a little more fun.

[toedrag]

This looks simple enough for even me to use

 

[/url]https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/msquicktrick/quicktrick-sl-slx-for-self-diagnosed-alignment

 

Meh, I'm a believer in DIY alignment after I spent a day experimenting by visiting 4 different alignment shops (Firestone, Sears, NTB, and a dealer I think) to get their free alignment reading on my daily driver a couple years ago. It may or may not surprise you that I received 4 vastly different readings for each and every measurement. And no, I don't think my alignment was actually changing while I was driving around. After I finished my DIY adjustments, I should have gone back through the same shops to see who was closest to mine, but I don't think I did.

 

My methods were shamelessly copied from the interwebs: camber gauge is a piece of aluminum angle, a craftsman digital level, and a framing square (to establish the 0 deg reference point at each wheel). Camber really could not be easier to measure; it takes like 1 minute per wheel. For toe, I use the good ol' string method & a digital caliper, and it does take me a while to get the car strung up b/c I'm a bit OCD about it. I haven't messed with caster yet.

 

Back to the QuickTrick, I question why in their description they state "The QuickTrick gives you the ability to check your alignment at any time and any place (no lifts or ramps) to make sure you have not knocked your tires and wheels out of alignment."....you can do that already with a few different methods...DIY style using the previously described methods or even Sears can do this. I was in & out of Sears in 5 minutes with the car on the ground the whole time, but as stated above, I question their accuracy that day (not that they are all bad; could have been an equipment calibration issue or user error)

 

With the QuickTrick, for toe, it also looks like only the tires on the same axle are measured at the same time. It seems like this introduces front to rear toe differences that you would have caught had you used the string method where all 4 wheels are referenced to the car's centerline simultaneously.

[Boxologist]

Toe is across the axle. Thrust angle is when comparing both, but most use separate values for both axles. I have a Smart Camber tool and toe plates from Longacre. Caster is reading that is best left to a machine.