The AUSubaru.com.au Forums

Hi guys..

Lately I've had to do some pulling apart and reassembly of the front end of my subie, new power racks etc. The steering guy in town charges about $65 for a wheel alignment and its usually spot on, but then I've had to pull the front apart for something else.

When I was an apprentice mechanic many years ago in the early seventies, (an apprenticeship I never finished in a small country town) we used to put a sharp nail in a block of wood, score the tyre and then measure front and back to get the toe-in, placing the tyres on a couple of folded up newspapers. Anyway lately I have been running a string line from the back tyres to the front, rolling the car back and forwards to get the wheels to settle in the suspension and doing the best I can, try and get a good result. Last time I did this, it seemed spot on, sat on the road great and I kept an eye on the tyre for any adverse wear...

So my question here is, what tricks or methods do others use for home wheel alignment that they might want to pass on ...Cheers

all i do is get a mate/girlfriend to hold one end of a tape measure. put it at the front of the wheel and measure a tyre mark from side to side. do the same at the back of the tyre and then adjust the tie rods so that the measurements are about the same or slightly toe-in. home job, but does the trick for short-medium term.

Yes, that sounds similar to the procedure I mentioned with the nail. I probably didn't explain it very well. With the sharp pointy end of a nail coming out of a wood block, rotate the front wheel and inscribe a mark on approx centre track of the tyre. Then measure the width of the track across the front of the tyre and then across the back of the front tyres with preferably a mil or so toe in. However, can we still get the front wheels aligned with the back wheels and the steering wheel in the centre position using this method, hence the string line.?? I realise its probably short to medium term but it would be interesting to hear if anyone has struck on a better home method.

i do the same with car and trucks with about .5-1 mm toe in work well for a short fix
but i jack the car up so the tires are just off the ground buy about 1 mm and turn the wheel with some thing to put a line around the tire then measure off that
then the front and the back are the same spot that u measure off
hope this help u out