DIY Wheel Alignment

[snwbrdr435]

So since this thread has been bumped its time to ask a question regarding tire wear.

I've gotten multiple alignments at three different places. Front outer tire edges continue to wear very quickly.

[epowell]

[epowell]

I made a home-made CASTER/CAMBER tool and started a new thread to discuss that and it's possible usage.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=679533
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[Christopher Schimke]

Also see this other thread for more info on measure caster with a homemade tool.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=679533

[bobbyblack]

[yiucycle]

Chris,
How long would you said to do this the first time and then once you get get the hang of it?? just wondering if i need to allocate the whole weekend for it. thanks
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[o-town]

Checking the Bentley carefully, setting caster needs a bit of attention. The setting is 7 degrees 15'

BUT this corresponds to camber difference of wheel on lock from 20 degrees and right of 4 degrees 50'

First time I tried to achieve 7 degrees. Wasn't possible. Thank goodness, don't know what the handling would have been like

Surprised no one brought this up.
Caster proper setting using Chris' method is 4 degrees 50' plus/minus 10'

[?Waldo?]

I completed a front-end alignment for the first time today. It took a bit of reading and a bit of doing before I really understood it all. I was really pleased with my setup which gave very accurate and repeatable results. For angle/level measurement I used an 'AccuRemote' digital level gauge (I give it a high recommendation). I made a tool similar to what Chris showed in the first post. I used some very beefy angle iron and a couple bolts for standoffs.

I wanted to mention that o-town's post is largely on point. According to the Bentley, the correct caster setting is 7° 15' but that is the angle if the rim were turned 90° which is obviously impossible. The difference between the rim turned 20° IN and 20° OUT should be 4° 50'. I appreciate that correction being pointed out, however the rest of the post doesn't make sense to me. O-town says that an adjustment of 7° 15' wasn't possible for them. That completely flies in the face of what I encountered. What I saw was that with the bushing all the way at the outer edge of the rod, the caster was @ approx 3°. Moving the nuts/bushing IN on the rod raised the caster and by the time the INNER nut was midway in the threads, the caster was over 9° on the van I was adjusting. I took a look at my three other vans and although I was not the one doing the last caster adjustment they are all near the outer end of the threads so fit with my experience.

O-town, if you could not go above 7° 15' of adjustment in caster, I suspect that you are not doing it correctly. It was easy for me to pass 7° 15° and was still on the 'low' side of the adjustment area.

[epowell]

[?Waldo?]

I thought I'd give a follow up. I've been driving the van and the handling is excellent. That might have something to do with the new powerflex bushings all around along with the alignment.

I was very lucky in that the garage floor of the friend's shop where I worked on the alignment was within 1/8" of flat and level for all four tires. That's impressively flat and level for a concrete slab.

Here are pics of the tool I assembled for camber and caster:

I adjusted the height of the bolt standoffs by placing the tool flat on a hard surface, noting the level reading, then rotating the tool 180° so the foot locations were exactly swapped. I changed the protrusion of the bolts until the two readings matched exactly.

The quick square that is clamped to the angle is not used for measuring, but instead is just a convenient item I used so that when the tool is in place it triangulates the tool against the rim. At some point I will probably weld on an arm and add a third adjustable foot. The other magnetic level stuck to the angle is used to confirm that the angle iron is vertical while taking the reading.

For the digital level/angle finder, first I purchased a Harbor Freight model. Just don't - it was a POS. Wildly inaccurate. After that fiasco, I did some looking online and reading reviews to purchase the AccuRemote. I can confirm that it is accurate and the readings are repeatable. Very nice tool - recommended.

I would mention that it took me a fair amount of reading, looking, and thinking to really understand the caster measurement and adjustment. After actually understanding how to take an accurate reading of the various angles and how to adjust each, I find that the actual process of doing the alignment is quite easy.

Some things to note:

You want the van level for the caster reading/adjustment(place VCT shims under tires as necessary) but you do not need or even want the string jig in place for caster. It gets in the way of adjustment and you will knock it out of alignment. Set the string up after the caster measurment and adjustment just for the toe reading/adjustment.

The caster measurement for our vans is taken by rotating the wheel 20° to each side of straight ahead and finding the angular difference between those two measurements. Difference implies subtraction, but because one angle is on either side of 90°, if you are using a digital level/angle finder like what I show and are reading from absolute level, you need to ADD those two measurements together. An alternative is to turn the wheel to the first 20° position, take a reading and zero the gauge. Then rotate the wheel 40° to the other position and take another reading. Having zeroed the tool on the initial angle, the tool will give the total angular difference which according to the Bentley should be 4° 50'.

The van I was adjusting had power-steering and the 1-1/8 turn of the steering wheel was exactly 20° as Chris had mentioned previously. That was quite helpful for repeating readings. Double-check to be sure your van is the same, but after double-checking, going off the steering wheel rotation is much easier/faster than setting up the straight edge on the sidewall and measuring the 20° rotation each time.

To increase the positive caster, move the nuts/bushing onto the radius rod further. I found that approx. 3 full turns of the nuts was ~1°.

The Bentley does not differentiate the caster angle spec for power-steering equipped vans vs. manual steering vans. From what I have read, I imagine that power-steering equipped vans could be adjusted for a higher positive caster adjustment with good results (better straight-line driving and cornering). The manual steering equipped vans might get a bit harder to turn, especially at low speeds (e.g. parking), if positive caster is increased above spec.

After learning the process I have to say it is quite easy to perform. I will certainly never pay someone to mess up my alignment again, and instead will do it right myself. I really appreciate Chris' original write-up for all the excellent info it provides and for inspiring me to learn this skill and eliminate the last reason I've had for allowing any 'professional' knuckle-dragger to touch a wrench to any of my vehicles.

[Christopher Schimke]

Man, that's an awesome addition to this thread. Thank you for taking the time to show and tell.

And apologies and thanks to the people who have corrected my mistakes in the original post (mostly math mistakes). I wish it were possible to go back and edit old posts, but at least people have set the record straight. Doing big how-to threads like this is time consuming and unfortunately I simply got caught up in other details and missed the mistakes. Luckily others caught them.
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[?Waldo?]

No need for any apologies, Chris. Your initial post is inspirational. I have nothing but appreciation for your input.

[?Waldo?]

No need for any apologies, Chris. Your initial post is really excellent and much appreciated. I actually wonder if on power steering equipped vans the 7°50' positive caster would perform better than the spec of 4°50'.

[targabill]

Very nice write up on alignment,
I did an interesting twist on this, Instead of using string, I used a floor laser square to do the alignment, very quick to set up and square it up, when done measuring you should have a perfect rectangle marked on the floor with exact parallel sides.. Board leaning on the back is just to show the laser..
You can use a level to get exact vertical. And measure from hub center to get Square across the front.. You then can measure both directions at 12, 3, 6, & 9 O'clock..
Worked great on front and rear...

[Ahwahnee]

Nice set-up.

[E1]

[Abscate]

[lucianosanchez]

Chris, do you still have the images for the original post?
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[?Waldo?]

All the images in the original post still work fine.

[lucianosanchez]