Poll: Who does their own alignment work?

[Torsion]

Interestingly, I talked to Sam Strano today over the phone, and he recommended that you *dont* change your camber plates at the track. His rationale was that it's too hard to know what your alignment settings are unless you have it on a professional alignment rack.

This surprised me because I was just starting to believe that an alignment was something that I could do myself.

Is an alignment something that you can reasonably learn to do yourself? Or is it too hard to get it right?

Any thoughts?

 

[GR8WYT]

I personally spoke with Sam in great detail about this and other topics. He suggested that you have setup in mind and then have it adjusted to that. If you adjust at track it is fine but the reality that you will go home and set it back to pre-adjustment is rare. I think there is more to the conversation that you are not eluding to? Sam gives good advice and proven advice I may add, he could have upsold me thousands of dollars in parts. His exact words make and adjustment... Drive the car, repeat first step, repeat second step.

A track car is a track car a weekend warrior needs to maintain the best of both worlds. A track car should be safer than a warrior because your speed, accel and braking is not as predisposed as the street. My 2 cents...

 

[Torsion]

Oh hell, I didn't mean to imply that Sam gave me *bad* advice.

Our conversation went something like this:

Me: "once I install camber plates, konis, and Steeda springs... what camber setting should I set it up for?"

Sam: something like "well, it depends upon how much track and how much street driving you'll be doing, it's all a compromise".

Me: "But, don't people go to the track, add negative camber at trackside... then change it back for street driving?"

Sam: he said something about how people adjust the camber and then have no idea how it affected their toe. I can't remember exactly, but he then suggested that I just try to pick one setting, get it professionally done, and stick to it.

 

[cloud9]

Oh hell, I didn't mean to imply that Sam gave me *bad* advice.

Our conversation went something like this:

Me: "once I install camber plates, konis, and Steeda springs... what camber setting should I set it up for?"

Sam: something like "well, it depends upon how much track and how much street driving you'll be doing, it's all a compromise".

Me: "But, don't people go to the track, add negative camber at trackside... then change it back for street driving?"

Sam: he said something about how people adjust the camber and then have no idea how it affected their toe. I can't remember exactly, but he then suggested that I just try to pick one setting, get it professionally done, and stick to it.

I've experienced what I think he's telling you about a street and track driven car. First of all the compromise he's referring to is the inside wear you'll get on your tires during normal street driving with increased negative camber. More negative camber is generally speaking better for cornering grip on the track, and reduced outside wear due to tire rollover. The problem is you'll increase wear on the inside of your tires driving in a straight line like you are doing most of the time on the street.

Regarding changes in camber at the track. I've tried this as well, but it will throw off your toe when you move the struts back to "street" mode. This can lead to "chopping" your street tires especially if you put a lot of highway miles on it. The only way to do this properly is to put it back on the alignment rack when you return home, or learn how to align it yourself in your garage. I do not have that capability, but some people can do it themselves. I'm Assuming that's what Sam was referring to in your conversation.

Personally my car sees about 50/50 track and street time. I go through far more track tires than street tires so I set mine up with almost 3 degrees of negative camber for better track performance and longevity of track tires. For my street tires, I will flip them on the rim after a few thousand miles. With the Pirellis being directional you'll compromise wet traction, but I either don't drive in the rain or rein it in significantly knowing I will have less than ideal grip.

 

[Grant 302]

I've got a thread on DIY alignment here:
https://trackmustangsonline.com/index.php?topic=3384.msg54258#msg54258

https://trackmustangsonline.com/threads/who-else-does-their-own-alignment.3384/#post-54258

Changing your camber at the track to 'preset' modes *should* be accompanied by preset modes for toe also, or a solid understanding of how the toe will change to 'help' either the street or track settings.