Front End Alignment
 

Hello Everyone SmileWavy
Has anyone here align 911 front ends? I think I have a Toe-in problem :eek:(inside of the tire is wearing quicker). I could take the car in to some one but I thought I might try this if its not too involved. :confused:
Thanks in advance.
Larry

That is usually an excessive negative camber issue.

fixing toe is another part of addressing the issue. From my experience, toe has more impact to uneven wear than camber...relatively speaking.

if you search for diy alignment, you'd find good write ups and several different ways to measure toe.
for me, the most laziest way i do is to pull up to my garage with flat and smooth concrete floor, put 2ft level gauge right against tire wall, draw line with pencil on the floor along the gauge, go to the other side, do the same. what you are doing here is that you are drawing lines on the concrete floor parallel to each tires. then measure the widths of the lines with a tape measure at the front side of the tire and rear, so that you know if the lines are parallel. If front side value is larger then you have toe out. you extend the tie rod to get the toe corrected. make sense (may be not)? this is my lazy way and I get not so accurate but roughly good enough sense of where my toe is at.
if i had time, i do string-around-the-car method but that requires more time and patience.

u can do it at home. it takes some time. im in north hollywood. let me know maybe i can help

For a quick check, raise the car so the fronts are off the ground. Spin the tire and use chalk to draw on the tread where you can make a good line all around the circumference. Now lower the car to the ground and roll it back and forth at least 10 feet. Push the front end down a couple of times before you roll back to your original spot to make sure the suspension is settled.

Now, get some one to hold one end of a tape measure on the line and read the the opposite side in front as high as you can get a straight line. Then do the back. The back measurement should be somewhere around an 1/8 th longer, so you can see why accuracy is important. If you're close, it might be camber.

You can check you camber too. First, look in the trunk to see if the struts are mover inward, or more or less in the center of the hole. Inward tells you that more camber than stock has been dialed in, possibly for autox or track. Get the car on level ground, at least side to side. Use a carpenter's level with some extensions taped to the side equal to the rim lip and the same length ans place vertically on the lips. Read the bubble. Just off center would be good. Half a bubble between the lines would be too much camber for any kind of decent tire wear.

They make digital levels too. Anything up to a half a degree is probably OK. Half a bubble is pretty much as far as a stock strut will adjust for negative camber, or about 1.5 degrees. Stock is close to 0 degrees camber.

Thanks everyone for your input.

Correct me if I'm wrong but wear on the inside of the tire demonstrates a toe out condition.

I've done the same thing as the chaulk line measurment mentioned above, but I just put a piece of masking tape on the tire tread at the edge of a trad block, then rolled the car forward without using the brakes to stop it and measured and adjusted with a tape measure for approximately 1/16" toe in.
Duct tape would work too... and it gives a much sharper edge to measure to and from than a chaulk line and no jacking the car up either.

I could only measure from about 8 and 4 o-clock on tire rotation but you can get close.

Then I drove the car to a place that did free alignment checks but you pay if they adjust anything, on an alignment rack and it was right on.

I still do it myself but I use 4 jack stands with string streched between them up close to the front and rear wheels and measure to the rim edges at 9 and 3 with a tape measure.

I built some racks for about $15:


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1239916357.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1239916404.jpg

very very inspiring bk911. nice work. ...and a beautiful car.

Uh thanks! But she really is a 10' car. But a 10' 1950# car with a 3.0. :D

I would be happy to take some better pics and measurements if anybody is interested in making their own alignments racks. Took about $15 and an hour or so to build, but only take about 15 minutes to set up to use. I have used them on several 911s now with pretty good (and repeatable) results.

Yes, please. any pic's, measurements, instructions, etc. would be appreciated. I've seen a picture of someone's similar set-up but no description. It would seem more simple and accurate than jack-stands and strings.

Thanks,

Jerry M
'78 SC

+1!!!