Alignment Situation

[RentonD]

So I bought coilovers and put them on my car and now I can't take it anywhere that will align it. I have 3 options. I'm just looking for opinions on the best route. I have a 1995 240SX and it is a daily driver. (Trying to save money here)

Options:
1. Continue buying tires as the current tires accumulate toe wear/camber wear.
2. Buy RUCAs and Toe Rods and align it myself. (Is it possible to align yourself?)
3. Raise my car all the way up.

Thanks.

[babowc]

#2 then #4.

4. find a performance alignment shop that'll take you.

[HYPNOTIK]

I chose #5, do your own alignment.

Here's a little write-up I did. Someday I'll finish it but this will give you a good idea.

How To Do A Home Alignment on a S-chassis

Tools Needed
-Craftsman Laser Level
-Floor Jack
-Wrenches
-Tape Measure
-Jackstands
-Lug Wrench
-Carpenter’s Square

Pic of the level
http://www.ugo.com/holiday-gift-guide/images/partytime-gadgets/laser-level.jpg
They sell these at the BX for $40

Step 1
Find a large flat area to do your alignment. The more level the ground is your working on, the better your alignment will be.
Step 2
Jack up the rear of the car and remove the rear wheels. Place the jackstands under where the coilovers mount to the rear knuckle and lower the car so that it is resting on it’s own weight with the suspension compressed.
Step 3
Decide where you want to place the level, you need to keep it in the same spot throughout the alignment process to obtain the best results. The Craftsman level has magnets on the bottom side and so it makes it easy to attach to the bottom of the car. It needs to be mounted so that it is parallel to the frame of the car so that the toe alignment will be true and your car won’t “crabwalk”. I attached my level to the rocker panel with the magnets and lined it up with the seam of the body so that I had a reference point to place the level in the same spot on both sides of the car.
Step 4
Turn on the laser and measure from the face of the hub to the laser. I found this was easiest to do with a carpenter’s square. This measurement may not be the same for both sides of the car, measure both sides and write down the measurement. This number will be your correction factor. For the purpose of this write-up we’ll say both sides are 5 3/4”.
http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn87/SkylineGT_01/alignmentstep1.jpg
Step 5
Measure across the tread of your tire and find the absolute center, make a mark using a paint marker or a white out pen. Something that is easily visible and won’t rub off.
Step 6
Put the wheels back on the car and set it on the ground. Sit on the back of the car and roll the car back and forth approximately 6 feet or 2 meters. This is to settle the suspension in order to get an accurate measurement. You will have to do this several times throughout the alignment process.
Step 7
With the wheel on the car measure from your center point that you marked earlier 5 ¾”. Make a mark.
http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn87/SkylineGT_01/alignmentstep2.jpg
Step 8
Now you need to compensate for the offset of the wheel. Measure from your last mark +/- whatever your wheel offset is. Make a mark. This mark will be 0 degrees toe.
http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn87/SkylineGT_01/alignmentstep3.jpg
Step 9
Using a piece of angle iron approx the diameter of your wheel as an extension, put the level up the face of your wheel to measure the camber. Obviously 90 degrees is 0 deg camber, 89 deg is -1 deg camber and so on.
Step 10
Now jack the car up and adjust your camber arm accordingly. Set the car down after you have made an adjustment and settle the suspension just like you did in Step 6. Now measure the camber again and see if more adjustment is needed. Repeat this process until the desired camber is achieved.
Step 11
With the camber squared away it is now time to adjust the toe. For now we are only going to learn how to set the alignment to 0 deg toe. I will elaborate on how to set up specific amounts of toe later. It is a-little more in-depth and requires the use of trigonometry.
Step 12
With the suspension settled check the position of the laser on the tire in relation to the mark that denotes 0 deg that we made earlier. Just like the camber, you will have to jack the car up, adjust, set it down, settle the suspension, and then check your toe again. Repeat until you have adjusted the toe to 0 deg.
Step 13
After the toe is adjusted, recheck your camber and make sure it is still good. Small adjustments may be necessary. To check your toe one more way, measure across the front of the tires and across the back with the tape measure to confirm that it is dialed in correctly. This method will not work to set the toe initially because even if the measurement are equal, the wheels may not be inline with the car and it will cause it to “crabwalk”.

Your rear alignment is now done. I’ll work on writing up the rest, (how to do the front and how to make toe adjustments).