anyone on here do thier own tracking?

[steveo3002]

just wondering who does thier own tracking at home and what method you use

[93fxdl]

use a drive over trakrite tool
ttfn glenn

[goodoldluke]

i got one of those old, bolt to wheel and look through eye hole, jobbies. works well for us

[steveo3002]

Apr 12, 2010 7:49:51 GMT 93fxdl said:

use a drive over trakrite tool
ttfn glenn

ive seen those ..do you rate it then , cant really see how they work tbh

[93fxdl]

works fine, but a bit of a faff using it
clear a space to drive the car to and fro
drive over the gauge and see what the indicator says
adjust the tracking
drive over gauge again
if ok jobs done, if not adjust again and repeat
it works by a sliding tray moving sideways if the tracking is out and this moves a pointer on the base
the tracking on my old ldv van was so far out it went over travel and almost wrecked the gauge so now i always watch the pointer as i drive over, to see how bad it is (or isnt)
after checking your own tracking about 3 time the gauge has paid for itself (unless local tyre places are having a free tracking special)
ttfn glenn
you can also do your own tracking using an adjustable bar to measure the distance between the inside of the wheel rims but you need to know the amount of difference needed for your particular car

[steveo3002]

yeah weve got 3 cars so if i could learn how to do it well it would pay for itself

id looked at the bar and pointer method, and another where you run strings around the car and use a ruler to measure to the rim

[rmad]

racer86.com/2010/02/06/project-roadster-diy-wheel-alignment/

[cobblers]

Apr 12, 2010 10:07:37 GMT rmad said:

racer86.com/2010/02/06/project-roadster-diy-wheel-alignment/

Interesting... Does this method account for differences in track width/wheel width front and rear? I begrudge spending £25 for the garage to set my tracking when they seem to ALWAYS make a pigs ear of it (Down to once removing the TRE from the steering arm, tearing the gaiter to pieces and then not tightening it up when they refitted it!)

[Deleted]

2 bits of wood tape measure set square and a good eye for mine never got it wrong yet

[Seth]

Apr 12, 2010 11:49:33 GMT nightmaresracing said:

2 bits of wood tape measure set square and a good eye for mine never got it wrong yet

I do the same but without the wood, tape measure and set square

I suspect it is easier with older steering box cars though and newer FWD rack stuff is more fussy?

[robg2]

1. Trackrite / drive-over gauge
I've got a Trackrite too, and occasional access to some Dunlop tracking gauges.

I once set tracking on the Trackrite and then overchecked it straight away using the Dunlop gauges - and wasn't particularly impressed. Assuming that the Dunlop gauges were reading correctly (and they can't really be wrong as their design necessitates a re-calibration each time they're used), the Trackrite gave something like 2/3rds of a degree error if I remember correctly. That's enough error to wear tyres out in a few thousand miles, although it's definitely better than not setting the tracking at all.

The issue with drive over gauges is that they're very sensitive to the ground they're used on being level - if not level then gravity will pull the car sideways during the measurement and give a false reading. The fact that only one wheel is being raised also doesn't help.
I reckon that if an arrangement of levelled beams was laid under the wheels to make sure that
a) each axle is driven over a surface that is truely level, and
b) there is no rise in height for the wheel being measured
...then a drive-over gauge is capable of giving good results.

Note that a drive-over gauge doesn't help in centering the steering wheel / rack. It is important to get this right to make sure the track rods are the same length, to avoid unequal toe-changes during acceleration / braking / vehicle loading etc. Some cars have a centreing pin on the steering rack, or the trackrods might be sufficiently exposed to allow their lenghts to be measured directly. Otherwise the centre point can be set via driving once the wheel alignment is right.

2. Direct measurement using string
This should be pretty reliable. The concept is to make a pair of stands that go infront and behind the car so that a piece of string can be tied around the perimeter of the car (but not touching it) at wheel centre height. The front and rear stands need to be the same width so that the strings running along the sides of the car are parallel.
The alignment of each wheel can be determined by measuring from the string to the outside edges of each rim. Result will be in mm, or degrees if converted via trigonometry.
The difficulties are making sure the string is kink-free, and measuring the distance from the string to the wheel rim accurately. I should think that accuracy of 1mm would be possible though (0.3 degrees on a 14" rim).

As an extension to the piece of string method, the wheel plan can be sketched onto the ground below the car if a plumbline is used to project points such as the edges of the rims downwards. That could be useful to measure things like the wheel base being different from side to side or the rear wheels not being in-line with the rears (irrespective of track difference).

The string could probably be replaced with laser levels & mirrors too - can't quite think of an arrangement at the moment but it can't be that hard.


So all in all...
a Trackrite is better than nothing
b Dunlop gauges or some type of optical gauge are better - but £££
c Piece of string type measurement should be ok if you can stand the hassle.

Anyone got any other ideas?

[dave21478]

Its not a great pic, and it was raised up after the pic was taken so its level with the wheel centres, but you get the idea....



1 long bit of metal and 2 short, straight bits. 2 clamps to hold them all together and a decent, large set-square to make sure its all at right-angles.
Then measure from the metal to the wheel rim at the front and rear edges using a good steel rule. Very basic mathematics using the difference in mm will tell you how much the wheels toe in or out, which can be converted to degrees if required. 2mm toe out is just about right for a mini, and is a good starting point for most fwd cars.

It needs to be done on flat-ish ground, and after adjusting the track rod ends, the car should be wheeled backwards and forwards a few meters to allow the suspension and steering to settle before re-checking the measurements.

[optima21]

on my polos I have a wooden board that I place against the back wheels so that it makes the track appear the same width as the front



then looking down the side of the car, when the front sidewall and rea sidewall of the front tyre line up with the outer edge of the board you the front wheels with no toe-in or toe-out. its done me ok as long as the wheels run true


i
also do it on a smooth floor. I used a warehouse and checked it with a spirit level, and you should push the car forwards so that the suspension can settle

[steveo3002]

Apr 12, 2010 13:02:17 GMT robg2 said:

Anyone got any other ideas?

yeah theres one other i know of ...basicly a stick or metal beam with a 90 deg kick up at each end ....on the end of kick up piece theres a pointer (wood screw ) that you align to the mid high point of the back edge of the rim ....move the stick to the front edge of the rim and compare readings...when they both read the same its paralel

some use a pointer to a line in the tread assuming you have matching tyres

[CIH]

I have to make do with a £60k Hunter Hawk-Eye. Sigh, working in a garage really sucks...

[robg2]

Apr 12, 2010 17:52:41 GMT optima21 said:

on my polos I have a wooden board that I place against the back wheels so that it makes the track appear the same width as the front

I've tried that method before too. Do you assume that the front and rear track are accurate to the published figures?

I tried it on two different cars, on each occasion assuming that the front and rear track matched the spec. On each car I then checked against the Dunlop tracking gauges.
One car was a 205 1.4 - your method was good enough on this car and the tracking ended up in spec.
The other car was an Audi A6 (C4 style) - your method didn't produce good results and the tracking was some way out. The front or rear track (or both) were obviously too far away from spec for it to work.

So... if the geometry of the car is good and matches the design figure, this method will work ok. But if front and rear track are more than a few mm out (= likely) then I think it won't be good enough. It's definitely a good technique where appropriate though!