How to do an alignment on a car at home using only a tape-measure!!! (And Alignment Basics)

Basic how to for aligning the toe of a car. Not the steps to complete a full alignment but is helpful for the most adjusted part on the front end

[ryanlewis]

My father was a mechanic for many, many years of his life. He used to primarily do wheel alignments. I would go into the shop on the weekends and after work, and I always remember watching him doing alignments manually.

There was this pit, with a rack that you could pull a car onto so the front half was completely accessible, and then he would mount these reflectors on the wheels, turn a spot-light on, and it would reflect the beam of light to a gauge at the front of the pit, which would give you camber and toe readings. I know it was a John Bean product (because his signature was on it) and there was this section on the front called "Mathematics of Alignments" which had all kinds of formulas and information for the figuring out the alignment angles. It was way over my head at the time (I was in the eight grade, I think).

Decades later, and I am replacing the entire front end of my car (crossmember, inner/outer tie rods, sway bar bushings and links, ball joints, and wheel bearings (probably the whole hub and knuckle, tbh). However, I live an hour's drive away from the nearest place that does alignments.

Then I got to thinking about my dad and how he used to do this stuff and figure it out by hand and I reasoned that there must be some way that one can do this yourself without thousands of dollars of equipment or hundreds of thousands of dollars in specialized computers. So I started researching it and here I am.

Rest in peace, old man! You've taught me more than you will ever know.

[speedy-cc]

I have used this method for years. I never had an issue with uneven tire wear, and exceeded tire wear expectations.👍

[rayhandyman]

If only every single video on YouTube could be this concise, informative, and useful

[wolfyklaus]

Nice video pretty much explains what's going on in the front end. I am 60 years old auto mechanic my whole life I went to school for front end alignment Auto and Diesel. Your videos shows what's going on. With this method even if it is not perfect but if you get it as close as you can you're probably doing a better job then the new guy at the repair shop setting the tow and letting it go. All you Old-Timers know what I mean by that phrase. Pretty much you'll be close enough and will stop wearing out tires thumbs up my friend👍

[alexgelhorn]

Great video! My only suggestion would be to find center on the vehicle, use a plumb bob and measure off each tire to center. This is because one tire may be out more than the other. And when your tolerance is 1/16th, every 1/32 counts.

[TheoriginalMobileApp]

This is exactly how I fixed the alignment on my 87 Chevette. My friends thought I got lucky, I just thought it made sense. Glad to see I’m not the only one. Lol.

[greenbudkelly]

Works great. I’ve been doing this for many years. 1/8” toe in for 32” tires on a RWD is just about right for good handling and good wear.

[getsmarter]

Thanks for the demo! I tried the tape measure, but I didn't want to hassle my wife to come out and hold one end while I did math. So I used a long piece of trimmed 1/2" x 1" wood, with a screw through one end with just enough screw poking out of one end to hook into a tread. Using the 2nd inner treads, I was able to reach over and hook on to the other side easily, then mark the wood on the other corresponding tread. Went to the backside, did the same. Now you have two marks on the wood who's difference you can now easily measure. A lot easier than a floppy tape measure and having to read that tape measure down to a 32nd of an inch while under your car!

[USdefender]

Thanks for sharing this with us. Even though some people are griping about little things most of us really appreciate this info.

[Noname-guqi]

Also what works really good it's a couple of commercial vinyl tiles used as turntables, With the polished sides facing each other under the tires, done it many times with good results.

[bbldb]

This is great i had all the manual pre digital and computer added equipment at a garage right beside a high tech alignment and frame shop. They often brought me jobs on cars that drove bad for them after the computer alignments. I straighten the cars out just fine. I told one of the guys from there "just cause you have a computer doesn't mean you must stop thinking ". :-)

[LetricShave]

As one viewer mentioned, loosen off the rubber boot clamps before you start spinning anything. This keeps the boot from getting twisted up as you turn the adjusting shaft. You could even use a silver Sharpie marker to put a reference mark where the original boot position was if you’re concerned about it sliding too far away from it’s original position on the shaft.

[timrussell]

That method works just fine for adjusting basic toe in settings. However, it will not center the steering wheel if it isn't already straight. Also, a person would want to make sure the bellows boots are back straight after turning the tie rods, i take the clamps loose first and shoot a little wd in there with the straw before turning them. Good vid!

[bradleywaller]

Hi mate I've been doing wheel alignments at home for years saves money using the same technique tape measure 👍

[needmoreboost]

Bit of a tip you should jack the wheel off the ground to spin it and use chalk and scribe to mark a true center line, tread can be off centre or the wheel could have a slight amount of run out and a true centre will find any problems and give better results for little extra effort

[mda]

That's the method I use. Hold the tape measure in the tread with some duct tape and take readings across the front and rear of the tyres - move the car forwards and re-check measurements. If the steering wheel is slightly off centre, count the threads on each tie rod and by adjusting just one side it is possible to correct the steering and achieve the desired toe - I prefer just a slight toe-in. After any adjustment move the vehicle and re-check the measurements.

I've done this on my Passat, the steering wheel is now spot on and tyres which were previously wearing badly have been replaced and the new ones are now wearing evenly across the treads.

[brad]

Well, I noticed just looking at my car that I had an enormous amount of toe out, so set about fixing it using this method. I was confident that I had it right but on a long drive I felt it was pulling to the near side a bit too much. So I took it to a local garage for a test on their Hunter machine, telling them that I'd been having a go myself. They came back to me with a print out and said it was spot on and asked me how I'd done it.

[garyr]

You'd have more precise measurements by measuring off the rotors with the wheels off and off the ground. I've done this method, but off the rotors with the wheels off and jacked up. What I did was take the wheels off, took two carpenter squares held on against the rotors by two lugs flat position parallel to the ground. This left the squares sticking out from front to back to measure off of. Being off the ground won't effect toe, makes it real easy to adjust the tie rods, quicker to measure and more precise. Most carpenter squares are plenty flat enough to use, they generally have close enough tolerances within a couple 1000's of an inch in most cases... they're good enough for toe anyways.

[ronmitchell]

I use to do that until I discovered a string alignment. I'm sure there are videos on it. A string goes the whole way around the car across the middle of the tire. It's easier to visualize and also get your steering wheel straight. No need holding a tape. With all front end work I do a string alignment then send them off to get it done with a machine. Any control arm work the castor and camber needs adjusted. With just tierods and/or pitman arm you can get away with just toe-in. Another thing is you need good tires. If you have poor tires you will get poor results. Do your work, put good tires on, adjust it close enough then go get a professional alignment. It's worth the $75.

[mgabrielle]

You could improve accuracy of measurement more of you mark the two points with some paint, or tippex, and then push your car in forward or backward direction until those two marks appear at the rear, so you can now measure more accurate as this would take away any element of any wheel being slightly warped, or some other difference in tyre pattern . Overall its a good basic way to align. You also need around 1 degree toe in