At Home Alignment Made Easy - How To Use String To Align Your Car

►Aligning your car is something that is easily overlooked during your regular maintenance and bringing your car to a shop to have it done is time-consuming and costly. If your alignment is out of spec, however, you run the risk of poor handling characteristics, bad fuel economy, and the premature wear of tires and other components. If you have just replaced suspension components, hit a curb or pothole, or are seeing uneven tire wear, these are all indicators that it is time to do an alignment. Even in performance applications, this can be an effective tool to get the most out of the handling of your car. But how do you go about doing this yourself?

Our director of Motorsport, Nate Vincent, is back to show you the proper way to align your car all for under $50 with parts found at your local hardware store. This method works for any make or model of any car! The string alignment method is one of the most accurate methods to get the suspension of your car within manufacture specs and one we use regularly at the race track as part of our motorsport program.

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[roadracing]

Good video! A couple things that I have found after doing my own string alignments:

Use 1" EMT conduit instead of the PVC. If the jack stands are placed in a different spot front or rear, there will be different flex, and that can alter the actual distance between the slots in the PVC. We are talking very small differences, but I can hold my measuring to .25 mm. I do my alignments outside, if the sun is beating on the front tubing but not the rear, with PVC, this could cause a difference between the slots. PVC expands and contracts at a rate much higher than steel. Even if this wouldn't be an issue for you, steel EMT would be much more stable and durable. Doing string alignments is all about eliminating variables. Use the thinnest hacksaw blade you can find and cut the slot by hand for best precision.

To hold the steering wheel, you can get a steering wheel holder for alignments on Amazon. Looks like a little guy with a red head. Works great and it's a lot easier to use.

I also use 50 lb test, .36mm diameter braided deep sea fishing line in bright yellow, it is very user friendly, doesn't knot up and tangle, yet it is easy to tie knots. It is highly visible so you don't bump it. And it holds a nice taught line with the weight without stretching.

Some manufacturers measure toe in as a positive # so be aware what your manufacturer is actually stating.


Here's a great toe conversion calculator: www.1728.org/toe-out.htm

[vyqipno]

Thank you, my dad's 82 just had his MOT, they replaced his track rods but never did the alignment. Literally i confronted them, they told me they NEVER bothered, Disgusting i told him to report them to VOSA. I used to be a mechanic, i left to study Automotive Engineer. I didn't do the repairs because i was trained on a machine and didn't have the proper kit. I've never seen tracking done like this. It's makes sense your recreating the track bars, I'm going to sort it out for him. You can always learn a new way/trick. Thank you so much.

[slowinfastout]

Very informative. Now all I need to make it easy is a full size lift in my house.

[CJ-tysv]

The context about camber before toe at around the 31:00 mark actually goes for the front too. Camber (and front caster if adjustable) should always be done be done before toe at all 4 corners. Virtually every car out there will experience some degree of toe change when camber (and / or caster) is adjusted and thus toe should ALWAYS be the last thing you adjust and never the first (unless that is the only thing you are going to be making adjustments to.

Even with camber plate adjustment, many cars will experience a noticeable toe change because its a factor of knuckle / upright geometry and NOTHING to do with the chassis suspension pickup points.

[janvirgala]

Excellent video . Just one point, toe in is
positive and toe out is negative {3:43}

[mikel]

First, Great instructional guys. After dealing with incompetent shops in my area that literally can't align your car unless it's 100% stock. I decided to do this my self. Glad I did, can confirm best alignment I've ever had on my Mazda 3.
One note for people like me with OCD, you can help compensate for human error during setup by making the distance between your bars significantly longer than the length of the car, if you have the room. Due to the relative length from the pivot points when making adjustments this let's you be more precise in twords the vehicle. Hopefully that made sense lo

[dariusz]

I've been doing string alignments for years! They are way better than a shop alignment which always gives you a crooked steering wheel.

[majormojo]

Great explanation. Instead of taping and measuring threads on the tie rods, I think it’s easier to just make one full turn of the adjuster and then measure the change at the wheels. You only have to do it once per car and you get a precise measurement of the amount of toe in/out for each turn. Also, knowing that value, you can make quick toe adjustments at the track without having to restring.

[stevedafoe]

So after you paralleld the rear bar you have now thrown the front bar out of parallel. Someone watching this and doest know the first thing about geometry will be messed up and or they will be adjusting off of incorrectly set parallel strings

[johnbower]

A few years ago I thought of using this method and used a pair of slotted wood battens for the string end supports, this method is by far the most accurate way to make wheel alignment, you did an excellent job of showing how to set the system up, hope not to many people spotted the little mistake you made when cutting the second set of slots in the wrong side of the pipe :)

[DrFiero]

Hit up a "dollar store" and grab 8 cheap smooth thin cutting boards. Stack 2 of them, and stick them under each tire. Almost totally removes stiction when you're making adjustments. Sure, you could get fancy bearing plates - but then you wouldn't be watching a DIY vid! :)

[kent]

I just learned that I was doing it wrong for 20 years!!! You just made me a better tech. Thank you.

[Proximax]

Thank you so much! I think I will try doing this on my car. Took it to alignment to a shop and they left the wheel crooked, said they couldn't get it straight. (???) Think they just took my money and didn't actually touch the car. This is why I hate taking my car to a shop, you never know what has actually been done to it. Better do it myself.

[jamesinoregon]

Best tutorial of string alignment on the internet. Well done!

[olfeno]

I had to replace both rear trailing arm bushings on my 2003 Volvo S40. I didn't want to spend any extra on alignment. Followed this method carefully. I am amazed at the results. Car now tracks as it should.

Only minor downside is adjusting the alignment without a lift can be time-consuming, as you may need to measure, jack up, adjust, lower, settle suspension and then measure again, several times!

[grafixnz]

Might be worth mentioning to release the rubber gator/boot clips on the tie rods when rotating as the twist associated will likely shorten their life. But a great instructional, thanks!

[haroldo]

Thank you for the great effort on explaining this wheel alignment method, I do my car using this method of the fishing line around the car for toe adjustment and the angle finder for the front camber adjustment with camber bolts on the struts. Finding a perfect level ground is the challenge when one is doing this at home

[gvybin]

Excellent video. I did the alignement on my oldtimer lotus esprit using this method years ago, but this is the first video that explains things so clear. Thanks

[gregchevelle]

Thanks for your video.
I’m a low budget YouTube mechanic that depends on people like you.Makes total sense coming from a construction background.
We’ll explained.
Much love bro

[camerongeraghty]

Aren't you getting your negative and positive toe mixed up. Negative toe = toe out and positive toe = toe in. Apart from that technicality great instructional video