Set wheel alignment for free
Sick of paying $40 to set the toe in (track) of your VW? Well here's an easy way to do it.
First, the toe in/out on most water cooled VWs is almost zero. I know that the manuals say otherwise but the amount that they differ from parallel is negligable.
Here's how I did mine.
1. Jack up each wheel and with a brick or a block of wood as an anchor use a nail or a pencil to mark a centre line around the circumference of the wheel in the middle of the tread.
2. Let the car down and roll it backwards and forwards bouncing at the same time to settle the suspension.
3. Find a straight piece of timber (I used a piece of angle iron) and two pieces of sheet metal at least 7" x 3"
4. Nail the sheet metal to the timber (or use clamps if you have angle iron) so that the distance between the sheets is approximately the track of the front wheel centres.
5. Slide the timber under the car at the rear of the front wheels with the sheet metal lying flat and then turn the sheets through 90 degrees so that they touch the rear of the tyres.
6. Transfer the centre line that you marked on the tyre to the sheet metal with a pencil mark.
7. Withdraw the timber and sheet metal.
8. Roll the car forward through half the circumference of the wheels.
9. Place the timber and sheet metal at the front of the wheels and line up one of the marks you made with the centre line you marked on the tyre.
10. Go to the other front wheel and check the distance from the mark you made to the centre line of the tyre.
11. Slacken the lock nut on the track rod end and turn the steering rod until the distance from the mark you made to the centre line of the tyre is exactly half of the original distance in 10.
12. Tighten the lock nut and if necessary adjust the centring of the steering wheel.
You just did KMart out of $40!
If anybody wants photos of how to do this just ask.
Yeah... Here are the photos. Sorry it's taken so long but well..... Oh. Please don't look at the unrestored front skirt!
http://home.iprimus.com.au/brackie/vw/track1.jpg
http://home.iprimus.com.au/brackie/vw/track2.jpg
Yeah.. maybe I should have said "toe in"??
OK, castor and camber can't really be set in your own backyard. But in 40 years of owning cars I have never had to have them set. In fact, the only times that I have had to set toe in is when I've bought a used car (almost every time), after replacing steering parts and when someone driving my car has abused it.
Bit flat out at the moment and the Audi is still in my workshop in bits (MC seals still not here...but this is, after all, Tasmania!) so I'll take photos when I can.
A new breed of tyre fitter
Maybe he's just not eccentric enough :shock:
