"Jeff Strickland" > wrote in message
...
>
> "The Malt Hound" <Malt_Hound@*no spam please*yahoo.com> wrote in
> message
> news
>> Stepping in here, I would say; it depends. The only real alignment
>> "adjustment" on your car is the front toe-in. They can usually get
>> that right OK. In fact I usually do this myself (after suspension
>> or
>> steering work) and can get it "close enough" with fishing line and
>> a
>> ruler.
>>
>
> Fishing line and a ruler?
>
> I have used a tape measure to align the front tires on my Jeep, but
> I was
> wondering what the fishing line was for. Could you please describe
> the
> procedure?

Well, here's the abbreviated version of it Jeff;

You start out by tying a small nut to one end of the fishing line and
then wedge that nut firmly into the tread at the rear of one of the
back tires about half way between the ground and the top. Then you
stretch the line all the way around the car, and around all four
wheels so that it passes over the axle on each wheel and fasten it in
the same way.

The front wheels should always be "toed in" and the line will conform
to that condition. You have to pull the line away from the sidewall
at the front of the tire until it is just barely touching the rear.
It's easiest to do this if you make a set of shallow wedges of wood to
place under the line as a spacer. By measuring the gap at the front
you will know the toe-in for that side.

To make it more accurate I have made some small wood blocks with
double sided tape on one side that I temporarily stick to the rim of
the wheels to make all measurements. This eliminates any error due to
tire sidewall variations. When making the blocks you should determine
what the difference in the front and rear track width is and make your
front blocks thicker to compensate for that so that the line is truly
running parallel and square.

With this scheme you can measure both front and rear toe.

Like I said, I should put a web page together for show-and-tell.

-Fred W