What do you mean you cant do an alignment

[jp5Touring]

You might want to check with Tom Hatem Automotive. Tom passed away this passed year  but I'm sure his shop is very competent, and can help you . Tom owned a 2002  and they are motorsports guys.  Good people.

 

https://www.hatemautomotive.com/

 

 

[ingramlee]

23 minutes ago, jp5Touring said:

You might want to check with Tom Hatem Automotive. Tom passed away this passed year  but I'm sure his shop is very competent, and can help you . Tom owned a 2002  and they are motorsports guys.  Good people.

 

https://www.hatemautomotive.com/

 

 

Tom's shop was the one I was referring to with all of the E30's and (2) nice 2002's in the yard that couldn't do it because their alignment tool wouldn't fit. They recommended another shop on the other side of town.

[pato2002]

Maybe already covered but the string method works just fine for adjusting toe. You need to be able to get to the tie-rods (not as high as I have it) but pretty simple.

['76mintgrün'02]

3 hours ago, pato2002 said:

Maybe already covered but the string method works just fine for adjusting toe. You need to be able to get to the tie-rods (not as high as I have it) but pretty simple.

 

I've used that plastic shopping bag trick too.  The two layers of plastic really do reduce the friction under the tire.

 

One other thing to consider when aligning the toe-in, is that you'll want the wheel pointing dead straight when you are done; or it will drive you crazy!

 

Tom

[Arizona02]

If the front springs give the car a lower ride height the camber goes negative and can result in faster wear on the inner tread section. A solution is to slot the holes of the top mount bolts of the strut to move the strut towards the fender to get back some positive camber and closer to factory camber specs.

[TobyB]

15 hours ago, Arizona02 said:

If the front springs give the car a lower ride height the camber goes negative and can result in faster wear on the inner tread section. A solution is to slot the holes of the top mount bolts of the strut to move the strut towards the fender to get back some positive camber and closer to factory camber specs.

 

You're NEVER going to get enough negative camber

into the front of a stock 2002 to cause inner tire wear.

If the inside edges of the tires are wearing faster,

it's toed- out too much.

 

t

 

['76mintgrün'02]

16 hours ago, Arizona02 said:

If the front springs give the car a lower ride height the camber goes negative and can result in faster wear on the inner tread section.

 

That is interesting.  I did not think that was an issue up front.  It sure is in the rear though!

(edit- had not seen Toby's post)

I'll post a few photos here of the sticks of wood I use to set toe-in; hoping to show just how easy it can be. 

I cut two rubber bands from bike inner-tubes and made little S-hooks to fasten them to the rims; where the sticks reference the sidewall of the tire ab0ve the bUlge.

 

 

 

When I changed my tires and went from ET18 to ET29 wheels, I needed to realign the toe-in because it felt a little squirrely.  I set it to 1/16" and that feels good.  Very small changes can make a big difference in how it feels.

 

 

 

I tried removing/reinstalling/flipping the sticks side to side and got very consistent readings.  You wouldn't need to attach the tapes to the stick like I did.  Simply hooking onto them using a tape measure works as well.

 

Tom

Edited September 6, 2019 by '76mintgrün'02