obaa996
Enthusiast
Design/Curb height and alignment settings with Eibach\'s?
So I got a quote of +/-$500 for an alignment, and I'm thinking to myself, why is it that specialized? Being the village idiot, I didn't know, so I pulled out the shop manual to see exactly why it was so involved. I even read it twice! After much befuddlement and head scratching, the alignment procedure seems to boil down to the following:
1) Set the car to the design height, either by jacking up or weighing down.
No specification is given here; only that a specialized reference tool is needed. The manual mentions a back/forth procedure (due to ballasting and weight shift, balanced against the need to avoid overballasting and bending the special tool). It occurs to me that if one knew what the design height from the reference points to the ground, that one could simply make hard stops out of wood/whatever, and ballast the car until it settled on the stops. No back/forth/inspect procedure; just load and go.
2) Loosen and retorque upper/lower control arm and shock mounting bolts.
I could manage this okay...
3) Jounce the car.
I added this; I assume this would be needed after mucking with the mounting bolts.
4) Verify the curb height.
Again, this done via specialized reference tools, rather than an actual spec, even though the procedure still requires the use of a ruler in addition to the tools. I'm not going to ask who thought of that... Adjusting the curb height involves adding/removing shims or swapping the spring cap, and isn't anything more complicated than putting in the Eibachs. The manual doesn't mention anything about this, but it seems to me that you'd have to reset the design height if you had to change shims/caps, so this would be an iterative process for someone who was precise.
5) Set camber/caster.
This appears to be a normal alignment procedure.
6) Set dynamic toe.
I just threw this in to be complete; the manual says to never try adjusting it unless the frame was damaged.
7) Set static toe.
Again, pretty standard procedure.
So in reviewing this, it seems that the whole process is pretty standard, except that the factory has a somewhat kludgy method of establishing reference height. I think that there might be an issue in using a ground reference due to wheel/tire diameter differences, etc., but shouldn't the design height be independent of this? Assuming that a standard alignment takes 1.5 hrs (what most alignment shops seems to estimate), most of the time is spent futzing with the vehicle height, which should be a pretty basic process.
I think I can assume that the curb height will stay constant once adjusted (say, for at least 50 miles/couple weeks of sitting); if not, that means an alignment is pretty much useless as soon as it is done. If that's the case, why wouldn't I just set the curb height myself, and then take it to a good, standard alignment place? Or, extending a bit further, why couldn't I simply finish the alignment at home myself, given that I align my track car at home?
Does any know what the front and rear design/curb heights are (using standard measurements, and not the reference tools)? I should be able to simply subtract the drop due to the Eibach's (1"? I'll have to call Eibach tech support) to get my new reference values. Unless someone happens to know what the post-Eibach values should be (please?)? Also, are there any alternative suggested alignment settings besides what the factory specifies? Or am I simply not thinking straight, and should just take the thing in and be done with it?
So I got a quote of +/-$500 for an alignment, and I'm thinking to myself, why is it that specialized? Being the village idiot, I didn't know, so I pulled out the shop manual to see exactly why it was so involved. I even read it twice! After much befuddlement and head scratching, the alignment procedure seems to boil down to the following:
1) Set the car to the design height, either by jacking up or weighing down.
No specification is given here; only that a specialized reference tool is needed. The manual mentions a back/forth procedure (due to ballasting and weight shift, balanced against the need to avoid overballasting and bending the special tool). It occurs to me that if one knew what the design height from the reference points to the ground, that one could simply make hard stops out of wood/whatever, and ballast the car until it settled on the stops. No back/forth/inspect procedure; just load and go.
2) Loosen and retorque upper/lower control arm and shock mounting bolts.
I could manage this okay...
3) Jounce the car.
I added this; I assume this would be needed after mucking with the mounting bolts.
4) Verify the curb height.
Again, this done via specialized reference tools, rather than an actual spec, even though the procedure still requires the use of a ruler in addition to the tools. I'm not going to ask who thought of that... Adjusting the curb height involves adding/removing shims or swapping the spring cap, and isn't anything more complicated than putting in the Eibachs. The manual doesn't mention anything about this, but it seems to me that you'd have to reset the design height if you had to change shims/caps, so this would be an iterative process for someone who was precise.
5) Set camber/caster.
This appears to be a normal alignment procedure.
6) Set dynamic toe.
I just threw this in to be complete; the manual says to never try adjusting it unless the frame was damaged.
7) Set static toe.
Again, pretty standard procedure.
So in reviewing this, it seems that the whole process is pretty standard, except that the factory has a somewhat kludgy method of establishing reference height. I think that there might be an issue in using a ground reference due to wheel/tire diameter differences, etc., but shouldn't the design height be independent of this? Assuming that a standard alignment takes 1.5 hrs (what most alignment shops seems to estimate), most of the time is spent futzing with the vehicle height, which should be a pretty basic process.
I think I can assume that the curb height will stay constant once adjusted (say, for at least 50 miles/couple weeks of sitting); if not, that means an alignment is pretty much useless as soon as it is done. If that's the case, why wouldn't I just set the curb height myself, and then take it to a good, standard alignment place? Or, extending a bit further, why couldn't I simply finish the alignment at home myself, given that I align my track car at home?
Does any know what the front and rear design/curb heights are (using standard measurements, and not the reference tools)? I should be able to simply subtract the drop due to the Eibach's (1"? I'll have to call Eibach tech support) to get my new reference values. Unless someone happens to know what the post-Eibach values should be (please?)? Also, are there any alternative suggested alignment settings besides what the factory specifies? Or am I simply not thinking straight, and should just take the thing in and be done with it?
