The only factory adjustable spec is toe, right? Could one conceivably use the pull of the vehicle to align the car, i.e., adjust until the car drives straight on a fairly straight, flat road with fairly new tires and the steering wheel is dead center? I know, of course, that the car could drive straight and the tires still be getting scrubbed to shreds and the gas mileage falling off, but that would be better than it pulling way to one side the second you let go of the wheel. There could at least be a chance that you're correctly aligned.

 

why take a chance though? Misaligment can **** up so much **** in your car its not worth it.

 

I'm all about experimentation on my Maxima these days. And with no experimentation, how are we improved through learning?

 

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....=diy+alignment

 

It is a pain in the azz. You can do it short term but I wouldn't rely on it for tire wear in the long term.

 

To do it with any accuracy you need several hundred dollars worth of camber plates and toe plates. You can do it with cheaper and more laborious tools but your results will be less consistent.

I still prefer to pay a professional. I'll eyeball align the toe if I did work on the suspension/steering, and get it done by a pro at the next reasonable opportunity.

I eyeball align by pointing the steering wheel dead square, and adjusting the toe until I can look down both the front and rear tire walls and they line up exactly. If you get left and right down really good then it's close enough to zero to be safely driveable. But that doesn't mean it's precise and does nothing for camber.

 

Its easy enough to ballpark the toe in using a tape measure. Look for about 1/8" less between the front of the tires than between the back.

If the steering wheel isn't straight, you adjust both in the same direction the same amount.

 

A computerized four wheel thrust angle alignment costs about $75 bucks.
If you can't afford it, maybe you should still be riding a bicycle.

 

^^^^ haha,wow thats pretty funny.but yeah,dont waste your time just take it to a shop and dont try and diy.you probably couldnt break the tie rod nuts loose lol.and no,the toe isnt the only factory adjustment can also adjust camber and im almost positive caster as well.and why would you let go of the steering wheel while driving???

 

Dude i do alignments at work all the time and sometimes it can be a pain even when it on
the rack. Just get it done somewhere and save your suspension and tires.

 

Wow . I mean i am a cheap *** but even I went and got it aligned.

 

According to my Haynes manual only front and rear toe can be changed.

 

U can change camber. I think caster is the only thing you cant adjust and you sai.

 

How can you adjust camber? You're talking about a fourth gen, right? Camber is set in stone unless you get a kit. Right?

 

You can adjust camber on almost anything. Loosen your strut and see if you camber changes.

 

I had heard of somebody telling the tech to jimmy with the bottom strut bolt. But when I actually took them out to change my cv boot, I could not see how loosening or tightening either of these bolts would change the camber. Which way is positive and which way is negative?

 

huh? how do you change camber if the studs on the top mounts have nowhere to move? is there a lower adjustment to move the lower part of the steering knuckle? if this is the case can someone tell me the purpose in top mount camber kits?

and I dont see why yall are knocking the guy..I've seen tools to help you do this. Just because most of you throw your hands up in horror at the thought of turning a wrench doesnt mean everyone else should too.

 

My camber was adjustable due to the slop in the shock/knuckle bolt holes. Of course, camber bolts will increase this even more.

IMO, the camber adjustment isn't that big of a deal, but if you play with those bolts it's possible to ruin the toe setting since toe and camber are related.

Dave

 

The reason I started the posted linked thread is because in the FSM, it tells you how to do an alignment w/o a rack, so I was wondering if anybody's done it before.

From what I gather between this thread and the one I started a while back, not many have done a manual alignment, yet almost everybody has an opinion. Sounds a like like Phantom Grip... lotsa hearsay, but nobody's actually done it.

Dr J

 

I have done it per FSM and it was a pain in the azz. See post #5.

 

u do know that there is more than 3 bolts for the strut?

 

huh? really?. yes of coarse i know theres more than 3 bolts. I've replaced my suspension many times now tell me how is the camber adjusted? on stock suspension?

 

3 on top, 2 on bottom of strut. Am I missing something?
Dr J

 

I'm not sure if this is what he is referring to, but without drilling the lower mounts or using bolts you can pay attention to the position of the knuckle on the stut. If you have the bolts just inserted and not tightened and pull towards you camber is decreased (positive). If you push away, or snug the top bolt and pull the bottom closer to you, you add (negative) camber. I would say these changes result in maybe 1-2.5 degrees.

 

yeah i know what your saying. but...i figured it returned to the same spot everytime you had it all tightened up....I'll have to go look under there again. I have ksports how and the guy that was doing my alignment neglected to mess with the camber top mount until the last minute so i was wondering if there was some kind of adjustment on the bottom he used that i didnt know about.

 

This is my experience. I even had an alignment tech open up one of the holes on my strut to bring the camber back into spec. There is probably a difference in hole slop between OEM struts and aftermarket struts (I have Tokico Blues). Anytime I loosen the strut-to-knuckle bolts I get the car aligned because the camber and toe get changed. The alignment reports show that it's money well spent.

Dave

 

You have to hold it in place while tightening or it will just return to it's unloaded position. It happens because with the two bolts, one pivots off the other.

 

i see i see. I have never heard of that before.

 

You mean one of the two 18 or 19 mm (or whatever size they are) bolts on the bottom? What do you mean "open up one of the holes?" You had him bore out the hole some?

 

Yes, the big bolts at the bottom of the strut. The mechanic probably used a hand drill to make the hole(s) in the strut a little bigger and allow some tweaking of camber.

 

thats what we do at Belle Tire. i just aligned mine.