going to get my alignment done and heard that its best for me to sit in the car while they do it. is this true, and does it make a big difference? is there anything else that i should know before doing the alighnment? thanx.

 

Boy - that sounds like a new one to me.

 

Never heard of anyone ever doing this to my knowledge. Your weight should make no difference in alignment unless u weigh 1000 lbs, but in that case u shouldnt be driving a maxima

 

LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

i was actually gonna post the exact same thing. i would think that only matters if we are dealing with a VERY heavy individual, or a VERY light little race car.

 

this has crossed my mind. simply b/c it's recommended that you should empty/load the trunk how you usually drive. so it makes sense to consider if the driver is necessary, or maybe even a 1/2 tank of gas

but O'm sure you'll get some interesting looks if you ask to be in the vehicle. especially with many forbidding customers in the garage. I'd be surprised if anyone has done this, but curious to if it would have any affect.

 

Did that same person tell you that your car was running low on blinker fluid??

 

Great answer.. and if he did tell you that you should buy this product then.....



http://www.kalecoauto.com/fluids.htm

 

For steet cars it doesn't matter much. Only changes camber by +/- .1deg and toe a few hundredths. I used to sit in it regularly but now just have them overadjust accordingly. Saves me from having to get off my fat a$$, put down my coffee, and climb on the lift.

 

Hahaha thats really awesome.

 

I have read from several sources that it does make a difference. Exactly how much I don't know. But I do know some shops will have a tech sit in the car while adjustments are made. Same goes for aiming headlights.

 

Normally, I will use a few barball plates to simulate at least the driver weight. Driver + half a passenger if I'm really being picky about duplicating average usage. But my "alignment rack" is my own concrete driveway, and I'm not trying to squeeze a few extra $ out of a flat-rate pay schedule either . . .

I suspect that this procedure will benefit softly sprung cars more than it will more stiffly suspended ones, as there would typically be greater camber change associated with the greater bump travel (from "unoccupied" to "with driver, etc."). And that would tend to affect toe as well.

Norm

 

alignment specs are set up usually for no driver, full tank and spare. unless the person is really heavy, like 300lbs+, it isnt necessary.

 

Pushin 230 here.... Hmm

 

Driver plus passenger can easily weigh 350 lbs, about half of which is carried up front. That's 175 lbs with a total front spring rate that might be 2*175 = 350 lb/in (just to use easy numbers). Half an inch of bump travel corresponds to about 0.35* of camber in the typical FWD strut suspensions that I've modeled. I doubt that the Maxima is all that different, and I think it would be at least 0.3* per half inch.

Yes, you probably could ignore that. But you might actually be sacrificing some tire life due to the extra toe-in that shows up when the front seat passengers climb aboard. Not to mention that you'd be giving up some front cornering grip.

Norm

 

35 minutes wont even put camber out of spec if its centered, furthermore that spec is takin into consideration with the design and engineering of the front suspension with average passenger loading, and the base spec is adjusted for unladen vehicle.

furthermore there is no camber/caster adjustment specified for the maxima.

and if you were to adjust toe to that **** compensation procedure, you have to calculate difference in radii between control arm and tie rod, and apply trig to come up with a modified spec. also, if the vehicle were driven at speed, say the averge 65+ MPH freeway speed, youd also have to throw in an extra measurement for aerodynamic drop/lift.


futhermore, i think it was irish (IIRC) who said that his camber wasnt really thrown off that bad until he lowered his car quite a bit, more than most aftermarket springs.