Hey has anyone used one of those camber/caster gauges on their car? I got Stillen camber plates and I want to set the camber myself. I'm looking at getting either the FastTrax or the Longacre digital gauge.

 

Dont know about caster but I use this for camber with a little enginuity

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00948295000P

 

Caster determination

Steer the right wheel to 20° right
Measure camber
Steer the right wheel to 20° left
Measure camber
caster = 1.5 x the algebraic difference in your camber measurements

Repeat the measurements for the left side wheel

Ex., right wheel camber = +0.5°, steered right, = -1.5°, steered left.
caster = 1.5 x {[camber, steered right] - [camber, steered left]}
= 1.5 x [+0.5°-(-1.5°)] = +3°.
For the left side, caster = 1.5 x {[camber, steered left] - [camber, steered right]}. This helps you keep the signs correct.


Other 'steer angles' are useable if you know how to determine the factor, as it won't be 1.5 for anything except 20° (actually 19.47°, but 20° is close enough for most purposes).


Norm

 

What's the A32's rack ratio? It'll be easier to measure steering wheel rotation, probably have to eyeball the wheel turn...

 

Or you could fabricate a 20° jig, lay it on the ground and line the wheel up with one long side with the steering straight ahead, and line the wheel with the other for the 20°. Either way there's going to be some "eyeballing" involved.


Norm

 

20* jig is easy to make with a small plywood wedge and a 2x4 long enough to reach front and rear wheels...

Just cut a wedge at 20* and stick it next to the wheel at the bottom. use the 2x4 strung between front and rear wheels for a "straight" reference.

turn the wheel until everything lines up and you gots 20*.

 

Caster's pretty hard to play with anyway so I just worry about camber and use one of those same type Sears laser digital levels. Comes in handy with lots of other geometry measurements too like control arms, tie-rods, etc. IIRC the Stillen marks on the plate are about 1/4deg each.