For those of you who do your own alignment
 

A kit that isn’t way overpriced. I’ve been looking for something this basic for a while. Not affiliated with this company in any way. Just sick of the shoddy alignments most shops give you given how easy the process is. And annoyed with the string kits out there that cost hundreds.

https://www.calipergarage.com/

That kit looks pretty good. I like how the string setup mounts to the vehicle, allowing one to move the vehicle without having to set up the strings again. That would save a fair amount of time for someone (like me) who isn't using the special pads that allow the wheels to settle without rolling the car back and forth. That kit combined with a camber/caster gauge is all anyone would need to do their own alignments.

Yep. There are a few string kits out there that do this. Smartstrings was the last one I saw and it's very good - it's just also 500 bucks, which, I felt was a little high for that tool. So I welded my own. That said, this, and some aluminum tubing cut down to size and then attached with threaded bolts, could be really precise, and portable.

I know a pro race shop can probably do better, but I 100% do a much better job with my string setup and a camber gauge than your standard alignment shops. I haven't had a good alignment out of one of those for a long time.

I've been doing my own alignments for decades using a Sears inclinometer and tape measure. I got all my cars dialed in years ago. It was tough crawling around on the floor nearly all day, but once dialed in I haven't touched them since. You can buy an inclinometer nowadays from Harbor Freight.

Just last weekend I helped a buddy with a '67 435 HP Corvette correct excessive front toe in. Fortunately he has a drive on lift that made the job easy.

I have all my cars set up for maximum negative camber and maximum positive caster, equal on both sides within the allowable range of adjustment. On my '88 190E 2.6 I was able to achieve negative 3/4 degree front camber and 10.5 positive caster, and I'm not getting any uneven tire wear across the tread.

The negative front camber improved turn in response with less understeer and the slightly greater caster improved on-center steering feel.

I got the dealer to check it out on his state-of-the-art four wheel alignment machine and they said they couldn't do any better! The rear camber and toe was near OE nominal, which was okay by me, and we didn't touch it.

Duke