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Old 07-27-2006, 07:59 AM
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tvpierce tvpierce is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Portland, ME
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Abner Mality
I don't know the difference between toe-in or camber. Nor do I have a clue how to do an alignment, but I used to watch an old man align front ends with a 2X4, a length of staging twine, and a framing square, in my boyhood hometown. People came from all over for his services, and swore he was the best in the business. It wasn't until I went off to the big city for college that I even knew alignment machines even existed.
The tech' ability to do an alignment without a machine is indeed a masterful skill that was undoubtedly a result of resourcefulness, attention to detail, and years of experience. (that's why people came from all over for his services).

So the answer is, "Yes", you can do it yourself. But don't expect to get results that measure up to an exceptional tech with years/decades of experience.

An alignment on these cars will "hold" for a decade. So the $80 is a good investment in my humble opinion. If you do it yourself and are off by a little (which is more than likely), you could cause more than $80 worth of wear on your tires... and the alignment still wouldn't be right.

jp
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Jeff Pierce

Current Vehicles:
'92 Mercedes 190E/2.3 (247K miles/my daily driver)
'93 Volvo 940 Turbo Wagon (263K miles/a family truckster with spunk)
'99 Kawasaki Concours
Gravely 8120
Previous Vehicles:
'85 Jeep CJ-7 w/ Fisher plow (226K miles)'93 Volvo 940 Turbo Wagon
'53 Willys-Overland Pickup
'85 Honda 750F Interceptor
'93 Nissan Quest
'89 Toyota Camry Wagon
'89 Dodge Raider
'81 Honda CB 750F Super Sport
'88 Toyota Celica
'95 Toyota Tacoma
'74 Honda CB 550F
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