What autoxcuda said is how I align my cars. You can't drive to the shop when you're racing. I've done it this way for 30 years on every car I've owned. I run close to -1° on the race car, and around -1/8° on my street cars. The most +caster I can get, but from what I've read, +4° is what you want to shoot for. Even side to side is what's most important, and to check that with the carpenter's square method, just turn the steering wheel left one full turn, and measure the difference between the top and bottom like you did with the camber. Compare that number to what it is with the wheels pointing straight ahead. Turn the steering wheel straight ahead, and continue turning right the same amount you turned left before. Measure the difference top and bottom to the carpenter's square, subtract that from the number it is with the wheels pointing straight again like you did the left side, and if the difference is equal to the left side, so is your caster.

What caster does is lean the tire left or right when you turn the wheel left or right. Picture a Harley chopper. The front wheel has massive positive caster. Imagine what happens to it when the handle bars are turned left or right. The tire leans because the pivot point of the fork is at such a high angle. That's what happens to your car, too. The tires lean into the turn if you have positive caster. The pivot point on your car is the ball joints. The more caster you have, the more it leans, and that's what you're measuring.

Every time you adjust an upper control arm eccentric, you change the toe because the outer tie rod is in a different plane from the lower ball joint pivot point, so you always have to readjust toe, and do it last. I can take pics demonstrating all this if you want.

To get the camber angle, use this calculator: http://www.carbidedepot.com/formulas-trigright.asp The distance between the measurements you're taking on your rim will be "c". The difference between those measurements will be "a". Click calculate, and the number in "A" will be your camber. If you want the actual caster number, you'll have to turn the tires left and right 20°, and use this formula: Caster (deg) = (180 / 3.1415) * [(camber1 - camber2) / (turnangle1 - turnangle2)]

Last edited by 375inStroke; 07/14/18 07:15 PM.