Is there away to measure castor on a car at home?

[rcx132]

The car has only 50mm lift done by the previous owner. 50mm is considered low enough not to mess with the geometry too much.

For those who keep saying to get it done professionally. I spent no more than two hours yesterday learning how to measure the geometry and removing a shim as a trial. Another hour and it'll be done. Taking it to a pro isn't as easy as it sounds. Every alignment centre in Surrey is a tyre shop, I couldn't find any pros, and I really won't trust a tyre shop to mess with suspension. A digital inclinometer and a £50 Bosch laser level are as accurate as the shop's equipment, just take more time to set up, and sometimes more accurate because the shop measures off the rims, whereas home equipment measures off the hub. For anyone who's messed with suspension geometry, you can't get better than 0.1 degree anyway even if you're equipment can measure it.

 

[Trevorleach]

Trucks are a nightmare, truck manufacturers go to the trouble of dialing in Ackerman and then the coach builders come along and shorten/lengthen the chassis, then everyone wonders why their truck is scrubbing out tyres

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We only ever check the tracking on the tractors, and our gauges are pretty crap as is the floor, so you can guess how accurate the results are!

 

[Blobber]

If you need any shims Ive got a few

 

[indy4x]

@AVI_8 the photo of the shims was from a Google search but yes they can have a few in there going on what I found on the few Fronteras I had

@rcx132 did all the camber and tracking on my Frontera at home, then took it to a tyre shop for them to check as they didn't charge for checking only adjusting

Never had a problem with uneven tyre wear, even on a 4" lift, and it drove straight as well. Was probably doing 14,000 miles a year so anything wrong would have shown up quite quickly

 

[Blobber]

With the Monterey which was a rebadged Trooper they were found to be a bit floaty boaty in the steering department, I guess as most were driven on smooth roads in Europe it was more of an issue so if the dealers could be bothered/clever enough they could be set up nicely with a bit of shimming to make the steering more precise

 

[bricol]

Just make sure the car is level, not just that all wheel centers are the same height from the ground. My "level" garage floor is considerably out side to side and front to back, which makes a noticeable difference in measurements of camber. All adjustments done with the suspension loaded at normal ride height too.

I eventually went to a local place and with level, flat, ramp. Getting it all right changed my car from feeling loose and trying to kill you, back to being glued to the road.

With the Lancia, getting the rear toe wrong changes the car in one direction to an understeering mess, through neutral to willing to swap ends - and also affects front tyre wear. Can have the front set perfect and destroy inside edges - adjust the rear toe and the front wear goes back to normal.

As standard, it runs a lot of front camber, which wears the inside edges more than a more sensible car would anyway.

 

[rcx132]

I supported the car on axle stands at the hubs to mimic it being on wheels. I levelled it using a laser level and Packers. Obviously supporting the car by the hubs needs to be done very carefully.

Just make sure the car is level, not just that all wheel centers are the same height from the ground. My "level" garage floor is considerably out side to side and front to back, which makes a noticeable difference in measurements of camber. All adjustments done with the suspension loaded at normal ride height too.

 

[bricol]

I supported the car on axle stands at the hubs to mimic it being on wheels. I levelled it using a laser level and Packers. Obviously supporting the car by the hubs needs to be done very carefully.

I used to stand it on blocks under the very end of the suspension arms at ride height - I wanted access to the hub/strut connections as I had slotted the upper mounting hole to get camber where I wanted it, tightened it up with some nice juicy washers, and welded the washers in place.

I tried some eccentric bolts last strut change - never felt right, always worried they moved. Now got adjustable top mounts - camber measures the same both sides, but each top mount is adjusted differently - pretty sure car hasn't had a smack, so might just be wonderful build tolerance and 200,000 miles of too much fun

 

[rcx132]

I used to stand it on blocks under the very end of the suspension arms at ride height - I wanted access to the hub/strut connections as I had slotted the upper mounting hole to get camber where I wanted it, tightened it up with some nice juicy washers, and welded the washers in place.

I tried some eccentric bolts last strut change - never felt right, always worried they moved. Now got adjustable top mounts - camber measures the same both sides, but each top mount is adjusted differently - pretty sure car hasn't had a smack, so might just be wonderful build tolerance and 200,000 miles of too much fun

My old car had slotted struts that the previous owner milled out to adjust the camber. Used some friction washers and 12.9 grade bolts, didn't move despite heavy off road abuse.

 

[rcx132]

If you need any shims Ive got a few
View attachment 335186

Hi Blobber, I'll PM you. The upper control arm is bolted to the BACK of the chassis, so it's a case of adding shims to move the camber back to zero.