Those with trackace alignment

[AntTPIV8]

Well no driveway will be perfectly flat and as this is sold as a DIY item, where do they think people will be doing this?

[GreenV8S]

AntTPIV8 said:

Well no driveway will be perfectly flat and as this is sold as a DIY item, where do they think people will be doing this?

I would have thought the instructions would cover this. You need to arrange a flat surface. How flat depends how accurate you want the results to be. If the ground looks basically smooth and flat you are probably within a few cm of flat and can simply put a spacer the right thickness under the low wheel. It only needs a few minutes with a straight edge and a spirit level to check.

[AntTPIV8]

I understand that, but if the laser is simply pointing at the mirror and back, I can't see the level across the width of the car to be the issue as the 'height' of the wheels doesn't change the toe.

There's more to this...

[Lesliehedley]

Are you recalibrating when you move the car? Every time the car is moved, the trackace needs to be recalibrated. Hope I'm not teaching my granny to suck eggs here, just a thought. I've found mine to be very accurate and to within 10 minutes of the readings from a hunter four wheel alignment check, and my drive is not particularly flat (old block paving).

[stevieturbo]

Lesliehedley said:

Are you recalibrating when you move the car? Every time the car is moved, the trackace needs to be recalibrated. Hope I'm not teaching my granny to suck eggs here, just a thought. I've found mine to be very accurate and to within 10 minutes of the readings from a hunter four wheel alignment check, and my drive is not particularly flat (old block paving).

Every time anything is moved, adjusted, anything....it needs re-calibrated.

It is a tedious device to use, with lots of room for improvements.

but it is cheap and can work.

[AntTPIV8]

Of course I re calibrate, I'm doing the check in another area.

[AntTPIV8]

Perhaps I've got a bad one, I just do not believe what it's telling me.

This Track Ace I'm finding to be far too ambiguous. It shows toe in when if anything there's toe out. I just do not trust it what so ever.

I think I'll go back to my string method, it's quicker and above all it's correct first time.

[GreenV8S]

It might be harder to use with some styles of rim. I think it relies on getting the two contact points on identical points on the rim and also at exactly the same height. Getting the same height might be difficult if the ground is not smooth and flat. It will also depend on having all the preloads taken out of the suspension - but that applies to all alignment techniques.

I always use the string box technique because it's simple and reliable and you can see exactly what you're measuring. IMO these fancy tools are best suited for situations where time is money and in that case you probably won't be using the cheapest ones available.

[stevieturbo]

It's a mirror reflecting a laser.

it cannot do anything but straight lines, so if you believe the readings are wrong, the user has set up up incorrectly.