This has got be one of the best videos on alignments I've seen. I work at an auto shop and about to take a class on how to do alignments. Before watching this video, I never knew what toe, camber or caster meant and you explained it perfectly. The model with the two wheels helped also explaining what they do and how they perform. I've saved this video just in case I have to watch it again to take notes. Thank you sir!
Thank you so much for this incredibly informative video on wheel alignment! Your clear explanation made a complex process easy to understand. I appreciate the effort you put into breaking it down step by step. It's wonderful to have access to such valuable knowledge. Keep up the fantastic work!
I've been using this type of alignment rack for 3 years and its the best. I typically can have a car in and out in under 20 mins. In peak tire season I can do 20+ alignments in a 8 hour shift. Straight as an arrow and no come back's either :)
What a fantastic teacher and video. I enjoyed watching and learned a lot . Never got bored. I have never gotten a print out before . No print out ...find a shop that will. Scotty Kilmer needs people like you on his new you tubes.
Awesome video. Taught me what signs to look for to know when an alignment is needed, and knowing how it's done is also great information. I feel better armed now with this knowledge when I have to take my car in for alignment. Thanks!
You're a life saver for dummies like me who knew to do everything by themselves. Can't lie, I had my silverado all messed up. Lol thanks for the knowledge, got it straightened out thanks to you.
Great stuff. Wanted to say that out of spec camber/toe can definitely result in a vibration if the tires are worn down enough. I've seen some tires get so choppy, they rattle your teeth loose.
You're a patient man and it's well appreciated, just when we think we know it all in life the maestro teaches us more we're never too old to keep learning, I just think it's smart for everybody to learn as much as they can about their vehicle whether they do the repair or not so they're not left in the dark what exactly is being done appreciate it enjoyed the show
I wish all alignment Techs work like this guy.... Last alignment I had, the tech just put things on green without making everything symmetric. The tech aligned the front toe even. When I got to the rear toe, they are both green, but the readings are 0.01 LR while 0.18 RR. My trust angle was -0.10 I knew my steering wheel is going to be crooked so I took it for a test drive and sure enough, it was tiled to the left and the car felt funny. I returned the car and had them even out the toe on the rear. The trust angle was 0.0 and the car drove straight. Nice video, I wish all the alignment shops have techs like this guy.
The most informative video I’ve seen in the last two weeks. And 4 different alignment shops And my print outs stilll have red in the settings. . Thank you for sharing
I'm so glad to see a video of someone doing it right. I saw another guy do his wheel alignment with the car up on jackstands... Any chance for a follow up 5 years later doing this with strings and levels? :P
Please trust me when I say about 90% of alignments completed are half ass jobs. What you see this guy do is properly executed and the right way. Most places don't take alignment serious , and that's why most people end up returning vehicles to be realigned
Yes, but at the same time, I'm not trying to make an excuse for this either, at certain shops we're rushed to just get it done. One of the main reasons why I'm no longer wanting to pursue Auto Mechanics.
that was an awesome presentation. The theory made it so much easier to understand the practical. Now I know what camber and toe means. Did I mention that it was an awesome presentation, cuz it was. Keep the good work going
My car was aligned by the same machine shown in the video, it took the technician 12+ mins ( from drive in, lift up, down, out) n job done! The car in front of mine took even less, 9+ mins.
Hey Dan! You are one fussy aligner, and for that reason you are my new brother! I wish you could straighten out these 'zero-heads' that always insist on setting toe for 0° even when zero is no where near the middle of the specified range!
Dan on older front wheel drive cars with no adj, for caster or camber. We find what our caster and camber should be, then mark where three new holes for strut should be. Then drop strut drill three new holes in strut tower, then put strut in those holes this is how I did them for many years
That alignment went way too smooth because the car was new. Students need to understand how hard those bolts are too crack loose with rust. Hurt elbows, a torch and a lot of swear words is how most alignments go in a shop. I can’t even imagine doing an alignment in the rust belt I’m in the Southwest.
Great demo. I had my car aligned on the same machine with the strap- on over the tires system. But my wheel covers are moon shaped. How can we be sure the reflectors are perfectly centered on the wheel especially when we are talking micro adjustments. This is especiallyy important for the camber. (Engineering degree customer)?
Thank you very much, it is the very best explanation on Alignment I saw. Those adjusting bolts, are they same for every car, or they can be at different locations? How to find them? When I changed outer tie rods I noticed that the #s of turns for the driver and passenger sides are slightly different (like on passenger side I counted 20, while on the driver it was only 18-1/2 turns). When I put new ones I did like 20 and 19 turns respectively. But probably I could do both same (19 or 20) and then after the alignment everything would be perfectly symmetric.
i noticed the tire pressure was 34 psi when the four wheel alignment was performed but the car is rated at 29 pai. should I bring the car back and complain for them to do the alignment again? thank you!
23:03 My only concern about the new 'tire-hugging' sensors is 1) Tires that are not of equal wear and 2) Conicity presence in one tire vs another on the same axle. I prefer the rim-gripper style sensors, since they are anchored onto something solid, vs something compliant.
Great vid, and very detailed. I wish, however, that you showed how subframe misalignment could be a factor that needs addressed to bring the car into proper alignment. If your subframe is shifted enough, you may not even be able to get close to the range called for; it happened to me.
If you do an alignment w/prints before you installed the Cam Bolts and you have like -1.2 degrees off on Camber, how it impacts the life of your tires (prints fm/one shop show: -1.0 on left front and -1.2 degrees on right front)? I bought those Cam Bolts for my car, but in doubt if to install them, even not because they have smaller diameter than the original ones, but just fm the fact that in most cases the exact torque on them is unknown. In most shops they don't follow torque specifications. So I think maybe it would be safer to replace tires more often than to install Cam Bolts and later to replace the bushing on the front (as far as I understand that is the main reason when the perfect alignment can't be done on older cars). Thank you for the informative film.
Hi. Excellent demonstration although I am a layman in this business. My question: When we get our car wheel alignment done, should we visit the technician again after couple of weeks in order to check whether the previous alignment stays green? If yes, then after how many weeks or months? Thank you very much.
By far, the best alignment video I have seen!!! Bravo!!! I would have loved to see the monitor and the adjustment on split screen. In other words, watching how many degrees would be a full turn on the adjustment. 0:18 is that the building in the Rocky movies?
hello Sir..... Idris here from india... my pleasure to subscribe your channel and watch videos uploaded by you.. lots information i got from your tutorial and yeah its very useful for me.... i want favor from you... can you please give some more detail on car's electronic equipment like ECM, BCM, IMMO. etc... all about car computer .... how its work and how to daignose it... hope you read this msg and reply me.. almost all video uploaded you are i watched ..... again i thanks for your support and effort .... your virtual student Idris Shaikh From India... God bless you....
Great Video for regular car user like me. Mr. Reed, It's very hard to find a good alignment shop that does the right way. would you recommend any particular shop or would you or your student be able to do alignment for me? I have 2017 forester 2.5i premium with lane departure warning. I will appreciate your reply. thank you....Jay
Are there torque specs for locking all those toe and camber bolts/nuts? I had an incident once where after an alignment the trear camber went totally out of whack on one wheel after some dirt road driving, and the dealer who fixed it (after first thinking I must have hit something!) said that the camber adjustment nut on that side was not properly (not enough) tightened/torqued by the last guy.
Hello professor, I have a BMW F30, 3 Series, when I did the alignment, the steering wheel was set straight, but I found at the highway, when the speed is up, the EPS's motor will power the steering wheel and make it stable. When the EPS does that, the center position is off- right and the steering wheel is off right as well. I don't understand why the steering wheel is set center when the alignment was done but the center position of the EPS's motor is off- right? What I have done to fix it is to add positive toe at right side and reduce positive toe at left side of the rod to make the steering wheel center move from off-right to center. It worked but I still don't get it. Would you please explain it? Thank you!
hey great vid Dan hey my car keeps pulling to the right so I have to apply more pressure and kind of hold the steering wheel to the left based on that would it mean that my passenger side tire is Toed out too far and needs adjusting? btw all my steering and suspension parts are new you name it Thanks!
How do you ensure the steering wheel is level? You can turn the wheel and get new readings so wouldn't you need to lock it in the true level position with a protractor?
@ 22:30, for the clamp on style heads. how does it know it is placed exactly parallel to the rim? Most rims have curvature in the center. If you don't place it completely centered on the rim wouldn't it throw off the reading, sometimes by a lot? Even in your video I can tell the head was placed closer to the top than bottom...
This has got be one of the best videos on alignments I've seen. I work at an auto shop and about to take a class on how to do alignments. Before watching this video, I never knew what toe, camber or caster meant and you explained it perfectly. The model with the two wheels helped also explaining what they do and how they perform. I've saved this video just in case I have to watch it again to take notes. Thank you sir!
i agree with you
@Hank Bridges Trumpism is your infliction.
Taking notes now
Jesus I couldn't imagine what this guy charges for an alignment
Why couldn’t I find this video early this year? This video explains alignments soo much better than a lot of the other TH-cam videos
7years ago and more information than these new videos, thank you.
Makes the alignment process so easy to understand. Thanks, Dan.
Antonmursid🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🇲🇨🇲🇨🇲🇨🇲🇨🇲🇨🙌💝
Thank you so much for this incredibly informative video on wheel alignment! Your clear explanation made a complex process easy to understand. I appreciate the effort you put into breaking it down step by step. It's wonderful to have access to such valuable knowledge. Keep up the fantastic work!
I've been using this type of alignment rack for 3 years and its the best. I typically can have a car in and out in under 20 mins. In peak tire season I can do 20+ alignments in a 8 hour shift. Straight as an arrow and no come back's either :)
where you at i got a car for ya....68 couger with real touchy steering hard to keep in one lane
Your videos are exceptional and you speak so clearly.
You also dont mess around and get to the point
Dan... This is by far the bestest video on alignment!!!
A!
B!
Man, I am learning so much by watching this series. Thank you Sir.
LIKE YOUR MY HERO. NEVER STOP LEARNING, NEVER STOP TEACHING OTHERS. knowLEDGE IS POWER. thank you my brother>
What a fantastic teacher and video. I enjoyed watching and learned a lot . Never got bored. I have never gotten a print out before . No print out ...find a shop that will. Scotty Kilmer needs people like you on his new you tubes.
Awesome video. Taught me what signs to look for to know when an alignment is needed, and knowing how it's done is also great information. I feel better armed now with this knowledge when I have to take my car in for alignment. Thanks!
Dear, this the best wheel alignment video ever made. super professional
Excellent video...very comprehensive and simple to follow. Thanks, Dan!!
You're a life saver for dummies like me who knew to do everything by themselves. Can't lie, I had my silverado all messed up. Lol thanks for the knowledge, got it straightened out thanks to you.
A brilliant video but your explanation of it was the best I’ve heard on watching a few of these type of videos well done sir and thank you
Great stuff. Wanted to say that out of spec camber/toe can definitely result in a vibration if the tires are worn down enough. I've seen some tires get so choppy, they rattle your teeth loose.
You're a patient man and it's well appreciated, just when we think we know it all in life the maestro teaches us more we're never too old to keep learning, I just think it's smart for everybody to learn as much as they can about their vehicle whether they do the repair or not so they're not left in the dark what exactly is being done appreciate it enjoyed the show
Excellent video. This made the process very easy to understand, great job!
Absolutely excellent, outstanding, informative, educational, helpful, well organized, superb instructions.
I wish all alignment Techs work like this guy.... Last alignment I had, the tech just put things on green without making everything symmetric.
The tech aligned the front toe even. When I got to the rear toe, they are both green, but the readings are 0.01 LR while 0.18 RR. My trust angle was -0.10
I knew my steering wheel is going to be crooked so I took it for a test drive and sure enough, it was tiled to the left and the car felt funny. I returned the car and had them even out the toe on the rear. The trust angle was 0.0 and the car drove straight.
Nice video, I wish all the alignment shops have techs like this guy.
A fantastic very informative and detailed explanation video. I don't think it can be explained any clearer!
The most informative video I’ve seen in the last two weeks. And 4 different alignment shops And my print outs stilll have red in the settings. . Thank you for sharing
I'm so glad to see a video of someone doing it right. I saw another guy do his wheel alignment with the car up on jackstands...
Any chance for a follow up 5 years later doing this with strings and levels? :P
Please trust me when I say about 90% of alignments completed are half ass jobs. What you see this guy do is properly executed and the right way. Most places don't take alignment serious , and that's why most people end up returning vehicles to be realigned
I agree I had expirenced real world tricks
Yes, but at the same time, I'm not trying to make an excuse for this either, at certain shops we're rushed to just get it done. One of the main reasons why I'm no longer wanting to pursue Auto Mechanics.
that was an awesome presentation. The theory made it so much easier to understand the practical. Now I know what camber and toe means. Did I mention that it was an awesome presentation, cuz it was. Keep the good work going
I believe thats the only video on youtube which explains the alignment thoroughly .. thanks
My car was aligned by the same machine shown in the video, it took the technician 12+ mins ( from drive in, lift up, down, out) n job done! The car in front of mine took even less, 9+ mins.
And?
Absolutely awesome. Very detailed and easy to follow. Thank you.
Very good video, I can only wish you could do my wheel alignment, because half the wheel aligners where I live don't have a clue.
Well said
He is good.
Listen through all his lectures.
Hey Dan! You are one fussy aligner, and for that reason you are my new brother!
I wish you could straighten out these 'zero-heads' that always insist on setting toe for 0° even when zero is no where near the middle of the specified range!
Thanks Dan,
very well job.
The best alignment video on TH-cam 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
One of the videos I really enjoyed about car allignment!!! Very well done!
That's a thorough alignment how to. I wonder why most local shops appear to have never watched this?!😁😀
That's an interesting wrench design you have right there.
Car corner is the best channel for car 👌
VERY INTERESTING , good and simple explanations, thank you !
Very clear presentation...awesome Dan
I like to know as much as possible. Fully informed. 👍🏼
Best video ever... Weldon for proper explanation
So much work! They need to find a way to do this in an easy way.
Great video, all science and no bullshit . Thanks
Dan on older front wheel drive cars with no adj, for caster or camber. We find what our caster and camber should be, then mark where three new holes for strut should be. Then drop strut drill three new holes in strut tower, then put strut in those holes this is how I did them for many years
That alignment went way too smooth because the car was new. Students need to understand how hard those bolts are too crack loose with rust. Hurt elbows, a torch and a lot of swear words is how most alignments go in a shop. I can’t even imagine doing an alignment in the rust belt I’m in the Southwest.
GOOD BIT OF SCRATCHING THERE
ALL THE BEST SIR CAR IS ALL DONE
IF IT PULLS DONT WORRY ASK FOR KEV
Thanks God for sharing your knowledge about this matter.
Very detailed video.. ... true professional.
This is a free masterclass.
Great demo. I had my car aligned on the same machine with the strap- on over the tires system. But my wheel covers are moon shaped. How can we be sure the reflectors are perfectly centered on the wheel especially when we are talking micro adjustments. This is especiallyy important for the camber. (Engineering degree customer)?
Thank you very much, it is the very best explanation on Alignment I saw. Those adjusting bolts, are they same for every car, or they can be at different locations? How to find them? When I changed outer tie rods I noticed that the #s of turns for the driver and passenger sides are slightly different (like on passenger side I counted 20, while on the driver it was only 18-1/2 turns). When I put new ones I did like 20 and 19 turns respectively. But probably I could do both same (19 or 20) and then after the alignment everything would be perfectly symmetric.
Great video.Thanks for posting.
Thanks for making detailed & insightful video
Brilliant explanation
Superb video!
i noticed the tire pressure was 34 psi when the four wheel alignment was performed but the car is rated at 29 pai. should I bring the car back and complain for them to do the alignment again? thank you!
23:03 My only concern about the new 'tire-hugging' sensors is 1) Tires that are not of equal wear and 2) Conicity presence in one tire vs another on the same axle.
I prefer the rim-gripper style sensors, since they are anchored onto something solid, vs something compliant.
Great vid, and very detailed. I wish, however, that you showed how subframe misalignment could be a factor that needs addressed to bring the car into proper alignment. If your subframe is shifted enough, you may not even be able to get close to the range called for; it happened to me.
prob audi or vw?
Learn a lot from this video...thanks !!!
Thanks, Dan.
What a good video. Really interesting.
If you do an alignment w/prints before you installed the Cam Bolts and you have like -1.2 degrees off on Camber, how it impacts the life of your tires (prints fm/one shop show: -1.0 on left front and -1.2 degrees on right front)? I bought those Cam Bolts for my car, but in doubt if to install them, even not because they have smaller diameter than the original ones, but just fm the fact that in most cases the exact torque on them is unknown. In most shops they don't follow torque specifications. So I think maybe it would be safer to replace tires more often than to install Cam Bolts and later to replace the bushing on the front (as far as I understand that is the main reason when the perfect alignment can't be done on older cars). Thank you for the informative film.
Hi. Excellent demonstration although I am a layman in this business. My question: When we get our car wheel alignment done, should we visit the technician again after couple of weeks in order to check whether the previous alignment stays green? If yes, then after how many weeks or months?
Thank you very much.
5000kms or 2 months
Keep grinding. Don't give up.
Thanks Dan!
Mate.....you should charge money for this video...that good it was
By far, the best alignment video I have seen!!! Bravo!!! I would have loved to see the monitor and the adjustment on split screen. In other words, watching how many degrees would be a full turn on the adjustment. 0:18 is that the building in the Rocky movies?
hello Sir.....
Idris here from india...
my pleasure to subscribe your channel and watch videos uploaded by you..
lots information i got from your tutorial and yeah its very useful for me....
i want favor from you...
can you please give some more detail on car's electronic equipment like ECM, BCM, IMMO. etc...
all about car computer .... how its work and how to daignose it...
hope you read this msg and reply me..
almost all video uploaded you are i watched .....
again i thanks for your support and effort ....
your virtual student
Idris Shaikh
From India...
God bless you....
Best video! Thank you!
can you adjust the camber with the wheels on and without lifting the vehicle?
thats great idea Dan Hey thank you ... but why other says the procedure when you align car is coming first in the rear and then in the front ?
Great Video for regular car user like me. Mr. Reed, It's very hard to find a good alignment shop that does the right way. would you recommend any particular shop or would you or your student be able to do alignment for me? I have 2017 forester 2.5i premium with lane departure warning. I will appreciate your reply. thank you....Jay
Good work 🤙🏼
best educational video. thanks
I always add weight to the trunk if the fuel tank is empty or if it's a vehicle used for towing I'll add a couple more weights
Great teacher
this is the perfect one video tottaly complete demo
very educative. Thank you Regards
GREAT VIDEO
Caster- where you talking about the strut when you said the ball joint?
Are there torque specs for locking all those toe and camber bolts/nuts?
I had an incident once where after an alignment the trear camber went totally out of whack on one wheel after some dirt road driving, and the dealer who fixed it (after first thinking I must have hit something!) said that the camber adjustment nut on that side was not properly (not enough) tightened/torqued by the last guy.
Hello professor, I have a BMW F30, 3 Series, when I did the alignment, the steering wheel was set straight, but I found at the highway, when the speed is up, the EPS's motor will power the steering wheel and make it stable. When the EPS does that, the center position is off- right and the steering wheel is off right as well. I don't understand why the steering wheel is set center when the alignment was done but the center position of the EPS's motor is off- right? What I have done to fix it is to add positive toe at right side and reduce positive toe at left side of the rod to make the steering wheel center move from off-right to center. It worked but I still don't get it. Would you please explain it? Thank you!
Real help for new tech.
Excellent video.Thank you very much.
Awsome video!
Great explanation
hey great vid Dan hey my car keeps pulling to the right so I have to apply more pressure and kind of hold the steering wheel to the left based on that would it mean that my passenger side tire is Toed out too far and needs adjusting? btw all my steering and suspension parts are new you name it Thanks!
Great video!
Awesome video, thanks
Nice video dude. Thanks👍
How do you ensure the steering wheel is level? You can turn the wheel and get new readings so wouldn't you need to lock it in the true level position with a protractor?
very detailed, thank you ...
Thanks for the great video!
Simply the best
sorry but how is car to going to behave if you have different size of tire`s in different axle? including ABS trc or just cornering of the car ?
Does the optical sensor on the rim have to be set perfert
@ 22:30, for the clamp on style heads. how does it know it is placed exactly parallel to the rim? Most rims have curvature in the center. If you don't place it completely centered on the rim wouldn't it throw off the reading, sometimes by a lot? Even in your video I can tell the head was placed closer to the top than bottom...
The computer reads the heads with cameras while rolling vehicle to compensate. Extremely accurate even when heads are not centered.
shouldn't you bounce the car a little after adjustments to make sure it holds?
The his guy is good.
You’ve got to list through his lecture or explanation.
Very help full and clearing concept about alignment.