Does any one know how to adjust the rear camber to spec without an alignment machine. I have really bad inner tire wear on my rear tires on both my and my wife's 2004 MCS. I am about to order rear adjusting links to adjust the camber. I am trying to avoid paying $300 plus to get both MCS' rear alignment done.

Thanks ahead of time.

 

if you adjust the camber the toe will go out of spec. There really isnt a way to eye-ball an alignment. Idk where you are paying 300 for two alignments, maybe the dealer, go to an alignment shop and you can get it done for at least a 1/3 less. I go to firestone and have never had an issue. I even get a printout with the pre and post alignment measurements. Paid $150 for lifetime (with me as the owner) alignments.

 

If you have an iPhone, you can download an app called The Carpenter and it will have a bubble level with digital percentages as values. When I installed my adjustable lower control arms in the rear I used this app to get it as close as I could before I took it to the alignment shop. I was within factory specs when they put my car on the alignment rack.

Just hold the long edge of the phone against the flat edge of your wheel to get your readings. Sounds crazy but it works!

 

You can do fairly accurate alignment with surprisingly inexpensive low tech tools.
I use a combination square with a level like this for camber:
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00939567000P
A tape measure (better with an assistant but can often do it without)
will work for front toe but not rear (can get overall toe but not the individual sides).
For that a string and 4 jack stands (or similar things to tie to the string to at mid-tire height)
in a ring around the car does pretty good. Also need a small ruler. And a calculator with trig
functions (don't even need the trig if you work in radians - 180 degress = pi radians,
since sin x is almost equal to x for small angles).

With the rear toe on the mini, you have to loosen the 3 bolts for the trailing arm, shift the right
amount, and tighten them again. A bit hit or miss until you get it right. There's a MINI tool
to make this easier - it's really just an eccentric socket to let you move one of the bolts more
precisely (BMW special tool 32 4 200).

You also have to do alignment on a flat surface, or correct for the deviation from flat, but you
have to do that no matter how expensive your equipment is.

 

Yes you can adjust the camber with a square and tape measures. Then set the toe with tape measures. But $300 for two alignments is a bit much. Talk to the guys in your local SCCA club that autoX, they will know a place that will do your alignment right, and more affordable. Most alignment shops won't set a car to anything but factory spec, for liability reasons.

 

Ok thanks for letting me know what tool i need, but what are the specs to set it to, even to just get it to a shop to align it properly.
I will call around some more to try to get a better price.

 

Spec for rear camber is -1° 32' +/- 30' or about -1.0° to -2.0°. I'd go for about -1.5°.
Rear toe is 0° 24' +/- 8' total (12' or 0.2° per side) but I'd go for about 0 toe front and back.

 

ok Thanks