Hey, I just recently adjusted my suspension (Koni Yell/GC) I raised it up about an inch and a half and now the car pulls pretty hard to the right.

Like... if I let go of the wheel I would make my way all the way across a 4 lane freeway in roughly 6 seconds and smash into a barricade or drive into a forest if I ever dose off.

Not that I ever have or WILL, just trying to avoid it.

Getting to the point: is there anyway to take care of alignment yourself?

It pulled very slightly to the left before this but I only assumed the weight of me and the motor put more force on the left tire making it pull that way.

But now it is pulling to the right, anything I can do?

Thanks!

 

An alignment machine costs as much as it does because it needs to be as precise as humanly possible. You need to have to aligned professionally, The specifications for the car being as little as .20"(Yes, Two TENTHS of an inch...) out of adjustment can wear your tires much much quicker that not having the car aligned. That .20" of adjustment can be as small as 1/4" of a turn on Tie-Rod. Alignments REALLY are as sensitive as they sound, small things can knock them out pretty badly...even simply driving the car every day. Please keep in mind I'm a Mechanic and I do anywhere from 6-10 Alignments a day when you take my opinion into consideration.

Short answer: No, you cannot do it yourself(unless you own an Alignment Machine )

-Froth

 

yes u can do an alignment by urself..but it takes know-how..you have to know what ur doin or else u will end up with tire wear..for a mechanic that does alignments to say that someone cant do an alignment by themself is wrong..i am a mechanic..i do alignments..and i say that if proper measurements are taken it is easy to align a car by urself..people nowadays..including myself are spoiled by lets say the hunter laser alignment rack i use..yes sir that makes it a million times easier..but what did mechanics use before?? but to solve ur pull u woud be looking at a camber or caster issue..or maybe u adjusted one side of ur car higher than the other..since u dont know what ur doin..u can either read up and learn..then give it a try..or take it to a shop and save urself some time..and remember this..not every alignment tech knows what they're doing..do ur research cuz some people will rip u off..

start off and take a ride height measurement..make sure the car's level..and if u want to try some type of alignment urself its gonna take some time and measuring..i'm too lazy to tell u how to do it rite now..so hit the search button and search on it..i know its been discussed a billion times...

 

couple things.. first off it either camber or caster is out of spec just like boostalic said. so those angles will need to be tweeked some. unfortunetly camber and caster on the civics are not factory adjsustable. you will need a camber kit. it will be additional labor for someone else to install.

now..i can guarnatee your toe is out of spec but toe is not a pulling angle....let me repeat this bc i cant wait for someone to call me out.. TOE is nto a pulling angle and toe will not cause a pull! the reason i bring this up is because an alignment shop will adjust toe...give you back your keys...just to have the car keep pulling and your out 60-100 bucks for the alignemnt. you need that kit. it is justified because your toe was out of spec and they "tried" to adjust all the angle honda made adjustable.

(also...note to froth...1/4 turn of tie-rod is more like .o5"-.10")

 

I'll let you believe what you wish to believe as far as alignments are concerned...However Depending on make/model 1/4 turn can be over .25 of adjustment, Depends on the adjustment points and coarseness of the threads. I work on all makes/models so it's natural for me to guesstimate the already fictional numbers I created.

-Froth

 

measuring tape, it works.....kinda. did it to my car(toe) and when i went to my auto school a month later it was almost i spec.

 

yeah u can do them ur self but u can go to firestone and have it done and pay like 150 bux and its life time wheelalinement anytime u mess with the front end bring it in and they will realine it again for free.. no joke thats the what i got on every one of my cars every 6months i take them in and havem checked and realined. soo thats what id do if i was u..