Originally Posted by cujet

Interestingly, you can take that "pro" shop alignment printout, and measure everything yourself and often get different numbers. In fact, you may even notice that the LH and RH numbers don't match! I don't put all that much faith in many local shops. The equipment may be out of calibration, the tech may not account for a slightly tweaked rim (remember that a rim/bearing/hub assy that is out 1/16th of an inch will greatly affect the outcome) And, these are all things the DIY guy can deal with. Often by simple knowledge of his car.

A quick and dirty way to get a more accurate DIY "trackside" alignment is to place newspapers under each tire. This allows you to turn the wheels for caster measurement with relative ease and very little friction. A better way may be to use 2 plates of sheet metal with grease between them (grease plates) under each tire.

There is no question that a full and complete alignment can be done with great accuracy using the parallel bars I suggested, along with a quality camber gauge. One can even take wheelbase measurements and set the dimensions with accuracy. Something that is generally ignored by most shops.

It does take quite a bit of initial setup time to get it right, and on cars like the S, it's not so easy to work underneath without knocking the bars. However, the advantage of using bars is that you can configure the bars and car to each-other for rapid repeatability. You can do this by using a centering link, front and rear. Or by hard points to measure from.

Originally Posted by SpitfireS

With the car on its wheels and not over a pit / on a lift: how would you reach the alignment bolts?