Driving car before alignment after suspension mods

[Rob L]

Hey guys im getting mixed opinions on this so i figured i would ask and  see what everybody here thinks. So after fully swapping out my original suspension for all adjustable after market goodies, i know i need an alignment before i hit the road. My question is if i eyeball the alignment and take it for a spin around the block to see how the tire is wearing and if all is good can i drive the car (10 minutes on highway @ 100kph) to the alignment shop without destroying my tires.

 

Thanks in advance.

[JMortensen]

10 minutes isn't going to destroy anything. You should be able to eyeball the camber and check toe with a tape measure and get it there without too much trouble.

[G-E]

Yep, a couple of 4ft levels and measuring tape should get you adequately straight

[dexter72]

Make sure everything is tight. You don't want to wreck it on the way to be aligned.

[Rob L]

^^^^ I'm a bit OCD lol I think I've double checked every bolt I changed 10 times and I will probably double check 10 more times .....but your 100% right nothing would suck more then wrecking before hand .

[74_5.0L_Z]

I got the best suspension deal of my life from a guy who drove his car without getting it aligned first.  He had just spent two years building a beautiful 1969 Cougar Eliminator.  He painted it and replaced every single suspension component with new parts (upper and lower control arms,  springs, steering box, center link, idler arm, power steering, ball joints, tie rods, and disk brakes).  He did a quick tape measure alignment on it and took it for a drive.  Within a day, he wrapped it around a telephone pole when he lost control in a turn (not even pushing the car).  Obviously, he hadn't done as good an alignment job as he thought with the tape measure.

 

Fortunately, I was in the market for new suspension for my 1970 Mustang Mach 1.  I bought all of his new components for $200.00 (this was in 1987).  A good day for me, not so much for him.

Edited May 22, 2014 by 74_5.0L_Z

[JMortensen]

Something tells me that he wrapped it around a pole doing something other than putting to the alignment shop.

[CasperIV]

^ This

There are people driving around every day with neither proper alignment, functional shocks, or even brakes on their cars and not wrapping them around trees. Heck, there are entire subcultures around deliberately ruining a vehicles camber and alignment. If you do a halfway decent job, make sure things are tight, and nothing is left over sitting on the bench when you are done, there's no reason you couldn't drive to the shop at a minimum. I have personally driven some pretty screwed up vehicles quite long distances when I have bought them and needed to get them to my shop. Just take your time and don't push your luck.

[DuoWing]

I drove my Z after all new ball joints, tie rod ends, springs, shocks, energy suspension bushings, etc. I drove it on the old tires from my 280zx donor and man the steering wheel vibrated like crazy on the highway. Once I got my Rotas with new tires and had the car properly aligned it was like driving an entirely different car! Also CasperIV, that's probably one of the best quotes ever.

Heck, there are entire subcultures around deliberately ruining a vehicles camber and alignment.

[Namor]

I know one thing you should be concerned with is bumpsteer (not sure how prevalent it can be on our cars to be honest though.)  Chewing tires up a bit while on the way to get an alignment isn't that big of a deal, but hitting a bump and veering into another lane is.  My brother dealt with this after installing M3 control arms on his 335i and not doing any ballpark alignment prior to driving to the shop.  

Edited May 23, 2014 by Namor

[m1ghtymaxXx]

I know one thing you should be concerned with is bumpsteer (not sure how prevalent it can be on our cars to be honest though.)  Chewing tires up a bit while on the way to get an alignment isn't that big of a deal, but hitting a bump and veering into another lane is.  My brother dealt with this after installing M3 control arms on his 335i and not doing any ballpark alignment prior to driving to the shop.  

 

 

There is no way of adjusting bump steer (which is engineered for the safety of unskilled drivers) without adjustable tie rod ends, slotting/redrilling of the control arm mounts, or moving the steering rack. Without serious modification, there's no way to make bumpsteer better or worse so there's nothing to worry about in that regard. 

[Sideways]

I got the best suspension deal of my life from a guy who drove his car without getting it aligned first... He did a quick tape measure alignment on it and took it for a drive.  Within a day, he wrapped it around a telephone pole when he lost control in a turn (not even pushing the car).

 

 

On topic: Just one more vote for what pretty much everyone else has said.  I installed my mckinney coilovers/weld in camber plates, st sway bars, poly bushings, and t3 tc rods on my car in one swing- eye balled the suspension (Emphasis on the word eyeball, only thing I really used a tape measurer for was to make sure my t3 rods were equal in length), and drove the beast.  I drove it cautiously around my block, brought it back to double check everything that I thought was tight, was still tight (Which it was), drove it cautiously around my "area" for about 10 minutes (basically staying with 1/4-1/2 a mile of my home) until I was comfortable with it, then got it on the freeway and took it to the shop to have the alignment done properly about half an hour away.

Edited May 26, 2014 by Sideways