Vehicle alignment apparatus and methods

A method for making alignment measurements relative to the conventional front and rear sets of tires of an automobile, truck or trailer vehicle while the tires are carrying the weight of the vehicle, through the use of first and second frames each of which includes an elongated cross bar having coplanar surfaces disposed in spatial relationship to engage different location on the circular side wall periphery of a chosen tire, said method comprising the steps of:

• hanging said frames on the exposed tires in a chosen set so that the cross bars of the frames are approximately parallel to the ground and are disposed above the bulge in the tires necessarily resulting from their carrying the vehicle weight, and so that said coplanar surfaces on the cross bars are disposed in loose proximity to the circular peripheries of the exposed side walls of the tires on opposite sides of the vehicle;
• extending a pair of conventional tape measures underneath and across the vehicle;
• securing the free ends of the pair of tape measures near opposite ends of the cross bar of the first frame at corresponding positions equally spaced from or even with said coplanar surfaces of the cross bar as measured transversely of the cross bar;
• manually snugging said cross bar of the second frame against the exposed side wall of the tire on which it is hung while simultaneously grasping and exerting approximately equal tension on the tape measures so as to similarly snug the cross bar of the first frame against the exposed side wall of the tire on which it is hung;
• noting the difference in measurements of the pair of tapes at corresponding locations on the second frame equally spaced from or even with said coplanar surfaces on the cross bar of the second frame as measured transversely of the cross bar
• hanging a second set of first and second frames on the exposed tires in a second chosen set of the vehicle tires so that the cross bars of the frames are approximately parallel to the ground and are disposed above the bulge in the tires necessarily resulting from their carrying the vehicle weight, and so that said coplanar surfaces of the cross bars are disposed in loose proximity to the circular peripheries of the exposed side walls of the tires on opposite sides of the vehicle;
• securing near opposite ends of the cross bars of the first frames of said first and second sets of frames at corresponding positions equally spaced from or even with said coplanar surfaces of the cross bars, first ends of two pairs of elastic bands, each elastic band being adapted to stretch across the width of the vehicle in response to relatively minimal pulling force and each band having a center mark located midway of its length;
• extending the elastic bands underneath and across the vehicle to the cross bars of the second frames of said first and second sets of frames on the other side of the vehicle;
• manually grasping the second ends and stretching the elastic band of first one pair of the elastic bands and then the other and securing said second ends thereof near opposite ends of the cross bars of the second frames at corresponding positions equally spaced from or even with said coplanar surfaces of the cross bars;
• projecting a straight line defined by the center marks of the elstic bands on the set of frames hung on one of the sets of tires past the elastic bands on the set of frames hung on the other set of tires;
• and,
• noting the positions of the center marks of the elastic bands on the set of frames hung on said other set of tires with respect to the projected straight line.

A method for making alignment measurements relative to the conventional front and rear sets of tires of an automobile, truck or trailer vehicle while the tires are carrying the weight of the vehicle, through the use of first and second frames each of which includes an elongated cross bar having coplanar surfaces disposed in spatial relationship to engage different location on the circular side wall periphery of a chosen tire said method comprising the steps of:

• hanging said frames on the exposed tires in chosen set so that the cross bars of the frames are approximately parallel to the ground and are disposed above the bulge in the tires necessarily resulting from their carrying the vehicle weight, and so that said coplanar surfaces on the cross bars are disposed in loose proximity to the circular peripheries of the exposed side wall of the tires on opposite sides of the vehicle;
• extending a pair of conventional tape measures underneath and across the vehicle;
• securing the free ends of the pair of tape measures near oppostie ends of the cross bar of the first frame at corresponding positions equally spaced from or even with said coplanar surfaces of the cross bar as measured transversely of the cross bar;
• manually snugging said cross bar of the second frame against the exposed side wall of the tire on which it is hung while simultaneously grasping and exerting approximately equal tension on the tape measures so as to similarly snug the cross bar of the first frame against the exposed side wall of the tire on which it is hung;
• noting the difference in measurements of the pair of tapes at corresponding locations on the second frame equally spaced from or even with said coplanar surfaces on the cross bar of the second frame as measured transversely of the cross bar
• projecting the centerline of the vehicle frame;
• disposing a pair of elastic bands, which elastic bands have their centers marked, tautly between respective opposing ends of the cross bars of said first and second frames;
• and
• noting the positions of the center marks of the elastic bands with respect to the vehicle frame centerline.

A method for making alignment measurements relative to the conventional front and rear sets of tires of an automobile, truck or trailer vehicle while the tires are carrying the weight of the vehicle, through the use of two sets of first and second frames, each frame of which includes an elongated cross bar having coplanar surfaces disposed in spatial relationship to engage different locations on the circular side wall periphery of a chosen tire, said method comprising the steps of:

• hanging one of said sets of frames on the exposed tires in a first chosen set of tires, and the other set of frames on the exposed tires in a second chosen set of tires so that with respect to each set of tires the cross bars of the frames are approximately parallel to the ground and are disposed above the bulge in the tires necessarily resulting from their carrying the vehicle weight, and so that said coplanar surfaces on the cross bars are disposed in loose proximity to the circular peripheries of the exposed side walls of the tires on opposite sides of the vehicle;
• securing a first pair of elastic bands tautly between opposing ends of the first and second frames of one of said sets of frames, and securing a second pair of elastic bands tautly between opposite ends of the first and second frames of the other of said sets of frames, each elastic band having a center mark located midway of its length;
• projecting the straight line defined by the center marks of the elastic bands on the set of frames hung on the first chosen set of tires past the elastic bands on the set of frames hung on the other chosen set of tires;
• and
• noting the positions of the center marks of the elastic bands on the set of frames hung on said second chosen set of tires with respect to the projected straight line.

A method for making alignment measurements realtive to the conventional front and rear sets of tires of an automobile, truck or trailer vehicle while the tires are carrying the weight of the vehicle, through the use of first and second frames each of which includes an elongated cross bar having coplanar surfaces disposed in spatial relationship to engage different location on the circular side wall periphery of a chosen tire, said method comprising the steps of:

• projecting the centerline of the vehicle frame;
• hanging said frames on the exposed tires in a chosen set so that the cross bars of the frames are approximately parallel to the ground and are disposed above the bulge in the tires necessarily resulting from their carrying the vehicle weight, and so that said coplanar surfaces on the cross bars are disposed in loose proximity to the circular peripheries of the exposed side walls of the tires on opposite sides of the vehicle;
• disposing a pair of elastic bands, which elastic bands have their centers marked tautly respective opposing ends of the cross bars of said first and second frames;
• and,
• noting the positions of the center marks of the elastic bands with respect to the vehicle frame centerline.

A method for making alignment measurements relative to the conventional front and rear sets of tires of an automobile, truck or trailer vehicle while the tires are carrying the weight of the vehicle, through the use of first and second frames each of which includes an elongated cross bar having coplanar surfaces disposed in spatial relationship to engage different location on the circular side wall periphery of a chosen tire, said method comprising the steps of:

• hanging said frames on the exposed tires in a chosen set so that the cross bars of the frames are approximately parallel to the ground and are disposed above the bulge in the tires necessarily resulting from their carrying the vehicle weight, and so that said coplanar surfaces on the cross bars are disposed in loose proximity to the circular peripheries of the exposed side walls of the tires on opposite sides of the vehicle;
• securing a pair of elastic bands tautly between opposite ends of the frames so as to snug the cross bars against the respective exposed side walls of the tires on whih they are hung, each elastic band having a center mark located midway of its length;
• extending a pair of conventional tape measures underneath and across the vehicle;
• securing the free ends of the pair of tape measures near opposite ends of the cross bar of the first frame at corresponding positions equally spaced from or evenwith said coplanar surfaces of the cross bar as measured transversely of the cross bar;
• manually grasping and exerting approximately equal tension on both tape measures;
• and
• noting the difference in measurements of the pair of tapes at corresponding locations on the second frame equally spaced from or even with said coplanar surfaces on the cross bar of the second frame as measured transversely of the cross bar.