Iron Canyon Spec Miata Alignment System Review

Fast guys spend a lot of time doing little things right. So much time sometimes that it seems it would be impossible to do enough to make a difference in your own performance.

The most time consuming of the "must do" little tasks is aligning and scaling the car. We do this to every car, before every race weekend. Until recently we would build a "string box" around a car using jack stands, two lengths of pipe, a 20 ft measuring tape, some string and two small rulers that measure to 1/32 of an inch (and it goes much quicker if you have a second person helping). This method works and you can build this system for about 10 bucks, but it can be frustrating and unnecessarily time consuming.

One problem with this method is that the car cannot be moved or the box / car relationship is altered (that's bad). This is less convenient in some circumstances than others, but it is always annoying. It is better, however, to be annoyed than to have wheels pointing in unknown directions.

I had seen the Iron Canyon Motorsports Spec Miata alignment system and was searching for a way to speed up the process for our cars. When I saw photos of the new ICM "toe stick" my first thought was that these guys are pretty smart and I want the whole system. http://heddev.com/miata/index.php/cPath/32?osCsid=15b269429f7788408982a6d5295aed18

First, the two lengths of pipe or aluminum bar (like the old jack stand method) are attached to the car by two lightweight SM specific hangers that have height adjusters that are dealt with once. This makes it possible for one person to easily build the string box. The ICM aluminum bar has grooves machined into it so that the string cannot slip. The whole system is simple and lightweight. Hang the stuff on your car and make sure that the strings are the same distance from the hubs (front same distance from the other front and same for rears) and you are in business.

At this point you can use your ruler to measure toe or you can use the "toe stick". The toe stick (also Miata specific or adjustable) is simply held to the wheel and when the string crosses the same line on both sides the wheel is straight ahead. It is so simple that it can be explained to and executed by a fist timer in about 30 seconds.

This is one of those relatively simple and important things that you can do to gain speed and consistency. The confidence gained by knowing the car is still in alignment after an off is very valuable and this system allows you to "field test" your alignment in about 10 minutes and make small adjustments if needed.

The system comes complete with a comprehensive set of instructions, but if you have ever done an alignment before the system is so intuitively designed that you might choose not to look at them. So, for little more than the cost of a single tire you too can know that all four of them are pointing the correct direction -- seems like a no-brainer to me.

Brian Towey

# 26 Dent Devil / MiataCage.Com Spec Miata