Scale setup

I was just wanting to get some input on how I have been setting up the scales. I have a hunter alignment rack at work and I have been leveling the scales on the slip plates and dropping the car on the pads to allow the suspension to settle. Could this possibly be skewing my results and should I have slip plates on top of the scales before I zero them or am I OK with the scales on the slip plates.

Hi Thomas,

It's important the car can fully "settle" on the scales by allowing the suspension to travel easily through its natural arc. If you are using slip plates, they can be either on top or underneath the scales, depending on how well they fit. Just remember if you have them on top, zero the scales again before putting the car on!

Personally, when you are setting the car up by sitting it on its tyres (rather than setup plates for example) I prefer a much simpler and cheaper solution to help it settle. I attach a double-sided plastic folder (or clear file as it's called in some places) insert to each scale. The two pieces of plastic slide against each other easily. Also a lot cheaper than slip plates!

I'm actually in the middle of a setup on one of our shop cars right now, so I took a picture of what I'm talking about for you: