Windex Posted January 16, 2006 Share Posted January 16, 2006 1 degree of toe feels just like .1 degree of toe driving down the highway. The difference will be scrubbing off your tire tread in 1/4 the distance. Last time I checked, 17" tires aren't exactly cheap... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GTsleeper Posted January 16, 2006 Share Posted January 16, 2006 ^ +1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
outahere Posted January 16, 2006 Share Posted January 16, 2006 the string method is still used today for race cars (which are just as practically accurate as you need to be).. not all race teams can carry a hunter rack with them to the track, so the string method is still used today. How are you checking thrust angle? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xenonk Posted January 16, 2006 Share Posted January 16, 2006 it's the difference between the two axles.. Keefe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2Simpletons Posted January 16, 2006 Author Share Posted January 16, 2006 Having performed a few alignments, I can say that you will never get your toe accurately set in a garage, unless you have a baseline alignment to start from. If, you know the specs from your car to start, a carpenters square can help immensely. take 2simple's spec below: you know that the front camber is is out of spec (cross camber), but the right side is right at 0deg, whereas the left is at .8 get your car on a nice flat concrete surface, and measure the difference in camber in the same way. place the carpenter's square on the floor, and slide it up to the wheel/tire. measure the gap between the square and the tire at the top, and then do the same on the opposite side. Given that the camber is .8 degrees different, you will have a larger gap at the top of the left side. BEFORE AFTER FL CAMBER -.8 -.8 FR CAMBER .0 .0 FL TOE -.04 -.02 FR TOE -.20 -.01 RL CAMBER -.3 -.4 RR CAMBER .1 .1 RL TOE -.07 -.08 RR TOE -.01 -.00 you can then loosen the strut-to-knuckle bolts and adjust until the gap is the same as the right, by turning the top camber bolt until the wheel-to-square gap is the same on both sides of the car. Then, re-tighten both bolts. this step can be tricky, as the settings will want to change when you re-tighten the bolts. the trick is to loosen the bolts only enough to move the strut with force. If they are too loose, it will be difficult to keep your new setting when re-tightening the bolts. HOWEVER... If you do this, you also change you toe settings on the same wheel, which will then also need to be adjusted. Again, going by the 2simple's readings, when the left side campber is adjusted, you will also toe in that wheel slightly. which shoud result in the steerin wheel being off to the left). The best way to get this back is to drive the car down a straight level road, and note where the steering wheel is in relation to before you adjusted the camber. (hopefully the alignment shop at least got that straight!) Here's the tricky part. You then need to adjust only (in this example) left side toe to bring the steering wheel back to center. You will do this by SHORTENING the outer tie rod length, or toeing the wheel out slightly. If you did it right, the steering wheel will be centered again. My rule of thumb is about 1/2 turn on the inner tie rod for every 10 degrees off on the steering wheel. It is important that you only adjust one side at a time. if you adjust both, you will change the total toe (from side to side) and you will lose your baseline. If you only adjust one side, once the steering wheel is back to center (again, assuming it was centered in the first place), your total toe will be restored. If you are in any way uncomfortable with the above, don't do it. go to a decent alignment shop and have them do it (not the shop 2simple went to) ask for before and after specs, and ask beforehand what adjustments are included. Cheers. Oh. BTW - anything's adjustable, you just have to hit it hard enough. :-) Windex, thanks for the tips, I'll give it a shot and see what comes of it. I've got a real flat garage and a brand-new alum carp. square. I'll do only the side in question first and see how the toe is. If I mess it up, I guess I can always go to the shop - just not the same one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgt Posted January 16, 2006 Share Posted January 16, 2006 ^ why? if it's good enough for the track, it should be good enough for the street. I am sure you need even more precision on the track doing well over 100 mph to make sure the car is straight than on the highway Track alignment is much different than what i run on the street. Also, in a race setup we arent exactly concerned with tire longevity since no matter what we do the tires will be done within a day's racing. Whereas on the street Im more concerned with tire life than anything else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xenonk Posted January 16, 2006 Share Posted January 16, 2006 ^ hence you just set your toe to zero correct? that's not hard to do when you need to set your toe to zero. Besides, under braking and accelerating, toe changes just a little bit.. so unless you are actually trying to compensate for that (which I doubt), I dont think that's necessary. Keefe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Windex Posted January 16, 2006 Share Posted January 16, 2006 Windex, thanks for the tips, I'll give it a shot and see what comes of it. I've got a real flat garage and a brand-new alum carp. square. I'll do only the side in question first and see how the toe is. If I mess it up, I guess I can always go to the shop - just not the same one. Good to hear your having a go at it. Remember, as long as you are only touching one side it's ok to make mistakes (not the leaving loose bolts kind). If you set the toe and don't get the wheel straight the first time, try again - it doen't make a difference, as long as you only adjust the toe on one side. Once the steering wheel is straight, snug the tie rod lock nut down and you're done. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgt Posted January 17, 2006 Share Posted January 17, 2006 ^ hence you just set your toe to zero correct? that's not hard to do when you need to set your toe to zero. Besides, under braking and accelerating, toe changes just a little bit.. so unless you are actually trying to compensate for that (which I doubt), I dont think that's necessary. Like i said, not precise enough to actually get 0 toe. But for race setup when you dont need to be as accurate thats fine. If you are happy doing your alignment, thats fine, but I will stick with a hunter alignment rack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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