Am I paranoid or what? Wheel Toe / Tracking

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SpacePig

SpacePig

New Member
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393
Location
Tokyo - Japan
I know that I may need to see a psychiatrist for this one but, when I was checking my car tires I it gave me the following impression for toe. Granted I based my drawing on the car body itself. Still the car is going straight and I do not see any impact on the tire wear.

Of course I GREATLY exaggerate toe on the image below but it give you such impression when watching the car from the rear or front and when looking from the wheel arch.


p38.jpg
 
wammers said:
The rear wheels should be absolutely parallel. The front wheels should toe out 1/16" or 1.6 mm.
Click to expand...

Ok so TOE out for the front is normal... for the rear I will check but again I ONLY have checked this by eyes and using the wheel arch as reference.

Will try to get this sorted out one way of another. Anyway Wammers thank you for your help and reassuring me that the front should indeed look like on my quick drawing

toe-in%20toe-out.jpg
 
Get yourself some axle stands, some string and weights to hold the string taught.

Arrange the axle stands and string so the string rests against the wheel (you want this to be the widest part). Then do the same on the other side. Making sure not to bend the string, it just needs to touch the wheel.

Now measure the distance between front and rear of the string. Any difference is your Toe.

The hardest part is making sure you keep the blue string straight. If this isn't perfectly horizontal it'll throw out the results.

attachment.php

Excuse the poor spelling. I'm hopeless without a red squiggly line telling me I'm a div. There are probably clearer guides on how to do this on t'net.
 

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  • DIY Tracking.png
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SpacePig said:
Ok so TOE out for the front is normal... for the rear I will check but again I ONLY have checked this by eyes and using the wheel arch as reference.

Will try to get this sorted out one way of another. Anyway Wammers thank you for your help and reassuring me that the front should indeed look like on my quick drawing

toe-in%20toe-out.jpg
Click to expand...

Next time i check mine i'll just set it to the wheel arches then. And throw my Dunlop optical tracking gauge away. You can't see 1.6 mm toe out, only way is to use a tracking gauge. :):):)
 
Bix said:
Get yourself some axle stands, some string and weights to hold the string taught.

Arrange the axle stands and string so the string rests against the wheel (you want this to be the widest part). Then do the same on the other side. Making sure not to bend the string, it just needs to touch the wheel.

Now measure the distance between front and rear of the string. Any difference is your Toe.

The hardest part is making sure you keep the blue string straight. If this isn't perfectly horizontal it'll throw out the results.

attachment.php

Excuse the poor spelling. I'm hopeless without a red squiggly line telling me I'm a div. There are probably clearer guides on how to do this on t'net.
Click to expand...

Doesn't work like that. That not an anyways accurate way of doing it. Tracking measurements are done to the wheel size. You can't just measure in front and behind the wheel won't work. :)
 
wammers said:
Doesn't work like that. That not an anyways accurate way of doing it. Tracking measurements are done to the wheel size. You can't just measure in front and behind the wheel won't work. :)
Click to expand...
I'm aware of that, but it gives you a good starting point, the chap who first told me about it could get within .2mm using the string method. I don't think I have the patience to set it up right though. I much prefer using Dunlop gauges. But I haven't had any for 5 years. So string gets me closer than just going by eye until I can get to a tyre place and have it done properly.
 
Never needed to measure tracking and toe myself...when I replace links and ball joints, I measure the original nad replace like for like measurements...that will be pretty close and good enough to drive the couple of miles to the nearest garage who will do the tracking for me!!
 
Tracking on these should be done aligning all 4 wheels. Obviously the rears won't, or shouldn't have moved. Unless you have trailing arm bushes gone.

1.6 mm is very noticeable over the length of the vehicle. Get it onto the correct equipment and let them sort it. If the rears are out, time to start looking at bushes.
 
sas1810 said:
Tracking on these should be done aligning all 4 wheels. Obviously the rears won't, or shouldn't have moved. Unless you have trailing arm bushes gone.

1.6 mm is very noticeable over the length of the vehicle. Get it onto the correct equipment and let them sort it. If the rears are out, time to start looking at bushes.
Click to expand...

You must have serious eyesight if you can see 0.8 of a mm toe out on either side. Tracking is done on front wheels, sod all to do with rears. The only way both sides at rear can toe in or out simultaneously is if axle is bent.
 
Last edited:
sas1810 said:
Sorry wammers. I meant it's noticeable with lights or laser equipment. :eek:
I'll go and the pills now and calm down a bit. Lol
Click to expand...

Yes, but you do not need a four wheel alignment check to set track. My old Dunlop Optical gauge does the job just fine. :):):)
 
Good lord they are asking £230 for checking alignment in Japan at your average specialist store! And most of them need to have advance booking of at least 2 weeks!
 
Any tyre fitter can check alignment. Most places round here will check for free. It is at most 15 minutes work to check alignment. Less if they know what it is they are doing.

You could probably get a set of Dunlop gauges for that much.
 
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