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Car Forum / Driving, Maintenance, Tuning / Maintenance and Repair / November 2005setting toe at home
Helped my friend set the toe on his race car with boards and tape measures... and just did it on the wife's Beretta after a tie rod change... but here's my question: If the toe is say 1/8 toe in, where is that measured from/to? Front of tire to back of tire? The reason I ask is you're measuring between lines that aren't parallel, so if you use longer or shorter boards, you can change the reading... (Imagine using an 8 foot long board....) And I assume that's why they now measure it in degrees because that "fixes" that problem. Of course, to convert that into inches means I have to dig up my high school trig, don't I? Ray >Helped my friend set the toe on his race car with boards and tape >measures... and just did it on the wife's Beretta after a tie rod [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > >Ray If you must do it this way, jack up the car on a level surface. Rotate both wheels several turns while holding a pencil, a scribe or some other device in one place against the center of the tread. Lower the car and move it a bit back and forth several times to take the stress out of the suspension. Measure the difference between the mark at the back of the tire level with the axle and again in the front level with the axle. Subtract one measurement from the other. 1/2 the difference is the approximate toe. This is not as accurate as on an alignment machine. Lugnut > If you must do it this way, jack up the car on a level > surface. Rotate both wheels several turns while holding a [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > Lugnut That's how we did the race car. For the Beretta we just did boards up against the tires - which is where I realized that if you used longer boards you could change the readings. It's close enough - I need to change a balljoint as well, but in the meantime the wife would like to be able to drive the car without needing to be turning left to stay out of the ditch. :) Ray lugnut <lugnut@bellsouth.net> wrote in article <7vuhn1heh8ak9ke2mos834gd6jofgg6hvs@4ax.com>... > .............. Measure the difference between the mark at the > back of the tire level with the axle and again in the front > level with the axle. Subtract one measurement from the > other. 1/2 the difference is the approximate toe. This is > not as accurate as on an alignment machine. Toe-in/out is the DIFFERENCE between the rear and front tread width measurements......NOT HALF the difference. On our Jeeps we use the seam in the tire and go side to side that way. It seems to work perfectly. Mine calls for 1/8" so I measure 1/4" difference from the front seam to seam to the back seam to seam with stock tires, I adjust it a bit for the oversize tires figuring the book means stock rubber. My last set of tires wore out perfectly even using this method. Mike 86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's Canadian Off Road Trips Photos: Non members can still view! Aug./05 http://www.imagestation.com/album/index.html?id=2120343242 (More Off Road album links at bottom of the view page) > Helped my friend set the toe on his race car with boards and tape > measures... and just did it on the wife's Beretta after a tie rod [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > > Ray Mike Romain <romainm@sympatico.ca> wrote in article <43790C70.F54E1FAC@sympatico.ca>... > ......Mine calls for 1/8" so I measure 1/4" > difference from the front seam to seam to the back seam to seam with > stock tires, I adjust it a bit for the oversize tires figuring the book > means stock rubber. If the difference between the front tread width and the rear tread width is one-quarter inch, you have ONE-QUARTER-INCH toe......NOT one-eighth! > Mike Romain <romainm@sympatico.ca> wrote in article > <43790C70.F54E1FAC@sympatico.ca>... [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > If the difference between the front tread width and the rear tread width is > one-quarter inch, you have ONE-QUARTER-INCH toe......NOT one-eighth! You are right. I was thinking the difference in degrees vs inches and messing with 33" tires in my head. I put my 33" tires close to 1/4" toe figuring if I had stock 29" tires I would be really closer to the 1/8" called for. It has worked. Mike > Helped my friend set the toe on his race car with boards and tape > measures... and just did it on the wife's Beretta after a tie rod [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > > Ray I've always done it between tire sidewall bulges halfway up the tire, back to front. That was from FoMoCo quick & easy training classes. I made myself a device out of some sticks, glue, and drywall screws that looks like a capital "C". IMO, most techs can eyeball 1/8" from a distance. Handling can confirm toe. |
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