murrayarnold Posted January 28, 2021 Report Share Posted January 28, 2021 Hi guys. Tomorrow i am going to do my wheel alignment using strings and measing tape. What the toe on the front. Is it 2mm toe out or........ Thanks Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jerrytr5 Posted January 28, 2021 Report Share Posted January 28, 2021 3mm toe in Jerry Quote Link to post Share on other sites
murrayarnold Posted January 28, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2021 32 minutes ago, jerrytr5 said: 3mm toe in Jerry Thanks Jerry Quote Link to post Share on other sites
murrayarnold Posted January 28, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2021 Oh one thing. Is that 3mm on each wheel or 3mm overall. Meaning 1.5mm per wheel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
John Morrison Posted January 28, 2021 Report Share Posted January 28, 2021 In Total, and 2mm is fine. Front wheel alignment on a rear wheel drive car is set at toe in as the drive up through the centre line of the car splays the wheels outwards, hence the pointing inwards setting. John. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ianc Posted January 29, 2021 Report Share Posted January 29, 2021 Not just that, John. If the front wheels are set to toe out, the car will not follow a straight line - it will tend to veer to left or to right because although one wheel can be pointing straight ahead, the other will be pointing outwards (away from centre line) and will pull the car in that direction. It's likely that the driver corrects this and then the car heads in the other direction, proceeding in a zig-zag along the road. With the wheels set to the correct toe-in, the effects cancel one another and the car travels in a straight line. Ian Cornish Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Waldi Posted January 29, 2021 Report Share Posted January 29, 2021 I think track width front/rear is different, so if a rope is used from front to rear you need to bear that in mind. Also, because toe-in is only 1.5 mm per side, and your wheels (front and rear) may be out of round (especially if you have steel ones), you cannot achieve a precise result. The rear wheel may have toe-in or our as well which further reduces accuracy. But it will be ok to get it near where it should be. I did mine after a body-off resto using a laser and measuring several times, and it was surprisingly close to factory settings on all angles when it was checked again with professional alignment equipment in the garage that did my MoT. But toe-in required correction.... Waldi Quote Link to post Share on other sites
stuart Posted January 29, 2021 Report Share Posted January 29, 2021 Get yourself one of these then you can do fronts and rears. Trakrite Stuart. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Drewmotty Posted January 29, 2021 Report Share Posted January 29, 2021 1 hour ago, stuart said: Get yourself one of these then you can do fronts and rears. Trakrite Stuart. I was sceptical of those due to the flimsy plastic construction but then I borrowed one. It is actually very robust and very sensitive/accurate around the straight ahead position. They are an excellent piece of kit and well worth putting together with a few other locals if you don’t want to spend out yourself for something which spends most of its time packed away in a cupboard. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
stillp Posted January 29, 2021 Report Share Posted January 29, 2021 I've got one of those as well. It seems to work well but there's a garage local to me that does the job for a tenner, so I use him rather than getting down and dirty! I also have a Gunson's Laser Trakrite, but I've never used it as I don't have enough flat level space to set it up. Pete Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tim hunt Posted January 29, 2021 Report Share Posted January 29, 2021 +1 for the Trackrite. Quick and simple to use and gives good repeatability. I cut a piece of 12mm ply to the same overall size as the Trackrite and bevelled the leading edge, I use this under the wheel not being checked so the car stays level side to side when I push it over the Trackrite Tim Quote Link to post Share on other sites
murrayarnold Posted January 29, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 29, 2021 Hi guys. Thanks for the input. I have used the strung line before. It doesn't mater if the front or back is wider. The one thing that has to be determined is the rear wheel is running straight with no toe. As you all know, there are shims for correcting this. I can use basic geometry to check this prior to aligning the front. I will go for 3mm toe in. 1.5 on each wheel. Just have to get the front wheels on a very slippery surface. I have the car on ceramic tiles and engine oil. That lets the tire move nice and freely while adjusting. Thanks for giving me the toe in measurement. Appreciated. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mtrehy Posted January 29, 2021 Report Share Posted January 29, 2021 25 minutes ago, murrayarnold said: Hi guys. Thanks for the input. I have used the strung line before. It doesn't mater if the front or back is wider. The one thing that has to be determined is the rear wheel is running straight with no toe. As you all know, there are shims for correcting this. I can use basic geometry to check this prior to aligning the front. I will go for 3mm toe in. 1.5 on each wheel. Just have to get the front wheels on a very slippery surface. I have the car on ceramic tiles and engine oil. That lets the tire move nice and freely while adjusting. Thanks for giving me the toe in measurement. Appreciated. No reason you can't get it perfect with string. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ntc Posted January 29, 2021 Report Share Posted January 29, 2021 5 minutes ago, mtrehy said: No reason you can't get it perfect with string. You need new tyres or you will be out, Tis why the car must roll forward and backwards Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mtrehy Posted January 29, 2021 Report Share Posted January 29, 2021 47 minutes ago, ntc said: You need new tyres or you will be out, Tis why the car must roll forward and backwards Tyre salesman? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
murrayarnold Posted January 29, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 29, 2021 As I said, I know how to do the job guys, I only needed the measurements Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ntc Posted January 29, 2021 Report Share Posted January 29, 2021 49 minutes ago, mtrehy said: Tyre salesman? Nope but you must know more than any tyre shop used for the last fifty years until laser alignment was used Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mtrehy Posted January 29, 2021 Report Share Posted January 29, 2021 9 minutes ago, ntc said: Nope but you must know more than any tyre shop used for the last fifty years until laser alignment was used I know basic trigonometry. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Stagpowered Posted January 29, 2021 Report Share Posted January 29, 2021 Worth noting that if you normally run with just one person in the car you can set it up empty but can find the drivers side rear wheel will show signs of being out of alignment if you do a lot of miles without rotating the tyres. This happened when I first set up my TR6 about 30 years ago so I tried it again with bags of sand in the drivers seat and found I needed to add or remove one shim (can't remember which) When I got my TR250 back in 1992 I set it up the same way, haven't needed to touch it since. Neil Quote Link to post Share on other sites
murrayarnold Posted February 4, 2021 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2021 On 29/01/2021 at 8:12 PM, mtrehy said: I know basic trigonometry. Luckily wheel alignments based on geometry then. I'm-:))) I'm teasing by the way. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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