Thread: Wheel Alignment

Sounds like who ever fitted your suspension knows what they are talking about (was it Les Richmond Automotive that did the fitting?).

He is correct that the vehicle should be TOE OUT between 0 - 2mm total.

However, there is a common misconception at tyre shops about this and often they will set it to TOE IN. You usually need to tell them and specify it to them (often they will give you an odd look about it too).


Have a read of http://www.aulro.com/afvb/discovery-...when-cold.html - on my vehicle with the 4" lift, if it's not set correctly to toe out, I get shuddering in the steering wheel.

Originally Posted by twr7cx

Sounds like who ever fitted your suspension knows what they are talking about (was it Les Richmond Automotive that did the fitting?).

He is correct that the vehicle should be TOE OUT between 0 - 2mm total.

However, there is a common misconception at tyre shops about this and often they will set it to TOE IN. You usually need to tell them and specify it to them (often they will give you an odd look about it too).


Have a read of http://www.aulro.com/afvb/discovery-...when-cold.html - on my vehicle with the 4" lift, if it's not set correctly to toe out, I get shuddering in the steering wheel.

Hi twr7cx

Yes it was LRA, thanks for the advice and the link I'm now off to get it fixed

onebob

Originally Posted by onebob

Hi twr7cx

Yes it was LRA, thanks for the advice and the link I'm now off to get it fixed

onebob

My experience with dealing with LRA is that they are very knowledgeable, and looks like they have steered you correctly. (plus Justin Cooper says the same thing, so there should be no doubt)

Most front-wheel-drive vehicles specify toe-out. When you have all wheel drive it's generally zero to a min. toe-out.

If you can find a detailed diagram of the geometry of a solid front axle suspension you will see that as the lift increases, the effective wheel base reduces also.

However in practical terms this is achieved by the front hubs essentially trying to "bend" forward... i.e. revolve in a clockwise direction around the axle when looking at the driver's side wheel. Hence the change in caster.

A change in caster can have a significant effect in the vehicle's tracking behaviour.

It's not unusual for these vehicles with their large tyres and small caster settings to drift left/right depending on the camber of the road.

Edit: PS: it's not impossible for the toe in/out to have been (unintentionally) altered if the techs removed the drag link for better clearance when replacing the springs

its to do with the location of the steering rods and drive more than the vehicle or the suspension.

0-2mm toe out for all beam axle all wheel drive landies
0-2mm toe in for all beam axle part time four wheel drive landies

I measure it at the tread blocks and add 1mm per 2 inches of tyre diameter.

Some landies (or the driver, take your pick love the 0 setting others need the hint of toe, if you have to go more than the nominated toe (+ extra for tyre size) to get the handling right then you need to check other things.

thanks you to all the responders to my post - I've been in touch with a suspension specialist on my side of town who also happens to do wheel alignment he understands what lifts do to the suspension geometry, looks at the camber and castor and adjusts the toe accordingly. He too ascribes to the toe out recommendation.

cheers

In reference to castor, while I have an official 2" lift, being HD springs and not having as much weight as they seem to allow for I have about 70mm. So the castor at 2" is about 3deg. I ran for a while without correction and found it great to drive unless there's any ruts in the bitumen then it's a tram, fitted some QT 3degree arms and it's just that bit sharper (I think it's perfect, not so lazy) but not quite back to std. Sits about 1.2deg now.

I do need to remove and strip the rear axle as it's bent slightly. Not looking forward.

G'day all. Not sure if it's ok to revive an old thread but this cropped up a lot in my searches so for others I'd prefer to post here..

I just got my alignment done today and forgot to ask for 1mm toe out.

So the aligner has done 1mm toe in .. afterwards I remembered and asked him if this is correct and he said that it was..

Now I'm back home and back from work I've read this thread and know I mucked up.



Anyways my question is, will 1mm toe in affect me much?

I'm concerned about tyre wear more than anything. The car won't ever have racing car handling, and drove back home ok (but I didn't go over 70kph).

Just wondering if I'm making a mountain out of a molehill, etc. Perhaps there's no real effect as long as the car is symmetrical.