The Rubber parachute
 

I finally got round to getting the alignment on my car checked - should really have had it done when the front corner was being rebuilt after the bearing explosion:(

verdict - 2.5degress toe-out :eek::eek: WTF

kinda explains the tyre eating, zero coast ability, massive turn-in etc I can only imagine the increase in RR this was causing.

so I got them to set it to neutral toe rather than the book 1deg toe-in. Instantly the car now coasts! and feels free-er. even though the change has been done at 170miles into a tank , I've got high hopes for this tank!

want any easy fix? try getting this checked:thumbup:

economy has gone up 3.9% just by sorting the alignment!! now into the 41's

Good going:) I'm planning on checking my suspension when I go to change my tires for the winter. It'd be a good idea to check the alignment, as I haven't check that since buying the car. Hopefully it's OK, but it would be nice to find something that would improve FE...

WOW! That alone should pay for the re-alignment in no time!

It cost $20 to measure and adjust. and on that tank saved me rougly $2 so.... ten tanks/weeks and bingo. Also the Change was done during the tank, so this tank now will be the first full tank ao i'm hoping that will also have an increase, maybe even break my target of 50mpg(imp) which i got sooooo close to!

A lot of EV'ers have their car aligned to zero toe to reduce RR. It's supposed to make the car a little more squirrely, but I haven't heard any of them complain. I'm going to try it next time I get the Clunker realigned.

Congrats on the results from your alignment.

I've never thought to look up the factory toe in/out specs for my car. Doing that now....

Factory manual says:

Front total toe = 0.0 - 0.32 degrees
Rear total toe = 0.3 - 0.6 degrees

I should look into this...

mwebb: did you set the toe yourself or have a shop do it?

Is rear toe as important as front toe? I'd think the toe in the front helps steering, but what about the back?

BTW: What if we called front toe = finger? :p

Front toe helps with turn-in, rear toe helps keep the car stable at speed. easy rule of thumb I was told back in my race days

-ve rear toe (front inner edge closer together than rear) = more stability in straight line, can help reduce mid corner and lift-off o/steer

+ve rear toe = more rearpost weight transfer turn ability.

The alignment was done by the bloke at the local shop and I helped out 'cos he was using a mirror gauge similiar to what I used to used on race cars. The car still feels very secure at highway speeds (65-70) and is still fun 'maintaining momentum' on back roads ;)

1st tank sole on new alignment 43MPG !!!!!! another 4.9% increase!!! and I've ticked over my 50mpgUK target!!!

Just did a quick calc to determine how accurate the measuring-tape-across-the-treads method of checking alignment specs for my car would be:

With my 155/80 r13 tires, the outer diameter is 22.76 inches / 578.2 mm, and a 1 degree toe angle equates to a 5 mm or 0.2 inch difference at the tread. That's coarser than I would have guessed, so probably worth a check.

The larger your tires' outer diameter, the more potential accuracy in the measuring tape quick check.

...I can remember alignment shops that had a pair of saw-tooth edged bars sticking up through a plate on the ground that you'd drive over, which moved a scale that they read to indicate whether and how much your front wheel toe-in/out was.

...don't recall anybody actually worrying about rear wheel toe until VW's and Corvairs came around.