Toe settings

[RDEX]

While away in Dorset a couple of weeks ago, a passing interested motorcyclist stopped to chat about my car, he seemed knowledgeable and interested and suggested that it might be worth me getting the front wheels checked out as it appeared that they were toeing out a bit and he thought it should toe in.

I have checked with a couple of local tyre places and they don’t know what the settings should be and cant do the job until they do, can anyone help please? It’s a 1.6 K series; they also want to charge the best part of £60, does that seem excessive?

If anyone can help, they particularly wanted to know the toe setting but any other setting’s such as camber would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance

 

[buroz]

A little bit of tow out can be good. Gives better turn in. The down side is that it will be "slightly" less stable in a straight line.

 

Around 1 or 2 mm of tow out seems to be reckomended for track use.

But it's all down to taste, so there will be just as many answers as there are replies (probably).

[V7 SLR]

For stability, a shade of toe-in. For swift turn-in, a shade of toe-out. For me? Parallel.

 

I did mine with a piece of string and Caterham confirmed that it was bang on 0 degrees parallel at the PBC.

[Simos]

My local garage (crash repair place that also does non crash work) wanted £20 to check to the toe on my tin top so £60 sounds way over the top for something that is probably goingt to be fine anyway.

 

Depending on how many miles you've done, I'd expect you to have scrubbed the tyres something wicked if it were toeing (out or in) sufficient for someone to spot visually.

 

I'd be tempted t:

 

a) measuring it youself using the string or long bit of wood with nails banged in methods (do a search)

 

b) as 'em how much just to check the toe and tell you ( 5min job) rather than ask them to set it to an arbitary value in which case they have to factor in the time it might take to adjust the track rods on a car they're probably unfamiliar with.

 

Hopefully b) would give you a starting point for a tenner or maybe twenty and you could then try adjusting the toe one turn at a time and seeing if you like it. This is not after all a shopping car and there isn't a "correct" toe, whats right is what you like and it may well be you have a different toe for road and track etc.

 

Cheers, Simon.

[Nick Chan]

I have decided to change my "as new" and unworn Michelin MXT's for a set of 021R tyres and the tyre centre have agreed to do the tracking for nothing within the £40 tyre change charge (five wheels - albeit taken over free in MPV) so that can't be too bad. I think a £60 someone's taking the p***

 

On the settings side, I have just checked with Caterham service department and they said either parallel or 0.5 degree toe-in would be most suitable for my live axle classic - the tyre centre were going to set it us as zero anyway!

 

Cheers

 

Nick

 

 

[buroz]

Kwik-Fit will "check" your tracking for free (£20 to make changes).

 

Go to BookaTracks useful Caterham FAQ's section for more advice.

[Old Septimus]

Can recommend the "primitive" methods, such as planks, nails, set squares, string etc. They are surprisingly accurate if you have a reasonably flat floor to work on. I

[JP]

£60!!! tell 'em to **** off. Do it yourself. I find for the road ~20' toe-in - recommended by Midway Motors. Much more pleasant to drive. It was toeing out slightly before and the lack of stability for road use was becoming irritating.

[Paul Turner]

4 bricks, 2 strait metal bars 2' - 2'6" long, 2 old torque start batteries and a 3m tape work for me. You don't even need a beautiful assistant. No answers on a postcard please.

 

Paul

[dogvet]

just had the original flat floor set from Caterham for 1.6 academy car : toe out 0' 25"

ridr height F- 145 rear 155mm sump to ground 85mm

car is weighted for an 80kg driver and handles pretty much neutral on AO32rs but dives in to corners really well.

[V7 SLR]

Think the learning point is that the toe-in or out that works best depends on what tyres you use, and the use to which you put the car.

[Pierre Gillet]

"ride height F- 145 rear 155mm "

Where do you measure such heights? i.e. between ground and what?

Cheers

[danwhiley]

Front ride height is to the chassis underneath the front engine mount, rear is to the chassis just before the rear wheel (where the wheel arch comes down by the door.

 

I'll leave it up to you where the sump is...

 

[Pierre Gillet]

Thanks Dan.

[RDEX]

Thanks all for your guidence, ill tell them to stick it and look at it myself..