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MG MGB Technical - Front toe-in measurement.

When measuring and adjusting toe-in, is it proper to do the job with the car on jack-stands, or must the tires be on the ground with full weight of car on the suspension? I'm concerned that if I set toe-in in the air, the caster/camber geometry will change the effect once the suspension is loaded. BTW, a neat alignment guage can be made for about $13.00 with flat aluminum bars and xeroxed ruler applied by tape. Lots like the Moss item, but much more fun to build.
James Anderson

Front wheels need to be on the ground. Only roll the
car forward
before measuring toe-in, and bounce it up and down a few
times to settle the suspension.
Ronald

I have a wooden bar with an adjustable pointer (trammel) on each end. I stick a thumbtack in each tire at the rear, adjust the pointers to the thumbtacks then roll the car fwd until the thumbtacks are straight fwd. With the bar, it's now easy to see how much toe in/out you have. Adjust it to where you want it. As Ronald said, the car should be on the ground.
Roger Hotelling

Setting toe in to spec is greatly overrated, and tends to cause unnecessary tire wear in my experience. 1/16 to 3/32 is a great deal of toe especially on a small diameter tire. The car does not wander excessively with as little as 1/32 of toe, so I simply set it by feel. Open up the stance until it starts to wander and then close it back down until it feels good to you. Chances are your steering force will go down and your tires will last longer.
Jim Blackwood

I agree with Jim - the principle thing is that the tyres should run dead straight during normal driving. You toe them in while stationary, then when you drive, the drag pushes them straight. I've always liked the look of the gunson TrackRite thing - you put it on the ground and drive over it slowly and it measures the sideways twisting of the treads. You then adjust the tracking until the twisting is eliminated. Trouble is, the gauge is really pricey.
Mike
Mike Howlett

This thread was discussed between 14/01/2002 and 15/01/2002

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