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Avocet · 07-05-2008

Originally Posted by Pigfarmer

how much did he charge for the tracking? i want to get this checked on mine..... is ther a way of checking tracking yourself? (i mean with limited tools)

There is, but it's fiddly and time consuming.

Get the car on lever ground, having come to a stop whilst moving forwards (i.e. don't reverse it on to the lever patch). The front wheels need to be pointing straight ahead.

Set up 4 axle stands, paint tins or similar, one at each corner of the car. Run a length of cotton (or similar) down each side of the car paralell to the centreline of the car and to each other. Have them at approximately wheel centre height and an inch or so away from the tyre sidewalls. This is the really messy bit. I have two lengths of light steel tube with a groove in each end exactly the same distance apart. I put one in front of the front bumper and paralell to it and one behind the rear bumper, paralell to it. Each end rests on a pair of axle stands. That ensure that at least the two lines of cotton are paralell to each other. To get them paralell to the car centreline, measure from the centre of each wheel to the cotton on each side and keep shuffling the bars sideways until the distance from the cotton to each wheel centre is the same on each side. NOTE that if the car has a different track front and rear, the front and rear wheel centre at each end of the car won't be the same distance from the cotton. That's OK as long as the distance from front left centre to cotton is the same as the distance from front right centre to cotton (and the rears are also the same as each other).

You now have two lines paralell to the centreline of the car and paralell to the car's longitudinal centreline.

BE WARNED, IT TAKES AGES!!!!

Now measure from the leading edge of the front wheel rim to the coton and from the trailing edge of the front wheel rim to the cotton. The difference in the two distances is the "toe". If it is toeing OUT, the front edge of the rim will be closer to the cotton than the rear edge. Repeat for the other side. They might well be different - that just means the wheels weren't perfectly straight ahead. Depending on how the setting is quoted, you'll get the total toe setting by subtracting one pair from the other pair of readings (if that makes any sense!) In other words, suppose the right hand wheel is toeing OUT 3mm and the left hand wheel is toeing IN 1mm, the total toe is 2mm toe OUT.

You need to be extremely careful not to move the cotton when taking the measurements. They really need to be within 0.5mm!

It is a REALLY tedious job and very fiddly. I normally just cash out my £20!!!

07-05-2008	#11 (Post Link)
Avocet AO Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 291 Member car: 1990 164 Lusso V6	Re: why do we suffer from inside tyre wear? Originally Posted by Pigfarmer how much did he charge for the tracking? i want to get this checked on mine..... is ther a way of checking tracking yourself? (i mean with limited tools) There is, but it's fiddly and time consuming. Get the car on lever ground, having come to a stop whilst moving forwards (i.e. don't reverse it on to the lever patch). The front wheels need to be pointing straight ahead. Set up 4 axle stands, paint tins or similar, one at each corner of the car. Run a length of cotton (or similar) down each side of the car paralell to the centreline of the car and to each other. Have them at approximately wheel centre height and an inch or so away from the tyre sidewalls. This is the really messy bit. I have two lengths of light steel tube with a groove in each end exactly the same distance apart. I put one in front of the front bumper and paralell to it and one behind the rear bumper, paralell to it. Each end rests on a pair of axle stands. That ensure that at least the two lines of cotton are paralell to each other. To get them paralell to the car centreline, measure from the centre of each wheel to the cotton on each side and keep shuffling the bars sideways until the distance from the cotton to each wheel centre is the same on each side. NOTE that if the car has a different track front and rear, the front and rear wheel centre at each end of the car won't be the same distance from the cotton. That's OK as long as the distance from front left centre to cotton is the same as the distance from front right centre to cotton (and the rears are also the same as each other). You now have two lines paralell to the centreline of the car and paralell to the car's longitudinal centreline. BE WARNED, IT TAKES AGES!!!! Now measure from the leading edge of the front wheel rim to the coton and from the trailing edge of the front wheel rim to the cotton. The difference in the two distances is the "toe". If it is toeing OUT, the front edge of the rim will be closer to the cotton than the rear edge. Repeat for the other side. They might well be different - that just means the wheels weren't perfectly straight ahead. Depending on how the setting is quoted, you'll get the total toe setting by subtracting one pair from the other pair of readings (if that makes any sense!) In other words, suppose the right hand wheel is toeing OUT 3mm and the left hand wheel is toeing IN 1mm, the total toe is 2mm toe OUT. You need to be extremely careful not to move the cotton when taking the measurements. They really need to be within 0.5mm! It is a REALLY tedious job and very fiddly. I normally just cash out my £20!!!