Front End Alignment

[Blue Marauder]

First off, let me make it clear that I found the thread with the front end alignment specs, so I see that the Marauder should be set with some toe out. However, the toe out on my car is quite noticible. The car tracks straight and true and at 1700 miles I do not see any feathering on the tire edges. Does this sound normal or should I get it checked?

If I remember right, rear wheel drive cars are normally set with some toe out as tire drag tends to pull the front tires toward a toe in attitude. Front wheel drive cars are normally set with some toe in, because the application of power to the front wheels tends to make them toe outward.

[Blue Marauder]

No one has an answer?

[mtnh]

The appearance of the front end makes the wheels look highly toed-out, due to a narrowing of the car's width at the front, compared to the middle of the car. The only way to know what your setting is would be to have the alignment checked. Your assessment of the car's performance and the tire conditions tells me that the alignment is just fine. If you start seeing wandering in the car's tracking habits or tire wear problems, then have the alignment looked at. If it really drives well, then save your money. Maybe the dealer could look at it for free under the warranty service, but do you realaly want to risk handing them your car for probably nothing? I would not!

YMMV,

Mike

[Paul T. Casey]

Blue, I too have noticed the toe out. I am knocking at the 23k mile door and also have no tire wear or tracking issues. From what I can remember of the old days when we used to try to do our own alignments, a little toe out was quite common, probably for the reasons you stated. We adjusted for changes in overall geometry, which is a fancy way of saying when you jacked up the back end, if you didn't point the front tires out a little, they'd wear out funny and fast.

[Marauderman]

Whenever your car is aligned, make sure an attachment of some
kind is used to prevent damage to your rims....My L/M dealer took my wheels off and put on those from a GM to perform the align thus eliminating any damage--they didn't have the attachment..but did have pleanty wheels to choose from..luckey them.. there is no rim edge to hook onto..so most places if not all will probably damage your rims..

I believe TAF had a bad experience which brought this info to repeat itself... TAF may want to add more........

[Blue Marauder]

OK. Thanks for the info. I will keep an eye on the handling and tire wear. I'm also pretty religious about checking tire pressures. I had a bad experience with one of my cars several years ago where an alignment problem wiped out a pair of Pirelli P6s in under 1000 miles. I don't want to repeat that with the BFGs.

[Warpath]

I think it depends on suspension geometry whether the forces try to move the wheels straight. I'm thinking that if you want the wheels straight while driving, you want them toe in. The forces would move them in the toe out direction.

Anyway, there are other reasons for a specific toe setting. Toe has impacts on on-center-feel (straight line stability) and how quick it turns (whether it feels darty or not). A toe out setting will increase on center feel and reduce it's darty-ness. That is the extent of my knowledge. So, I can't explain more or have more to say. So, if you change to a toe in setting, it may seem to wander more or dart around too much. Its all personal preference though.