toe correction

[alphableak83]

I had steeda springs, lca arms, adjustable upper control arm, adjustable panhard bar, and upper strut mounts installed the other day. I am very pleased with the results except the toe couldn't be corrected to where it needs to be for the front. The left toe is .17 and the right toe is -.15 with the steer ahead .16, but the total front toe is .02. The upper strut mounts are maxed out as far as adjusting to get the toe correct. Do I need to get a bumpsteer kit to fix this or is there anything else I need to get? thanks.

 

[BSell]

You said the toe-in is not right, correct? As in, can't adjust anymore to get the toe-in right...

Camber adjustments should not be used to correct for toe-in. Camber and maybe some caster, yes, but not toe-in.

The tierod ends are used for correcting toe-in. If you are looking down on the car like the birds who crap on our hoods do, then toe-in looks like this:

Front of car
/\ tires

Normally, dropping a car will make the camber go negative, like this (you are now sitting in the street, looking at your license plate):

Sky
/\ tires

What I think you described is this:

Sky
\\ tires (of course this is way exagerated, but you get the point, hopefully)

Tell me if I'm crazy,

Brian

P.S. Reread your post (stupid 'post reply' doesn't let me see your post!) and see that you have the right stuff for major droppage except for the bump-steer kit. Might as well get that too, seeing how you have the rest of the goodies!

 

[alphableak83]

sorry my post wasn't clear suspension isn't my thing. the caster and camber were able to be adjusted fine with the upper strut mounts. no problem there. its the toe-in that there is a problem.

i believe for our cars its -.05 to .15 acceptable for the left and .15 to -.05 acceptable for the right.

currently my car is sitting at .17 for the left and -.15 for the right
so if i'm right essentially my wheels would be sitting like this // but not as drastic of course?? (when looking down from the top of the car)

the alignment sheet says that my total toe is .02 which is within the -.10 to .30 limit

my steer ahead is also off -.05 to .05 is acceptable and i am at .16 currently

i was reading that a bumpsteer kit can correct this and i just wanted to verify if thats true or what else i would need to fix this. hope that makes it more clear like i said suspension isn't my thing

 

[UrbanRedneck]

The total toe being where it is means the tires are basically paralell with one another. Since one side is negative and one side is positive, the steering wheel is just off-center. Really there is no reason this cannot be corrected, I highly doubt that the tie rods ran out of threads. Maybe just need a new alignment tech? Unless I'm missing something.

As far as steer ahead, that could be because of the toe being off. What is your thrust angle though?

 

[alphableak83]

thrust angle is good at .01

 

[BSell]

"Look! He's making a left turn!" Said in a Mater voice...

I think the tech hit the print button with your wheel turned to the left a little bit, hence the toe-out on the left and toe-in on the right.

How does she drive? Any pulling?

Back in the day, it was recommended to put some settings into the suspension to fight the crown in the road. Done right, the car tracks straight in the right-hand lane. Ride in the left lane and the car pulls to the median...

I figure this pulling drove folks crazy so alignments went road crown agnostic.

I would ask the shop to throw her back on there to answer the left turn question...

 

[UrbanRedneck]

That is a good point about printing it with te wheel turned. Does the car drive straight? Since those readings really only indicate a non-centered steering wheel, if the wheel is straight and it drives good, I wouldn't worry about it.