RE: [ihc] Factory Toe-In Spec, Anyone?

[Tom Harais <THarais@xxxxxxxxx>]

So Steve:

Tell us your toe setting technique?  Are you using stick pins into the tire
tread and measuring the distance change when rolled back?  Did you create a
measuring device of some sort?

Has anyone ever tried those relatively cheap alignment platters from JC
Whitney that you can use to set toe and camber but not caster?  

I've always found that I couldn't get a tape between the rear edge of the
wheels because of interference from the frame, exhaust, etc.  And, by the
time I made up a measuring device like the ones I've seen in a couple of
suspension books I have, I may as well go pay an alignment shop the $50 and
have it set by laser.  

Well, at least that's what I thought until I watch and unqualified youngster
setting the alignment on an expensive new car at a tire shop I happened to
be at one day.  The manager, right in front of me told the kid he wasn't
qualified to do that when the kid told him he couldn't get anything to work.
But the kid told the manager that the mechanic had taken off without
finishing the car and the customer wanted it right then (it was closing
time).  So the manager let the kid go ahead and "align" it.

And, I've never heard it said that when you set toe by measurement, do you
use the outer edge of the rim, the tread surface of the tire, etc.
Obviously, where you measure that 1/16th of an inch differnece is going to
make a difference based on the distance from the center of the wheel.
Alignment shops go by degrees, which avoids the radius from the center
varaiable.

Tom H., '76 Traveler