Tie Rod Installation
03-25-2019, 03:44 AM
#46
Rennlist Member
As the car settles the amount of toe-in decreases and can ultimately result in a tow out condition at the fully settled ride height and can destroy tyres very quickly.
Although I have never tried it, my understanding is that even if the car had not fully settled the alignment shop should still be able to get toe in the correct range at the false height given the adjustment range possible. That they cannot even do this is most suspect.
As I posted earlier, try the eyeball method I suggested earlier to confirm which way the wheels are tending to be excessively out of toe. You cannot align the car that way but in a case of excessively erroneous toe you should be able to see which way they are in fault.
If you have to put the car on the alignment rig without getting it settled then the logical thing to do would be to set it with more tow in than normal, and then check the value after the car has settled and adjust as appropriate at that time. If the shop has the capability to pull the car down as shown in the extract Eric posted so much the better. However I suspect there is something else going on whatever it may be.
When I did my track rod ends a few years ago I simply removed the old ones, adjusted the new ones to be comparable with the set length of the ones removed, drove it without problem until settled and then aligned the thing.
Although I have never tried it, my understanding is that even if the car had not fully settled the alignment shop should still be able to get toe in the correct range at the false height given the adjustment range possible. That they cannot even do this is most suspect.
As I posted earlier, try the eyeball method I suggested earlier to confirm which way the wheels are tending to be excessively out of toe. You cannot align the car that way but in a case of excessively erroneous toe you should be able to see which way they are in fault.
If you have to put the car on the alignment rig without getting it settled then the logical thing to do would be to set it with more tow in than normal, and then check the value after the car has settled and adjust as appropriate at that time. If the shop has the capability to pull the car down as shown in the extract Eric posted so much the better. However I suspect there is something else going on whatever it may be.
When I did my track rod ends a few years ago I simply removed the old ones, adjusted the new ones to be comparable with the set length of the ones removed, drove it without problem until settled and then aligned the thing.
