[moon111]

A recent battle with a curb left me with a slightly bent steering arm. A difficult fix for a backyard mechanic with no time. Nothing appears like like it's going to snap or anything so my thinking was to just adjust the alignment. Could feel a difference when I get past 100kms/hr. A co-worker told me to tape measure the middle thread on the front and rear of the tires to get a ballpark figure. Now bending the steering arm located on the back could only pull that in tighter, increasing toe-out? Correct? But when I read the difference it was 1 1/8" toe-in. (Sorry, the tape I grabbed didn't have metric.) I was told toe-in will make it more stable driving and cause a little more wear. I adjusted so there was a slight toe-out as suggested to me. I didn't notice any difference in corners, but the car actually felt faster on acceleration from a stop. Maybe it's just in my head.
Any suggestions?

[duckcanuck]

Whoa! Did you really mean "1 1/8 inch", or did you mean to type "1/8 inch".

If it really was 1 1/8 toed-in, you would notice an enormous difference.

On the other hand, if it was 1/8 toed-in, and you went to a slight toe-out you would probably just notice a little less on-centre stability. It would be free-er, but probably not very noticeable.

BTW, front-wheel drive cars are set up with slight toe-out because the drive forces tend to pull the wheels to a neutral (zero toe) condition when driving.

Bob the Duck Canuck

[konafocuswrc]

spec for toe is most likely 0.15", 1 1/8" is way tooo much.

[moon111]

I thought 1 1/8" was a little crazy myself. It's not the type of thing I've ever looked at before. Been driving it and don't notice any difference (stability, cornering, gas mileage, etc.) other then a little better off the line.

[Gabriel]

Make your life simple , make the adjustment so the wheels will be parallel , front of wheels measurement to be the same as back of wheels and you'll be just fine . Or take the car to an alignment shop and have it done front and rear .