Tyre & Tech Ltd (No.5222390) Lounge Lizard Design © 2011  Front wheel tracking, why do we need it? The manufacturers aim is for the front wheels to have a zero toe while the car is in motion , this achieved will allow for no lateral scrub on the tyres and minimise excessive wear The elements that suggest any settings are reliant on that type of drive the car has, rear wheel drive will push the relaxed front wheels away from the cars centre line or toe out, front wheel drive since they are pulling the car, will pull the toward the centre line or toe in , both situations are in a driven state so static (not in motion) settings are calculated for the wheels to achieve the desired zero setting. All this done there is still one more element to consider, and that is rolling resistance, tyre contact be it front or rear wheel drive will encounter the resistance of friction and this will inevitability put any setting in dispute. Since all, or any variable cannot possibly be considered finite then the front wheels alignment setting should only be perceived as a suggestion, The front wheel alignment setting is going to be unique to you and your car, the wear pattern and compensation will need to be read, and a good technician should use the tolerances available from the manufacture as fine tuning, As a professional I would never recommend just measuring and adjusting the front wheel alignment because all references for front toe emanates from the rear, if you do not know where the back is, what right do you have to set the front, Nevertheless front wheel alignment must be checked, and I recommend every three months, seems a bit frequent, but the best time to get the alignment checked is when you do not have a problem that way you should not have one. Come and test for free at Tyre & Tech. Why does it go wrong?  Most people believe road humps are responsible, this is not the case in any standard situation, as the car progresses onto the hump the suspension is more than able to absorb it since it’s at a reasonable speed as it is when parking, the kerb only acts as wheel grinding guide to the fact that you are there, The culprit of most geometry misalignment is the compulsory pot hole, 30 miles per hour and 50 Milliseconds freeze the wheels momentum relative to cars the inertia, this will stretch and compress the frames rigidity, all be it in small amounts, the modern car is not as forgiving as cars used to be, so even very small progressive impacts spoil the geometry, the reason for the frequent alignment checks are these small changes, http://www.blackboots.co.uk Wheel toe-in is an angle formed by the centre line of the wheel and the longitudinal axis of the vehicle, looking at the vehicle from above, the sum of the toe values for each wheel gives the total toe value, When the extensions of the wheel centre lines tend to meet in front of the direction of travel of the vehicle, this is known as toe-in A, If, however the lines tend to meet behind the direction of travel of the vehicle, this is known as toe-out B, When the extensions of the wheel centre lines are parallel, this is known as zero position, the toe value is rarely given in degrees by the manufacturer, and it is common to give a value expressed in mm which measures the difference in mm between circles in the wheels the two measurements are taken in front of and behind the wheel hub, at a distance from the ground halfway up the wheel,     Wheel Alignment (Tracking) Wheel misalignment, is an unavoidable consequence of the road condition. In most cases, initially undetectable to the driver. Regular testing should cost you no more than your time. Expect the offer of fine tuning. Since misalignment is a shared angle, it does not generate a pull, the wear does Wheel Toe-In and Toe-Out Theory Summary