Wheels and Tire: Toe-In and Toe-out

Описание: Wheels and Tire: Toe-In and Toe-out

What is toe?

Toe angle is the angle of the wheels when viewed from directly above. If the front of the wheel is pointing in towards the centre line of the car then it is called toe in (positive toe). If the front of the wheel points out towards the outside of the car, then this is called toe out (negative toe). Toe angle is effectively a static setting that steers the wheel in a chosen direction. Toe is most often set evenly side to side; for example, both rear wheels will share the same toe setting as each other and both front wheels will have matching settings. The front and back axle often have different settings to each other though.

How to measure toe

Toe angle can be measured in a few ways. One of the best ways that is highly accurate and provides a reading independently for each wheel and can be performed in your garage or at the circuit is by using a string and line kit. A string and line kit can be set up on the car and squared off with the centre line of the axles. A string is then passed down each side with the kit set properly and a measurement can then be taken from the front and back edges of the rim to the string. The difference in the readings is your toe setting. For example, if the back edge of the rim to the string reads at 67mm and the front edge of the rim to the string reads at 65mm then that wheel has 2mm toe out; as 65mm-67mm=-2mm.

Another technique is to use toe plates. These are very quick and easy to use and are a great tool to carry trackside for fast adjustments between sessions. They do however rely upon you knowing your settings exactly beforehand. This is because the plates tell you the overall difference between the two wheels but they do not tell you what the individual toe is at each wheel. If you already know that your wheels are set to 1mm of toe out each then the plates will read at 2mm toe out overall. Therefore, with even adjustment side to side and the overall reading now saying 3mm toe out overall you know that you now have 1.5mm toe out per wheel. If you do not know your settings then it is quite easy to adjust toe with the plates and set different wheels at different settings which has very negative effects on handling.

The final main method of measuring toe is using a laser alignment system. These vary from hunter systems that are often fixed and calibrated to a situated 4 post ramp down to easy laser trackers that work in a similar way to toe plates but instead of using tape measures, a laser is used against a gauge placed against opposing wheels. The laser displays the overall toe angle of the two wheels. The main issue with laser systems is that if they are not calibrated accurately then they will read incorrect toe settings and there is no simple way of double-checking the settings.

How to adjust toe

Toe adjustment on the front wheels is a straight forward process. The steering arm (or tie rod) can be turned making it shorter or longer in the tie rod end, in turn altering the toe angle of the front wheel.

At the rear, toe adjustment varies for different styles of suspension systems. For many multi-link suspension systems using a rear subframe and suspension arms to mount the hub, an offset adjustment bolt will be mounted to either the subframe or hub. This can be rotated to adjust toe within a set range of adjustment. For trailing arm systems, the trailing arm mounting plate can either contain slots or have them inserted to allow the beam to be adjusted inboard or outboard to set toe. For fixed beam rear axles, adjustment is more difficult. Adjustable shims can be purchased to be inserted behind the bearing which will set toe in fixed increments.

Alternatively, aftermarket adjustable suspension arms can be used that will offer adjustment in the length of the toe arm which will provide a wide range of adjustment and allow fine increments of toe change to be possible at the wheel.

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