Adjusting Front Toe

[Chucky12012]

It has been recommended to me that I adjust my toe out on in the front on the days I autocross since it is easy to do and will help with turn in. I'm all for adjusting it then returning the toe setting to normal after the events, but I'd be lying if I said I knew how to adjust the toe up front. Can anyone help me? Thanks!

[jd42]

Toe is adjusted the same way as most cars by lengthening or shortening the tie rods. There is a jam nut on each tie rod that needs to be loosened, then the threaded portion of the tie rod is turned to adjust.

The difficult part is how you are going to easily measure toe each time you want to make an adjustment. You'll need some sort of reference parallel to the car's center line. When I align my car, I set up strings and measure the distance to the front and rear edges of the rim. The strings take some time to get into place, as they must be parallel to each other and to the center line of the car.

I suppose you could try counting the number of tie rod turns you make on each side, then reverse that amount when you want to restore your old settings. This should be close, but I doubt the results will be good without making a measurement to a reference line.

[Thewheelman]

I wouldn't worry about measuring off of the car's center line for the occasional autocross. What most guys in my region do is change the toe of only the driver's side wheel, and then adjust it back to spec after the event. It's easy to do, and all you really have to do is pull the driver's side up on a ramp made from a couple of 2x8s fastened one on top of the other. That should give you plenty of access to the tie rod. To make sure that your street alignment stays within spec after the event, I'd invest in some toe plates (like these: http://www.saferacer.com/longacre-toe-plat...l?productid=486). Those will allow you to measure your toe before adjusting, and set the amount of toe out for the event, and then set your toe back to your street settings before you leave.

[jd42]

QUOTE (Chris @ May 13 2009, 09:46 AM)

What most guys in my region do is change the toe of only the driver's side wheel, and then adjust it back to spec after the event.[/b]

That's a good suggestion. If you are only changing one side, you can base the adjustment on total toe instead of individual toe, which is a lot easier to measure (especially with the toe plate you linked).

[Chucky12012]

Those are good ideas of tracking the adjustment. I had been told to just make a full turn and then make a full turn back when done. The toe plates aren't very expensive and would only make the whole thing more accurate. This might sound stupid, but where is the jam nut and where do I adjust the tie rod at? Do you know what size the threads are? Thanks!

[jd42]

QUOTE (Chucky12 @ May 13 2009, 11:30 AM)

This might sound stupid, but where is the jam nut and where do I adjust the tie rod at?[/b]

The tie rod connects to the rear side of the wheel carrier. If you reach behind the tire you can get to the adjustments without even raising the car (though it is a bit tricky). If I remember the sizes correctly, the jam nut is 21mm and the tie rod is 13mm. There is a flat portion on the tie rod end for a 17mm wrench to hold the housing in place when tightening/loosening the jam nut.

The factory service manual has a diagram with the tie rod location:
Wheel Alignment

[Chucky12012]

That's great info, thanks!