Diy tracking

[WiNgNuTz]

I recall seeing a thread somewhere that outlined exactly how to check the tracking on the front wheels at home, as nowhere locally has a ramp they can get my car on apparently. Iirc, the method used a couple of lengths of batten tied to the wheels...

Rep available for any ACTUAL help.

[Matt]

Cully wrote the guide iirc
And also Poodle is very good at it

[Toms306]

I think Rowell used the Pikey method of tieing battens to the wheels, but that doesn't really work against the rears though so probably end up crabbing lol. Cully done a writeup of a less pikey way on his Bianca thread iirc.

[Matt]

http://306oc.co.uk/forum/thread-13188-pa...t=Tracking

Cullys guide thingy

[WiNgNuTz]

Sweet, nice one guys.

[Eeyore]

Yeh i had this problem where no where could track my car. What i did was cable tie a length of wood to each wheel and then put a tape measure on each end. Keep them taught and its probably a few mm out. A few turns of one side (actually adjust both sides to keep the steering aligned!) and it should even out!

It took all of about 20 minutes and drives fine now

[Poodle]

The pikey method can end up with crabbing or steering wheel out of alignment, better off using a plumbline each side - set it equidistant from front and rear wheel centres, then measure front and rear edges of the rim to that. Don't measure from the tyre as different tyres will sit differently on the rim and any slight run out or bulge will give you skewed readings.

[WiNgNuTz]

Fair shout, thanks for all the advice guys, might get round to this at some point soon....had the o/s/f tyre changed today after i realised yesterday that it was completely bald on the inside, but with a good 3mm tread left on the outside!

[Poodle]

Just looked at Cully's guide, exactly that lol. Think that needs hooking out and stickying doesn't it?

[WiNgNuTz]

Probably not a bad shout actually dude...I'll suggest it to him if he doesn't see this thread first.

[Eeyore]

Ive just had my tyres changed so need to retrack mine :/

[pug306driver]

I need to replace a bad t/r/e so will replace both ( about a fiver each from local motor factor ) and am in the process of making a basic ( basic ) tracking tool.

ours toes out from memory 1mm +/_ 1/2 a mm............so will "zero" gauge on front and compare with the rear of the front wheels..........thanks for the info as to pitch for tre threads..........

all it will be is a long unbendy tube with arms ( adjustable ) and "bolts" ( one fixed ) to "set" and "fix" the distance tween rims, then compare against the other side.......difference tween front of wheel and rear of wheels........basic so can take to "garare" for accurate setting without scrubbing the tyres away on the journey.......

the car rolls very easily with no pronounced "sharp feathering " of the tyre tread so must be somewhere near ok, even with the bad tre

will check and balance number of exposed tr threads as steering wheel is slightly off set to the bad tre side......hope I don't have to reposition the steering wheel.....

do you recomend setting the wheels parallel?? phase 3, 2 litre estate hdi 1999/2000 with power steering

[Toms306]

You want very slight toe in, not dead parallel. If you're going to the garage anyway though, I wouldn't bother with a home made tool, just measure the TRE before you take it off, put new one in same length. You wont scrub the tyre on the way to the garage unless its very visibly wrong lol.

[Poodle]

Dead parallel is fine, they're set up with toe-in from the factory for what is effectively health and safety reasons - to promote understeer when you push too hard into a corner. As above regarding doing it yourself though, if you're careful doing it the chances are you'll be able to do it just as well as the garage will, doing half the job is just a waste of time imo.

[Rippthrough]

They're set up with a little toe in as it stops the front wandering over broken roads. The non-PAs cars are set with toe out as it makes it easier to steer without the power assistance. Personal preference is for a little toe out to help the turn in and put up with the slight wandering over broken surfaces, but anywhere from +-1.5mm of toe is fine.

[Poodle]

Ah yeah, forgot about the stability bit, my bad. It does cause a tendency to understeer though, right..?

[Rippthrough]

A little on slower, tighter bends, can give you a knats more grip than toe out on long, fast sweepers though.