RxFred

I'm just done installing camber plates on my gsl-se and I am ready for an alignment. I'm looking for specs on the toe tolerances. because i want to give it the most toe possible while staying in factory tolerances.

I've search and did not find the official number, It does not seem to be in my 1985 mazda shop manual (the mazda one) either.

Thanks

Kentetsu

Why do you want maximum toe in?

RxFred

Because it will be a track car and I am ready to cacrifice my front tires.

jgrewe

iTrader: (1)

If its a track car you want them as close to straight ahead as you can get.

Toe in will scrub speed, toe out will make the car hunt for the walls while it scrubs speed.

Sgt.Stinkfist

iTrader: (6)

toe in makes the car more stable in a strait line w/ a little more effort to turn, and toe out will make the car more touchy/darty over all, but will turn in better. ide suggest starting w/ factory specs for the toe angle and play w/ it from there...of course it will be a lot easier/cheaper if you had easy access to an alignment rack. and keep in mind that if your going to be continually playing w/ your camber, your also going to be inadvertantly changing you toe angles

RxFred

I know changing the camber will change the toe, so i will set a good negative camber and not touch the camber plates anymore. what I do is solosprint. What I need is toe in. Toe in will make the car turn more but it will be more difficult to make it turn. Toe out makes it easier to change direction but the car will not turn as much.

does anyone know the mazda recommended toe settings or will i just get personnal preferences / mistakes on how to align a rx7?

ray green

iTrader: (14)

If you do the toe adjustment last, you don't need a number. There's a better way. I used this method after taking it to a shop for a $50 total check with the specs. They said it was aligned, I didn't like the way it strayed to the left out on the highway, a small point, but I wanted better.

Here's how:

Tools: Jack, open end wrench (19 mm, I think it is) and a vise grip or small monkey wrench. Each of these things are tools worth having anyway.

Costs: 1 string.

Time: You need to jack the car up and loosen the inner and outer tie rod end locking nuts. If you have the right tools (ie wrenches) this is a pretty easy process. Then put the car down on a flat level surface and stretch the string around the car so that it touches the outside edge of both the front and back tires on both their leading and trailing edges. Then set your steering wheel so it is pointed straight ahead.

If the string doesn't touch the leading and trailing edges of both front tires, you need to adjust the toe in.

Adjust the tie rods by turning them with a vice grip or small monkey wrench until they do line up. (Turning the tie rod makes them longer, to increase toe in, or shorter, to increase toe out.

Once you get them adjusted so the steering wheel is pointed straight ahead and the string is just touching at both the front and rear edges of the front tires, you can add just a bit of toe in, about 1/16-1/8 inch on each side.

Now the car runs true on the morning commute.

Sgt.Stinkfist

iTrader: (6)

lucky for me i can take any of my cars to work, and give my self a free alignment using an $80,000 Hunter alignment rack

jgrewe

iTrader: (1)

This is a good start but he forgets to take into account the front and rear track are different. This will give you readings that are a little off. You can fix this by making some wood spacers that you put in between the tire and string that split the track difference(1/2 the difference on each side) IIRC the rear is a little narrower than the front.

You can also do the string trick with 4 jack stands and make two parrallel lines to measure from. Once you know your car you can get just as good as a high dollar machine and do it faster.

ray green

iTrader: (14)

I thought about using the jacks, but then it occurred to me that the car needs to be going straight when it is on the ground, not when it's the air.

I'm not sure about what you mean by "the front and rear track are different" but if they are, how are they different? And how would this influence my suggestion that it is best to have your wheels pointing straight ahead when they are on the ground?

Again, you can pay a rocket scientist or an "expert" with an expensive piece of alignment machinery to align your car and they will absolutely guarantee that it is perfectly aligned because they said so, even if the car still drifts from driving straight down the highway.

This is a test I am sure most of you have tried, find a nice flat piece of highway, take your hands off the wheel and see how far you go before you need to step back in. When I did it after my recent $50 alignment, it still drifted to the left.

Or you can do it yourself with the simple method outlined above. You don't even need to jack the car up - you can reach in, loosen the locking nuts and adjust the toe in with the wheels on the ground.

Then take it out and try it. If you don't like what you get, repeat the process until you get what you want. It takes about 20 minutes start to finish, less time than a trip to the garage, much less than the wait. And it's free.

Or you can philosophize and rely on experts to do what used to be a very simple job. You can "Make something idiot proof and someone will build a better idiot".

Ray

IanS

iTrader: (4)

I always thought that the alignment guys align the car for a crown, and since roads vary on how much crown there is, sometimes it pulls a lil to the left and sometimes it doesnt.

RXnos1200

iTrader: (24)

On my alignment report for a 1985 RX7;

Toe min. max.

0*00' - 0*15'



Total 0*00' - 0*30'

Info from a Hunter alignment machine at our shop.

Sgt.Stinkfist

iTrader: (6)

^RXnos, for fun one day you should look through the list of vehicles your hunter can do. our program has specs for a bunch of odd ball cars, such as every nissan skyline from 1968-2002, every rotary mazda from the R100 to the JC Cosmo, the toyota Crown... and the list goes on. maybe we have a international program

Kentetsu

Well, I've never heard of a racer desiring more toe in before, but maybe you know a bit more about alignement than I do. I was thinking that you should probably post your question in the Race section. You'll probably get more "qualified" advice there. Good luck...

RXnos1200

iTrader: (24)

The machine at our shops seems to cover alot of cars. I'll take a better look one day and check it all out.

RxFred

Kenetsu, you make me doubt,

I spoke with the local racing guru here and he told me to get a little toe in.
I'll do more research...

Kentetsu

Well, the only reason I'm asking is due to my own personal experiences. After fighting understeer in the corners during autocrosses, I slightly reduced the amount of toe in, and it made all the difference. Excessive toe in will make a great highway cruiser, but at the cost of "lively" performance. Good luck...