tracking

[s.richardson]

watcha ,looking at my car from the front ,the wheels appear to splay away from the centre, is this an optical conclusion because of curviness of wings or should i get tracking done , when i drive down the road and let go of the wheel 2 things happen, it still goes in straight line and cars coming the other way flash lites and beep horn at me,thankyou,steve

[Matt]

but dont the people going the other way normally do that to say "great car"?????

[Cam]

Get the tracking checked at a tyre place, or measure the distance from the front of the left rim edge to the right and then compare this measurement to the rear of the rims. If it's very different (more than a couple of mm) then get it done!

[s.richardson]

ello cam, ill have to ,such a bloody rip off these days though ,kwik fit £25ish, cheers mucker

[Cam]

Yes, I think I paid about £29.99 from Formula 1 autocentre. Amazing as my replacement steering rack cost less than that!

[les]

It's not always the price either, it's finding a place that knows how to do it!

[Cam]

Yes, at the aforementioned place I had a badly twisted steering gaiter (which I put right when I got home). Tracking set to zero degrees even though I asked for what the manual specifies. And to top it all off the baby apprentice mechanic asked me if it was my 'Volkswagen Beetle'!! AFTER he had set the tracking!

[brixtonmorris]

look for a tyre tracking place which has a tracking divice which you drive on and off pads on the floor. it measures the print of the front tyres and tracking is set using go and no go lights, while adjusting. difficult to find but the only way to go.

[les]

Too many horror stories, where did it all go wrong?

[Chris Morley]

I've found a thread from 13 months ago where we went into wheel alignment. See 'Front Wheel Camber on a 68 saloon' now on the top in 'Mechanical'.

[Cam]

Too many horror stories, where did it all go wrong?

Culture I think. no-one taking pride in their work anymore. They just seem to want to do the bare minimum and take their wages so they can go to the nightclubs.......... no-one seems to care nowadays.

[Willie]

Be very careful!! The Minor wheels toe IN whereas most modern
cars toe OUT. When Kwick Fit set my tracking they set the wheels
to toe OUT. Make very sure that the 'expert' knows what he is
doing!

[Chris Morley]

From the earlier thread we (mainly Ray) established that:

Camber
The Minor is set to 1° positive when it has a rubber jointed top trunnion.
Basically under heavy load (cornering) the rubbers give a bit, and the positive camber cancels out to zero.

Toe-in
Roughly it gives 0.2° between the wheel and the vehicle centreline.
= 0.4° wheel to wheel.

Best to ring your tyre/tracking centre first and establish if they even understand what you're talking about. If you end up speaking to some clueless yoof, ask for the oldest / longest serving employee. If he (or she?) doesn't understand go somewhere else !

Steve R. - your tyre should toe-in. If it has been set up for toe-out your Minor will be directionally stable (as used by F1 racing cars) but it will increase tyre wear.

The way I read it it sounds like you might also have negative camber which is wrong. Positive camber means the top of the wheel is further away from the centre line than the bottom (i.e. the tyres tuck-in). Again,
if you have negative camber it will increase tyre wear.

[Cam]

They set mine to 0° apparently they set EVERYTHING to 0°!!!!!! FWD, RWD or 4WD!!

Amazing!!

[Peetee]

They set mine to 0° apparently they set EVERYTHING to 0°!!!!!! FWD, RWD or 4WD!!

Company policy old chap. That way you come back for a new set of tyres sooner rather than later