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jimvw57 has reported a post.
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Forum: smart General Discussion
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Posted by: InjuredAgain
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Post: Crazy Brabus Steering questionnice! a battle about something other than ed mileage...
Forum: smart General Discussion
Assigned Moderators: N/A
Posted by: InjuredAgain
Original Content:
For the various reasons I've consistently been saying. That amount of toe-in is not typically called for and results in a vehicle that is reluctant to turn from straight ahead, results in mid-corner understeer, and causes tire wear. These are all issues reported by various owners here.Why do you have a problem with the oem alignment settings?
Here's a couple of paragraphs from this TireRack article: https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=4
Excessive toe settings often bring with them drivability problems, especially during heavy rain. This is because the daily pounding of tractor trailers on many highways leave ruts that fill with water. Since excessive toe means that each tire is pointed in a direction other than straight ahead, when the vehicle encounters a puddle that causes only one tire to lose some of its grip, the other tire's toe setting will push (excessive toe-in) or pull (excessive toe-out) the vehicle to the side. This may make the vehicle feel unsettled and very "nervous."
Additionally the vehicle's toe is one of the most critical alignment settings relative to tire wear. A toe setting that is just a little off its appropriate setting can make a huge difference in their wear. Consider that if the toe setting is just 1/16-inch off of its appropriate setting, each tire on that axle will scrub almost seven feet sideways every mile! Extend it out and you'll discover that rather than running parallel to each other, the front tires will scrub over 1/4-mile sideways during every 100 miles of driving! Incorrect toe will rob you of tire life.
Ideally, you want near zero dynamic toe up front, which for a RWD vehicle means some slight amount of static toe-in, up to 1/16" at each front tire. The OEM specification calls for nearly 1/4" of static toe.
For high performance cars and driving, the order you would change things to alter handling behavior are springs/shocks, wheels/tire, sway bars, alignment, and tire pressures. I get that alignment is down on the list but unless you're going to change the other, more difficult and more expensive things, starting from the bottom of that list means doing the least expensive things first, and alignments are often a neglected part of maintenance. On a forum dedicated to handling-oriented cars, like a Miata, and alignments are one of the first things suggested and often discussed.
