alignment always toed in on my truck

[The motor guy]

I know they toe the front tires in slightly to make the truck steer straighter but it messes up my tires! I've had the truck aligned once after the the original alignment but even after 5000 miles I noticed they wear still wearing the outer portion more than the inside portion. I don't hit curbs so I don't think the alignment could get messed up in 5000 miles.

 

[beast3300]

Can you post the alignment print out?

 

[Hokiefyd]

Alignment ranges are very wide. Please post your actual alignment measurements from the last time you had it aligned. This is critical. It's not nearly enough to say the alignment is "good" or "within range". That means very little with the very wide alignment ranges allowed. If your toe really is pretty far "in", your truck probably steers and handles good. You may find that you don't like how it drives if you reduce the toe. Only one way to find out.

Adjust the toe yourself. I fine-tune the toe on all of my vehicles to my liking. Go in very small increments and try to adjust it the same on each side as you go to keep the wheel straight.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Do you take it off road? My jeep is always getting toed in because I take it off road. If it's a 4x4, it's going to have a solid axle and a pretty easy setup.

Measure it by hand and adjust it manually - you'll be able to get it to your liking that way.

 

[The motor guy]

No I don't offroad. I'll see if I can find the alignment sheet.

 

[suspiciousmind]

Just crawl under there with a tape measure and get the lowest reading you can between the sidewalls front of tire, then back. You want about 1/32 less in front. Adjust tie rods as needed.

I do it on my cars and find it quite easy.

 

[The motor guy]

How do they get out of whack? I don't see how the tie rods will adjust themselves going down the road.

 

[CapriRacer]

Even if the alignment has been fixed, the worn tire hasn't. You just can't expect rubber to be added back onto the tire. And any new wear pattern will be on top of what is already there.

So unless you put on new tires, you shouldn't expect the tires to suddenly change to even wear.

Also, there is more to tire wear than just toe. Camber also plays a role (as does caster). And we haven't even discussed akermann.

 

[HerrStig]

Originally Posted By: CapriRacer
Even if the alignment has been fixed, the worn tire hasn't. You just can't expect rubber to be added back onto the tire. And any new wear pattern will be on top of what is already there.

So unless you put on new tires, you shouldn't expect the tires to suddenly change to even wear.

Also, there is more to tire wear than just toe. Camber also plays a role (as does caster). And we haven't even discussed akermann.
Or Mr. Pitman.

 

[The motor guy]

Well I got new tires cause the old ones were shot. They adjusted the toe and the camber.

 

[CapriRacer]

Originally Posted By: motor_oil_madman
Well I got new tires cause the old ones were shot. They adjusted the toe and the camber.


Has that fixed the problem?

 

[The motor guy]

Beats me.I won't be able to tell until the tires start to wear. I was just posting an update. This truck as always gone straight as an arrow and didn't matter if the alignment was off or not.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Do you have an alignment sheet from the latest alignment that you can post?

 

[Cardenio327]

If there are high speed cloverleaf expressway interchanges in your area they will cause a similar wear pattern to excessive toe-in.

Also, if you like to take corners and curves on "two wheels", the same affect will happen.

 

[The motor guy]

Well I have about 5000 miles on these tires now and they are wearing the same way. If you put the wheels straight you can actually see them toed in. It's always the passenger front tire that's the worst. I'm thinking about eye balling it and just making them straight myself. I have a buddy that has a dodge truck and he says even if the tires are in alignment according to the specification, they will still wear like that. So that's what he does and his tires wear perfect.

 

[The motor guy]

Originally Posted By: Cardenio327
If there are high speed cloverleaf expressway interchanges in your area they will cause a similar wear pattern to excessive toe-in.

Also, if you like to take corners and curves on "two wheels", the same affect will happen.


I go on a lot of two lane highways/expressways if that's what you mean. Generally drive 60-70mph.

 

[meep]

carry heavy loads in the bed? if the front lifts alot the camber will be different.

is the back axles square/center? could it be pushing the right ft tire under just a touch?

 

[meep]

if nothing else--- that alignment may be what's needed for that truck to handle so well. in that case, you could always have them flipped on the rims at some point to even out the wear... there are plenty of perf cars out there with squat camber that cause gobs of inner tread wear-- and those guys are often SOL.

 

[The motor guy]

Either that or just rotate them every 6000 miles to keep it at a minimum. Maybe i'll convince my buddy to help me adjust the toe one day.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: motor_oil_madman
Well I have about 5000 miles on these tires now and they are wearing the same way. If you put the wheels straight you can actually see them toed in. It's always the passenger front tire that's the worst. I'm thinking about eye balling it and just making them straight myself. I have a buddy that has a dodge truck and he says even if the tires are in alignment according to the specification, they will still wear like that. So that's what he does and his tires wear perfect.


Repeat request for alignment sheet/specs.

Seriously, it's not hard to self-align. I've done it on most of the vehicles I've owned. I don't measure anything; I play with it until the steering just feels right to me, and monitor tire wear over time. This means that I'll slide under the car five or six times over the course of a week or two to get it just how I want it.

Right now, I have both vehicles set up pretty toe-neutral in the front. It's not so loose that they wander on the road, but it's also not so tight that the tires scrub as they roll. Excellent fuel economy and near perfect tire wear. I have had them toed-in just a bit more in the past, but this sacrifices fuel economy and tire wear. It does, however, offer excellent steering response. I keep the rears toed-in just slightly. Not enough to add so much stability that the car feels flat in a turn, but enough so that it doesn't want to come around in an evasive maneuver.

No free lunch either way. So much of how a car behaves has to do with alignment. You can make a Porsche drive like junk and you can make a Corolla dance with much more expensive cars, all with alignment tweaks.