I don't recall anyone discussing this maintenance so I thought I would share since I may be one of the highest mileage owners on the board. The screen said the passenger front toe registered a -.28 degrees and the driver rear was at +.16 degrees. The other wheels were at spec for toe, caster and camber. The spec ranges are from .-02 to -.09 degrees for the front and +.03 to +.10 degrees for the rear. My technician reset my alignment with the following measurements to account for a driver's estimated weight: -.06 and +.06 for the driver side front to rear, and +.07 and +.07 for the passenger side front to rear. It was never pulling before, nor was there a shimmy at high speed, but I knew I should get this maintenance performed as I will be passing 50,000 miles in the coming weeks. I don't know if we can extrapolate anything from this data, but I thought it might be interesting to someone.

 

Correction to the last post. The front was set to -.07 degrees after the adjustments.

 

Well. That's interesting. I'd never looked at that before, and it might provide some anecdotal evidence that Honda do not mind much if the owners perceive that the car rotates rather quickly.

0_o

 

Of the data shared, what information tells you that?

 

I'm not sure that I want to start that fight. :-)

If you want a car to turn quickly but you are concerned about stability under threshold braking and keeping a steady line in a corner, you might go slight toe out on the front and slight toe in on the rear.

On the other hand, if you are driving the rear wheels and you want to give your people a bit of a hoot, you might go slight toe out on the rear.

0_o

There's going to be a fight, now.

 

No fight here. So stupid question, what does the toe in or out do to the handling characteristics and why is it different with acceleration and braking? Does it have to do with the weight transfer?

 

It does, yes, in part. :-)

If you're really worried about it, on a front bias high performance car, you'd go negative camber on the front, together with slight toe out. This makes the car turn fast when you intend it.

But if it's also a car that might see radical threshold braking before a turn, you might on the same car with the same alignment go slight toe in on the rear to counteract the hugely increased contact patches on the front when you're in full braking. In these situations with a front bias car, you have so radically increased the front contact patches that if you even *THINK* about turning...you've turned.

 

I did not realize that the toe in/out relationship could have that much of an effect on things. Thanks for the education!