The magnet securely holds the end of the tape measure in place on the opposite side of the axle. You then just get the tape measure taut and take your reading.
I’m not sure exactly what’s “right” here. As long as you’re consistent, it probably doesn’t matter. I used the outside edge of the bar and the furthest point on the bar to measure. You probably should not use different corners of the toe bar. In this photo, the vehicle is to the right, and I’m looking at the “top” marks on the tape measure.
The provided tape measures have every single 1/16″ clearly marked, which is fantastic. I downloaded a fractions calculator app for my phone, and that made the job of calculating the toe insanely easy.
Take measurement at front of bar (eg: 70 2/16)
Take measurement at rear of bar (eg: 70 6/16)
Subtract front measurement from rear measurement (70 2/16 – 70 6/16)
Result is your toe: -4/16 (or -1/4″)
If you do it this way every time, positive numbers mean toe OUT and negative numbers mean toe IN.
Lastly, be aware of the limitations of your suspension setup. If you have sloppy OEM rubber bushings everywhere with lots of miles on them, chasing perfection at the 1/16″ level is a waste of your time. Your suspension deflection due to loading is likely more significant than that.
In my case, with rod ends and completely solid mounts just about everywhere, trying to get to the 16th of an inch is more meaningful.
However, in the end, also be cognizant of your driving ability and your tires and dampers. Is a difference of 1/8″ of toe within your driving ability to understand and drive around? What does 0.1 degree of camber mean for your suspension? Does your suspension have a lot of bump/camber/dynamic steer, or not? If it does have a lot, will it steer/change in a “good” direction?
And, quite lastly — if the car drives like a scared deer pumped full of methamphetamine, you might want to consider different alignment settings, even if the numbers do look good.
Camber? Check.
Toe? Check.
Caster? Can’t really adjust that on the front of the SC300. Check.
What’s next?
FREAKING LASERS.
No, these lasers don’t go on the heads of the sharks. Mini-me is nowhere to be found. These lasers are used to measure the thrust angle of the suspension. What’s that? Remember how you measured the front axle to set the front toe, and then measured the rear axle to set the rear toe? Let’s look at some examples of zero front and rear toe:
/ /
\ \
This is zero toe, front, and rear. This car drives in circles with the steering wheel pointed straight.
/ /
/ /
This is also zero toe. This car drives like a crab walks.
The thrust is the angle between the axles.
So, how does this system work? With FREAKING LASERS!
17 comments
palate / palette / pallet. Your “palate” is the roof of your mouth, and by extension, your sense of taste. A “palette” is the flat board an artist mixes paint on (or by extension, a range of colors). A “pallet” is either a bed (now rare) or a flat platform onto which goods are loaded.May 30, 2016
palate / palette / pallet | Common Errors in English Usage and …
brians.wsu.edu › 2016/05/30 › palate-palette-pallet
loaded
It’s funny – I looked at the spelling several times and was questioning it in my mind and didn’t bother to look it up. Thanks – I will go fix it 🙂
A fantastic article overall, too many years doing newspaper and yearbook edits make me notice things like that. Can’t wait to see the car driven in anger.
@DedBull I am always down for constructive/useful criticism. Good eye and thanks for catching it.
Next event is hopefully September 11th!
I really want this for Christmas!
@mike it’s frustrating at first but now that I am learning how to do everything it’s becoming more enjoyable. Especially now that it’s all dialed in. I have probably re-done the same thing three or four times, and I probably have a few more re-dos still to go.
Any chance of a full list of part numbers?
@atomic I added part numbers to the very last page just now. Good idea and thanks for asking for it.
I love this! Thanks for sharing.
Very impressive set-up. A question regarding the weight in the driver’s seat: for when you are corner weighing the vehicle, why not put some weight on the floor where your feet will be? You are clearly going to great lengths to maximize a lot of the systems on this car, so why not go this extra mile? Put a bathroom scale on the floor as far forward as the pedals/bulkhead will allow, sit in your normal driving position and read the scale to determine how much of your weight is not on your seat. Then, you can put some weight on the floor and put the rest in the seat. Necessary? No, but it’s more accurate than putting all of the weight in the seat. Just a suggestion.
@banfstc you are correct. I had sent that picture to a buddy who does drag car chassis set up (Menscer Motorsports) and he more or less immediately made the same comment. Since that photo I have been putting one of the 45# plates on the floor just in front of the seat. Ideally I need to get additional small weights to do as you suggest — “lay” my weight out more realistically where it goes. That being said, my guess is that my feet by the pedals weigh on the order of 20# at most as I sit pretty deep in the seat. I’d be curious to see what moving 20# from the seat to the pedal box area will do to the corner weights. At some point I’ll report back on that for sure!
Only half kidding. I am local and setting up my Lotus Esprit for track day fun. Adding lots of adjust ability to the suspension.
Would you let me come by and guide me while I corner weight and align the car with your awesome gear?
Happy to pay for the privilege. I realize it would probably take much of a day and it is a big ask.
If you use Facebook, send me a message. Happy to talk about it. One requirement is that your car needs to be 5-lug. If it’s not, it won’t work (I only have the 5-lug plate). If you don’t use Facebook you can email me using my full name (Erik M Jacobs) to Gmail
I’m always so confused by the enormous amount of time and money spent on this car. At this point, you’ve spent so much money on everything from overkill wiring to now pro-level alignment gear, you could have just bought a better starting point that didn’t need all this work. You’d also have more time behind the wheel where most of your lap time will come from. It’s a very thorough and impressive build, but it just doesn’t seem like the wisest route to a lap time.
@hayes
The journey is not about the destination.
I could have bought an MX5 global cup car. I could have bought a used TA2. I could’ve bought a used Porsche or sorted PCA or other race car. This is a horrifically expensive build.
Why? Why not?
I wouldn’t have learned anything about wiring, fabrication, or building cars. I wouldn’t have had any of the experiences I’ve had in the building of it.
Realizing your dream isn’t always about the end result. Sometimes it’s about the things that go into realizing the dream. Sometimes the dream itself loses its importance along the way, and it becomes all about the way and not the dream.
If I had a dollar for every time I wanted to set this car on fire and give up, I’d have lots of dollars. You don’t see the heartbreak or the misery parts on MotoIQ. You get the happy bits at the end of figuring it out. Sometimes you see the un-fun things, but it would be really quite boring.
I’m not much for the whole #builtnotbought movement, but there’s something to it. I often wish I could just send the car somewhere, stroke a check, and have it be a GT4-like end product.
But that’s not what’s happened. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.
So if I have a welded diff, this doesn’t work, right?
@nikita yeah it would be nearly impossible to get the lugs lined up so that the hub stands would both be vertical. You definitely need a diff that has SOME level of independent movement, or you would need to come up with an alternate mounting stand where you could attach something to the hub and then be able to rotate the actual stand to be in the proper orientation. It would be….. hard.