Hopefully someone can shed some light on this. I understand what toe is, either fronts of the wheels are pointing in or out. Saying you have a toe in or out of X degrees makes sense, I imagine this is the angle from straight ahead the wheels are pointed in or out. So if I say my wheels are toed in 3 degrees each wheel is angled 1.5 degrees inward in the front correct? Also, how does that translate to a fractional measurement? I read this on 1bad6t.com "Measure the distance between the extreme front points of the front wheels, then compare this to the distance between the two extreme rear points. The difference between the distances is the amount of toe-in or toe-out of the front wheels" Wouldn't that be dependent on tire diameter?
Usually, people say Total Toe to indicate total combined toe. And yes, wheel/tire size matters when you talk about toe in inches. http://robrobinette.com/ConvertToeInchesToDegrees.htm
Wouldn't that be dependent on tire diameter? No, not if you take the measurement from the same point from the axle centerline. It will be the same if you measure at the tread. I saw Bob Glidden set straight edges on oil cans on both front wheels and measure that way... As far as degrees or inches, it just depends on what setting the machine is in, inches is what someone at home would measure.
With the stock cars, we used a block of wood with a "V" cut into one edge of it - jack up each front tire - put the block close to the front center surface of the tire and set a flat blade screwdriver in the "V" slightly against the tire- slowly turn the tire and the screwdriver would make a nice thin black mark all the way around the tire - do the same to the other tire - drop the car back down then measure in the back and then the front between the marks - set your tie rods until you have your proper toe out - the big problem with street tires is to avoid hitting thread when scribing with a screwdriver
There is nothing better than an actual alignment done correctly. That being said, the redneck way to measure it(that method described above) is how I do it if I have replaced anything in the frontend and it needs to be realigned. One thing I would add is to roll the car back and forth to get the wheels spread out again. When measuring make the front side 1/8" closer(or less) than the rear of the tire. This will get you there without eating your tires. I may be wrong but I cannot think of a situation where you would want toe out, that makes a car dart left and right, scary. Diameter of the tire will make a difference in this type of measurement, because 1/8" on a small diameter tire will be a different degree than a large diameter tire. When they set toe in at the shop they hang the reader on the wheel but no matter the diameter of the wheel the reader is centered to the hub therefore more accurate.
