But first, and for no other reason than we’re feeling rather pleased with ourselves. In our workshop this week not one, not two, but three Ford GTs. All in for re-alignment, all relatively straightforward if you have the latest Hunter Hawkeye alignment equipment and of course, my son Damien’s experience with high performance cars.
Anyway, back to my original subject matter, Tracking, do you really know what it means?, well the answer is technically no, not if you refer to the sometimes complex combination of steering and suspension settings that control your car’s handling and steering characteristics as “tracking”.
Tracking is a generic term covering all the settings that determine a vehicle’s road behaviour. So to tell us that “there’s something wrong with the old jam jar, must be the tracking” is in fact only part of the story, so to help you understand what should properly be called ALIGNMENT, here’s a brief guide to the principal elements that are involved in the alignment of a car.
Camber The angle from the upright, to which the wheel is positioned when viewed from the front. Positive camber is where the top of the wheel leans away from the car. Negative camber is where the top of the wheel leans towards the car.
Caster Caster is the amount of tilt, viewed from the side, of the steering axis of the vehicle, either to the reaar(positive caster) or forward (negative caster). Negative caster is rarely used. High positive caster will make the steering feel heavier, but improves stability at higher speeds. Hence shopmobiles like the Fiesta or Clio have little positive caster to lighten the steering, whilst motorway expresses such as 7 series Beemers or S class Mercs will have high positive caster.
Toe Toe is the amount of variation from the parallel of front or rear wheels from the centre line of the vehicle. Therefore, if the leading edge of the axle pair of wheels are closer to the centre line of the vehicle, it is said to “toe in”, if they the leading edges are further apert from the centre line, they “toe out”.
Thrust Angle Sometimes found in specialist gentlemen’s DVDs, but in this instance refers to the angle between which the rear wheels are pointing and the centre line of the car. Consequently, if the angle is not zero, the front and rear wheels will be pointing in differing directions, so the car will “crab”. Four wheel alignment systems will detect this fault, which can be adjusted out, if the vehicle has been designed with rear toe adjustment. However if the car is non-adjustable, sophisticated alignment systems such as the Hunter Hawkeye equipment we use, can compensate for this to ensure that the vehicle is driving true.
Set Back Again possible connotations to the love life of some of you, but in fact is when the front edge of one wheel is set further back than the other front wheel with reference to the front line of the vehicle, thus causing the steering wheel to deviate from the “centred” position. Only four wheel alignment systems will detect this problem, as reference to the rear wheels is required to measure the amount of set back.
There, to quote a small, furry mammal of Cyrillic origins, simples, well actually not. All of the above components that measure and quantify the alignment of a vehicle need to be measured in precise values, and generally, the more sophisticated the vehicle, the more precise the measurement of these values needs to be. Hence the need for expert alignment and not just tracking.
Coming soon, The Meaning of Life explained in terms of Quantum Physics in five easy lessons.
Until then, take care.
Daddyskid.
