Alignment question - individual toe vs total toe vs thrust angle

Got my car (97 Legacy L) back from the alignment shop today. Had a few friends recommend me to this shop after poor experiences elsewhere.

 

Anyway, i paid for a 4 wheel alignment, and the print out has the rear toe angles are 0 degrees, 29' for the left rear and -0 degrees 34' for the right rear, which is outside the specified range of +/- 0 degrees 9'.

 

However, he said it's OK because the total toe in the rear is -0 degrees 4'.

 

The rear thrust angle is -0 degrees 33'.

 

Is this something I bring up and ask to be corrected?

 

Thanks

yes. your thrust angle should be absolute 0, meaning both sides should be precisely equal. IF its not 0, then the rear of the car is not pointed dead straight down the center of the car, and the rest of the alignment had to correct for it.

 

Sometimes it hard to get rear toe on each side to be 0, but it should never be hard to get both sides equal to each other to the .0000000001

 

Get it fixed.

Ok thanks. Just to clarify, i'll experience extra tire wear/decreased gas mileage with my current setup?

 

I have brand new tires that i want to last as long as possible

yes. 0 toe all around for optimal wear and MPGs. but most important of all is each side must be equal to the other or you will have drive-ability concerns.

Ok, i brought it back, and he said the rear toe was all the adjustment he could get. Said when he tried to turn it more, the bolt just reset positions.

 

I'm pretty sure my last alignment (6 months ago) had the rear toes in spec).

^he still should be able to get both sides equal, even if he cant get each side to 0.0 toe

Ok, he gave it another go today.

 

front toe -

L R

0.00 0.01

 

rear toe-

L R

-0.15 -0.13

 

Total rear toe -0.02

Thrust angle -0.14

 

Said he could get the individual toes in range, but then the total toe would be off, which is worse for tire wear than having the thrust angle off

that thrust angle and total toe number is calculated wrong.

 

your thrust angle is -.02 and your total toe is -.28

 

Total toe is the sum of both toe numbers. thrust angle is the difference between them

see my MX-5 alignment

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=206722&d=1429015875

 

Having said this, there is no reason why he couldn't get your rear toe to be -.14 on both sides. you would have a 0 thrust angle. Also a total toe of -.28 is a little much. your rear may be a little snappy with that much toe out.

Here's my print-out. I think i typed it wrong

OK, so above you say your RR toe was -0.13 when really it was +0.13

 

The rear of your car is majorly f'ed up. The rear tires are pointed to the left a good margin. Just look how different the rear camber numbers are too. the thrust angle is still calculated wrong. Again its the difference between the 2 toe measurements. so (-0.15)-0.13 = -0.28

 

you may need your rear subframe shifted to fix this as your car is currently dog tailing down the street as you drive.

Hmm...

 

I did remove the 4 subframe bolts to drop the rear subframe 2-3 inches to repair a hose between the gas tank and filler neck.

 

I don't remember there being any adjustablity, but I remember one of those bolts being stripped after about 75% torque. I ended up loctiting it.

there is no adjustability per se, but it can be shifted around a little to center it out. Its best done on the alignment rack. if you cant get better numbers after that, you have something bent.