Toe In or Toe Out

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duncan
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Toe In or Toe Out

Post by duncan »

Following on from a discussion I am having on 22B.com I thought it would interesting to gain views of the people here as to what Toe settings they would use on a Sprint based car to assist with turn in at corners and why.

To quote a source:
Most manufacturers recommend a chassis alignment which contains a small amount of toe-in. This will give the best possible stability at speed; the car will not have a tendency to wander. And the small amount of toe actually pre-loads the wheel bearings to make turning more instantaneous. But what does toe-in do to the handling of a race car. As soon as you turn the wheel, the front tires initiate the turn and the rears simply follow. Therefore, what happens at the front wheels will determine how the car responds to the initial steering input. When cornering, the outside tire requires a larger turning radius than the inside tire. In other words, the inside tire has to turn more sharply than the outside tire to get the maximum combined cornering force. With a car that has toe-in, the inside tire is constantly turned in, and it is fighting the outside tire and detracting from the total front cornering power. This reduces the ability of the front end of the vehicle to turn into the corner. However, by having the front wheels set with a small amount of toe-out, the instant you turn the wheel, the action of the inside tire turning more sharply than the outside tire already exists and the car turns into the corner like it is on rails. Once the car gets turned into the corner, then the weight starts to transfer from the inside to the outside, thus minimizing the affect of the inside front tire. Also then the rear tires are contributing to the overall cornering power while the suspension components (springs, shocks, roll-bars) are reacting according to their designs and settings. So if your race car just doest like to turn in, and you feel as though you have to literally throw the car into the turn to get it to turn in, try a small amount of toe-out, rather than the conventional toe-in. You will lose a little amount of straightline stability, but the car will certainly turn in much better.
I run Toe Out and am very happy with it - what about you?

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blacky
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Post by blacky »

Toe out for me as well Dunc, can't remember the exact settings, but could get the info at the weekend, ort maybe I shouldn't if you are going to be my competition :wink:

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duncan
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Post by duncan »

lol - not wanting exact settings :)

Mine are set with Toe Out at Front and rear and I am very happy with its ability to change direction crisply and bite into the corner allowing me to get on the power early :D

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Pike
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Post by Pike »

Toe out or parallel for the Super (track/weather dependant) and always toe out for the golf
2008: VW1 3rd in Class
2009: VW1 3rd in Class
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2012 Ginetta GT5 Challenge/Golf GTI Championship
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323ian
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Post by 323ian »

I run parallel everything on my car.
Best of all worlds then.

James Breadvan
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Post by James Breadvan »

Toe out on the front, toe in on the back.

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Bladerider
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Post by Bladerider »

We used to run masses of toe out (and I means masses - as in degrees !!!) on the Orange,

It was damn right dangerous and frankly did little for the car other than make it want to carry on turning, these days we run a much more grip orientated setup so most of that toe has gone and is now pretty much neutral - but probably still fairly radical compared to your road cars.

I only say this as a warning before anyone gets carried away and thinks the more toe out the better !!!

J.
I have issues !!! :ack2:....I used to be average, now I reminisce !!!
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duncan
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Post by duncan »

So are you still running some toe-out J?

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Bladerider
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Post by Bladerider »

Maybe !!!

:D :D
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Bladerider
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Post by Bladerider »

Last year,

I used to have this much toe out.........

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.......after I'd had my big toe operated on of course !!!!

:D :D :D [/img]
I have issues !!! :ack2:....I used to be average, now I reminisce !!!
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