Chaps,

As there's a fair few of you out there far more knowledgeable than me about such things, can you explain symptoms of (on a rwd/irs car)

Front - toe out/in/neutral
Rear - toe out/in/neutral

Cheers very much.

ATB

Simon

[Edited on 14/1/06 by Simon]

Probably best to get a few books on the subject, there is so much to it, but put VERY simply:-

Front. All static setups are designed to give neutral whilst in motion, front wheel drive cars naturally toe in on torque so they are set to toe out statically, and rear drive is the opposite.

Rear. This is much more complicated, on a rear drive IRS, toe out will give more oversteer, and toe in will lessen this, to the point where the limit of traction will be transfered to the front and give understeer.

I know this will be refuted, but as a 2 sentence explanation, it generally hold up.

As the man says...

Just to add to Marks exellent summary, excessive toe out on the front wheels will make the car very twitchy, and will be harder to hold a straight line. The upside is the car will tend to turn in more quickly.

Too much toe in dulls the steering response, making the car slower to turn in, but increasing stability in a straightline.

Toe out on the rear of a RWD car is usualy to be avoided, both static toe out and geometry induced toe out (which is how the early Mk2 MR2's got their reputation for swapping ends so viciously).

Cheers chaps

ATB

Simon