Checked Alignment: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

[omgwtfbyobbq]

That's odd considering they are both front wheel drive. I have yet to see a car with a toe-out spec. Usually 0.00 to 0.15 deg. in.
FWD can get away with 0.00 because the wheels are pulled forward under load. I guess it could go either way though depending on front or rear mount steering rack. As far as gross amounts of movement, check out a Honda Civic (at least up to mid 2000s) doing a hard stop from 5 MPH. Probably an inch of movement in the wheel well, maybe more.
Edit: I stand corrected. Looks like 1984 specs -0.25 degree toe-out and 1985 is 0.00.

RWD usually specs a little more toe-in as the vehicle essentially "driving through" the front wheels, and they are following causing a small amount of toe-out under load. Mercedes requires the use of a spring-loaded toe bar that pushes the front wheels out during the alignment.

IIRC, smaller cars spec more toe-out because of the vehicle weight relative to passenger weight. 200-400lbs of people in the front seats of an 1800lb fwd vehicle will induce more deflection/toe-in than in a 2800lb fwd vehicle.

http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?4350264

 

[100thMonkey]

So 100th, you're mounting staggered 19's - which tires?

I went with the Michelin Primacy MXM4 after looking through some of the ratings on tire rack and after some feedback from TMC. Bill's explanations have helped a lot. I figure I should get less inside wear since the 19's will be more conforming, and an actual 45,000 mile warranty will be nice! No warranty on OEM's! for now I'm going with the same width front and back, so not staggered. I have an extra set of 21" turbine wheels I may keep around to put on the rear for fun in the dry summer months.

 

[linkster]

between my gray 21's, my silver 21 staggereds, my 20's with 245/40-20 are quickly becoming my favorite overall cost, handling, and visual compromise combination.

 

[lolachampcar]

Ok, fess up...

What are those (beautiful) rims and where did you get them? Sizes, offsets, cost????

 

[Gizmotoy]

between my gray 21's, my silver 21 staggereds, my 20's with 245/40-20 are quickly becoming my favorite overall cost, handling, and visual compromise combination.

I like those a lot more than the stock turbine/cyclone wheels. I think its the openness of them. What are they, I haven't seen them before? Custom center cap? They're a little chunky, so probably not forged, and thus, relatively affordable I hope.

More pics, please!

 

[redi]

I too prefer these over my staggered 21" P+ wheels.

If you could post more info, that would be great.

 

[lolachampcar]

McFly??? Where are you??? We need info here.

 

[Gizmotoy]

McFly??? Where are you??? We need info here.

Wow, you really like them. It's only been 5 minutes and already this impatient. :biggrin:

 

[lolachampcar]

You need to understand. Linkster responds to abuse (of the friendly kind)

Update:
Take no pity on him Giz. I just got my chain yanked via email.... He's out there. He is just playing hard to get.

 

[Gizmotoy]

You're right. TMC is tattling on him: "linkster is online"

Perhaps a paging system is in order?

 

[lolachampcar]

I wonder why the ride height on his car is so freakishly high. It looks like it is wearing waders. Whatchathink Giz?


Here kitty kitty kitty.

 

[Gizmotoy]

Well, it's the angle, was raised for parking, or it has coils, I guess.

 

[linkster]

They are 20 x 8.5" Ronal R51's from TunerShop. I had them "cut" with a 40mm offset. However, they couldn't supply me with the correct lug nuts so I ended up using Gorilla's. You can run a "baby" tire stagger with 255/40-20's out back if you wish. They sure aren't the lightest nor strongest but it's the closest I could get to some semblance of an OEM "style" wheel in a 20.

 

[lolachampcar]

They are very attractive rims!! Nice job.

 

[DIL]

Linkster. You messing with us? C'mon man!

 

[bareyb]

Linkster. You messing with us? C'mon man!

Here they are. Not a bad price for what you get: Tunershop - Wheels - 20 inches - RONAL R51 - tuning - german wheels and tires - spacers - coilovers

 

[lolachampcar]

They are nice. I was just hoping for 10" rears and 9" fronts. The 20" rims are only available in 8.5" width.

 

[lolachampcar]

Link,

Sorry about that. Somehow I missed the new post in the thread.

.6 is a bit of a spread across the car. My first MS had about .6 difference front and rear. I changed out the rear links to reduce overall camber but did not bother to try to correct the cross camber issue.

This latest set of parts are increased from 0.210" to 0.250" longer than stock which should result in removing 1.2 degree instead of 1.0. I believe there is sufficient toe adjustment to allow for this little bit more but will not know until I try them on a few cars. I had not planned on penning longer toe links as I really did not want to get outside of Tesla's original design envelope; my thoughts being that setting an air car to a coil car's camber settings was still in keeping with Tesla's original design package.

 

[DIL]

Do you guys think 20" Vossen CVT's would look good? These just came out recently.

 

[Gizmotoy]

Do you guys think 20" Vossen CVT's would look good? These just came out recently.

Looks like a cross between a traditionally-spoked wheel and the Model S's turbine style. I like them. Someone should chop them onto an S photo to see what they look like.

Directional, though? Kind of a downer. Not sure I want to limit rotation options, though I guess if they were all spinning backwards you wouldn't really notice.