I put new tires on my 2002 Tundra and got the front end aligned. I’m trying to understand the printout that I got. For example, for the front left tire it says -
Actual Before Specified Range
-0.1 -0.1 -0.7 0.8 Camber
2.1 2.1 1.2 2.7 Caster
0.06 -0.03 -0.03 0.17 Toe
10.0 11.5 SAI
9.3 12.3 Included Angle
Does “actual” mean after the alignment? And if so, given those numbers, was the alignment really needed?
The right front tires reading was similar, in that the actual & before were the same numbers and the third reading was .08 actual and -0.04 before.
Does this make sense to anyone?
thanks in advance
Note: I wasn’t able to preview my opening post and the lack of formating ability on my part when presenting the numbers may be confusing. But I’m guessing that if you understand alignment language, you’ll figure it out.
sorry & thanks again.
One of the values was out and 2 were on the borderline. Without those changes you were going to wear your tires more rapidly - and probably have gotten uneven wear.
So, yes, it was needed
Thanks for the answer. I wish the readings were easier to comprehend for the average person.
Of course, I could have asked the guy where I had the work done but that would have made too much sense.
I am not in the alignment business so I suppose it is possible that the units are understood by others in the business but otherwise I view the data as incomplete as the units are not labeled.
The first two numbers appear to be measured for each wheel and the last two appear to be the permissible range or specification. I am assuming that the first actual is for the left wheel and the second actual for the right wheel but that is not labeled either.
It is my assumption that the camber, caster and toe numbers are in degrees of angle.
The toe is in degrees as two numbers are provided, one for each wheel. If only one toe number was provided, it would be in inches.
The SAI and included angle are then angle specifications but should show tolerances; are used to determine if there is suspension damage.
Camber, caster and toe fall within specs provided.
Capri Racer, isn’t -0.1 camber between -0.7 and + 0.8?
Isn’t + 2.1 caster between + 1.2 and + 2.7?
- 0.3 degrees toe is on the edge of the permissible toe for the right wheel and + .06 degrees toe is within the spec for the left wheel. On the edge of the limit is still within the specification.
It looks like the camber and caster were already fine, but they got the toe from the edge of the range into the middle of the range. If I remember correctly, toe is the most important of the three for tire wear, so that’s probably worth your money.
I have seen machines that print out a pictorial of the four tires and give the range for each angle and before and after readings. I guess your place wasn’t using one of these.