Alignment: Description and Operation

Wheel Alignment Angles
Toe is adjustable on the front and rear suspension system. The front toe is adjusted by use of the front tie-rod. The rear toe is adjusted by the use of cam bolts in the lower control arm to the rear crossmember.

Toe

Positive Toe (Toe-In):

Negative Toe (Toe-Out):

The vehicle toe setting:
^ Affects tire wear and directional stability.

Ride Height

NOTE: All ride height measurements are carried out with vehicle empty and 9 liters of fuel in the tank (showroom condition).

Front Ride Height Measurement (Part 1):

Front Ride Height Measurement (Part 2):

Rear Ride Height Measurement (Part 1):

Rear Ride Height Measurement (Part 2):

Wheel Track (Part 1):

Wheel Track (Part 2):

Crabbing (Part 1):

Crabbing (Part 2):

Crabbing is the condition in which the independent rear suspension (IRS) system is not square to the chassis. Heavily crowned roads can give the illusion of crabbing.

Wander
Wander is the tendency of the vehicle to require frequent, random left and right steering wheel corrections to maintain a straight path down a level road.

Shimmy
Shimmy, as observed by the driver, is large, consistent, rotational oscillations of the steering wheel resulting from large, side-to-side (lateral) tire/wheel movements.
Shimmy is usually experienced near 40 miles/hour (64 km/h), and can start or be amplified when the tire contacts pot holes or irregularities in the road surface.

Nibble
Sometimes confused with shimmy, nibble is a condition resulting from tire interaction with various road surfaces and observed by the driver as small rotational oscillations of the steering wheel.

Poor Returnability of the Steering
Poor returnability of the steering is used to describe the poor return of the steering wheel to center after a turn or the steering correction is completed.

Drift/Pull
Pull is a tugging sensation, felt by the hands on the steering wheel, that must be overcome to keep the vehicle going straight.
Drift describes what a vehicle with this condition does with hands off the steering wheel.
^ A vehicle-related drift/pull, on a flat road, will cause a consistent deviation from the straight-ahead path and require constant steering input in the opposite direction to counteract the effect.
^ Drift/pull may be induced by conditions external to the vehicle (i.e., wind, road crown).

Vague On-Center Feel
Vague on-center feel is characterized by little or no build up of turning effort felt in the steering wheel as the wheel is rocked slowly left and right within very small turns around center or straight-ahead (under 20 degrees of steering wheel turn). Efforts may be said to be "flat on center."
^ In the diagnosis of a road ability problem, it is important to understand the difference between wander and vague on-center feel.