What have you done to your Tacoma today? 1st Gen Edition

And yes the lights still shine through fine.

 

oooh teh purdy colours

 

Thanks man, same body style haha. Just some extra letters on the tail gate and a different front end

 

I know. Just referencing the front end

 

That looks excellent. Nicely done. And I think out of the 3 1st gen front ends, retros may look the best on the '95s-'97s.

 

Hadn't realized this was the reason, but yes, I completely agree with you!

 

Thanks guys. I do love the 95-97s but think the other models look great too

 

Tore a CV boot, AND killed a U joint. I swear this truck knows when I get a good paycheck, because it does something like this every time I do.

 

You need some camber to turn into a corner. The inside tire will square up slightly as the turn is made. There is no reason to have 0 camber ever. It does not affect tire wear. You also need some toe to center the car when driving. There is no reason to have 0 toe unless you are in a track car.

 

Other than the "stance-nation" bros, you are the first person to say that. So I'm a bit leery to believe you over the pre-programmed guidelines for alignment machines. I would never say there is "no reason" for either, but a slow mini-truck doesn't seem like a great candidate for a racing alignment. But to each there own I suppose. Any toe in or out will wear a tire faster as you are essentially dragging the contact patch sideways a bit as you move forward and wasting forward momentum in the process. And while such a very little amount of camber probably won't do anything I think I'll go with the pros on that one and keep it ramrod straight. You're a fan of OEM stuff right, what about OEM specifications?

 

Ahh..no.

 

Do you really think i would have anything to do with the queers at "stance-nation"?

There is no reason for 0 toe unless you are doing a track car setup. It is a pure safety and drivability matter. I dont care what about the less than 1% of driving you do off road, the other 99% is going to be on pavement. If your truck never sees a paved road, then go ahead and set 0 everything.

0 toe, or toe out that the alignment report says is perfectly acceptable will cause tram-lining. As you probably dont know, thats where the car is unable to naturally stay in a straight line as it will follow all the imperfections in the driving surface. A small amount of toe-in will self center the car. I personally dial in less than what is recommended as to prevent tire wear. Car manufacturers dont care about your tires, they want the car to be safe for people that are shitty drivers (self straighten)

Then again dont listen to me and my 10+ years experience as a technician. Theres a kid making $9/hour part time at the Firestone you can take your car to that will just do what the screen tells him.

 

Umm, yea

 

I'd sure hope you wouldn't, that's a very fast way to lose credibility. Also "queers" seems a bit extreme and off-topic, those nice folks shouldn't be associated with the "stance" crowd.

I'm just gonna let this one go, some cars come from the factory with a little camber and possibly a bit of toe. While I agree that toe in will help to self center I don't believe it is necessary if your caster is properly set on these trucks. My Toyota truck did not have any toe in from the factory and it drives nicely and doesn't eat tires so I think I'll stay with it.

I do however agree that that seems like a rather extreme toe setting and rather uneven.

I won't as long as you promise not to listen to my 8.756 years experience in clog dancing and pastry decorating. Also I've learned better than to trust a Firestone, I let the nice gentleman who owns his own shop in town do my alignments.

 

I actually agree with @Caligula. The best alignment guy I've ever had work on my trucks also said the numbers should not be a flat zero. He would always give me -.2 camber and .1-.2 toe in. Drove great every time.

 

Since this is a topic atm haha how does this alignment look i don't understand the numbers but i know when i need one -,-

 

Well that escalated quickly lol. I quoted your post because it cracked my ass up. Pastry decorator! Classic
I'll throw in my two pennies.
As a ten year tech with hundreds of alignments under my belt, I agree just a little negative camber is a good thing, mostly for feel when steering into corners, and tie wear is negligable if you keep up on tire rotates. It lessens the feel of understeer. "Feel" is the operative word. 0° is just fine and will cause no tire wear. Anything over a -.3 will start to cause noticeable to extreme tire wear. 0° toe is also just fine and will cause no wear. If you live in Wyoming, like some of us lucky ones, where most roads are not crowned zero toe is great. However most roads are crowned so generally alignments cheat toe to compensate for the uneven surface, lessening the feel of pull to the right caused only by the road. -.05 is close to spec on most vehicles, and a good all around setting. Once again wear is negligible. Anything out of recommend specs will 1) create a harsh and sometimes uncontrollable feeling ride and 2) cause unacceptable tire wear. Even set within or on edges of spec can cause bad wear.
More important is how each side is adjusted in relation to each other. Known as cross angles. If these measurements are outside of spec all sorts of weird shit can occur. Things like tire scrubbing, axle walk, vehicle wander, not tracking good, and strange popping noises lol.
Contrary to @Caligula statement, those specs are given to create BOTH the best possible driving experience AND maximize tire life.
Now keep in mind I use "feel" alot in this because most of it boils down to what a customer thinks their driving experience should feel like. This is my 2¢, take it for what it's worth. I'm just going off experience and the stuff that got me my ASE certs.

 

Here's my alignment sheet. I have aftermarket upper control arms and 285/75/16 tires, hence the caster. Steering feels nice and "solid" with the caster pushed out. This is the alignment spec I've been using for over a year now and there is no noticeable undesirable wear patterns. Rotate tires every 7-10 thousand KM.

 

New tail lights :b

 

looks good