Altering alignment for mpg

[QDM]

I adjusted the toe in on all 4 wheels of my Swift using a 9' long straight edge made from steel U channel. Just park on a level surface, set the straight edge up on a cinder block along side the door so it lines up with the center of the wheels front and back, then check the distance between the straight edge and the front and back of each rim. Quick and easy with nothing to fabricate.

Q

[jandree22]

I just got my 5 realigned today and the toe was the aspect that was off. I did notice that I'm now getting more 'vagueness' on the freeway as explained above. It's too soon to tell, but I think this may have played a significant role in my mileage.

Usually I can get 30-40'ish miles on the trip odo before the fuel gauge on a full tank starts to move from the tippy top. Well just today after the service I filled up, and drove with A/C on and 34psi tires (oem spec) and I'm at 70 miles and the needle is still maxed out. Very premature conclusion, I know... I'm really interested to see what'll happen once I get the tires back up to 40psi and A/C turned off. It'll have to wait though since I'll be out of town all next week, bummer. BUT I'm going to see my bro-in-law in Tulsa and he owns a Prius, should be fun if I can get my hands on it sometime during the week

[MnFocus]

Alignment last Tuesday. Zero toe front & .12 total toe rear ,camber to minimum oem specs . Tracks well. had some decent 'in town' FE this weekend : all cold starts ,all short hoppers= 39.9/39.5 mi (sunday was 49.5/12.2 miles!)

[mrmad]

Though I could be completely wrong here, I was under the impression that you wanted a little toe in when aligned because when the car is in motion, the suspension arms flex a little that while driving, the front wheels are actually neutral.

[skewbe]

Toe in – front: car is stable going straight. Turn in is average
Usable range: 0-1/8th inch
Symptoms of too much adjustment: car has slow twitchiness under braking; feels odd; kills outside edge of tires

Toe out – front: Car turns in well; works pretty well on FF car as they tend to toe-in under load.
Usable range: 0-1/4 inch
Symptoms of too much adjustment: Car is really twitchy under braking; car wanders on straight road; kills inside edge of tire

[Gearshredder]

ive got access to a free tire alignment at my school
usually there arent specs to change caster but it gives specs to change camber and toe and both, if not to specs, I would say, give you worse gas mileage. Its just a turn of a bolt!

[Danronian]

For cars with a lot of camber, such as lowered Hondas, I've always heard adjusting toe to zero will minimize inside tire wear vs. adjusting it to factory specs.

My one friend has done that on his integra, and about 30k miles later with it lowered about 2 inches with no camber adjustment, no tire wear. I'm going to attempt the same on my VX using one of these home made methods since the car has never been aligned though the height was changed about 4 times since I've had it.