Learn the ins and outs of camber, caster, and toe-in this brief but informative video tutorial.
What is wheel alignment, anyway? What are camber, caster, and toe, and how do they affect the way a vehicle behaves on the road? These are pretty simple and straightforward questions, it so happens, with clear and accessible answers. But you might never guess that trying to unravel the convoluted explanations often dished out by repair shops and tire retailers.
We wouldn’t say this video, produced by Learn Engineering, is the most complete tutorial on wheel alignment you’ll ever find. But you won’t find a better one that gets the job done in less than five minutes. Now there is an efficient and respectful use of your valuable time. Also included are basic explanations of a few more complex principles, including camber torque and toe-in on turns. While the video won’t make you an expert, at least you will be able to follow what your mechanic is talking about. And if the concepts featured here stimulate your interest, on the web you can quickly find more in-depth sources, for example here and here. Video follows.
Thanks for this. I’m sure I was double-talked out of several hundred dollars on my last visit to the tire store.
A fairly basic tutorial, basic commonsense on wheelalignment.
Though it shows one of those less than ideal optic aligners mounted on a hoist.
After using a business with mechanical plates that if maintained are bulletproof I have suffered a very poor one. An operator I know and watched do it. But 6 deg of castor turned into around 3.5, 1/2 a deg of neg camber turned into closer to 2 deg and zero toe had toe out. Result 500 miles with brand new tyres showing distress.
This was found after going back to my ‘old fashioned’ wheel aligner. Who has had the audacity to retire on me very recently, and was only 73!