Fiesta 03 Zetec Toe Setting?

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Wed 24 Aug 2005 10:42
Fiesta 03 Zetec Toe Setting? - howy868
My Haynes manual quotes a nominal figure of 3.1mm toe-in. This works out at 28’ (nearly 0.5 degrees) on a 15” wheel. That seems quite strange to me when considering that the value for several FWD cars that I’ve previously owned has been 10’ to 15’ toe-out.
Maybe the steering system on the new Fiesta is quite different but I’d like to be certain.
Having access to an optical gauge, I’ve always managed to get long & even pattern life on those other cars.
Any help and techy background on this subject is most welcome.
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Wed 24 Aug 2005 11:54
Fiesta 03 Zetec Toe Setting? - jc
I've always set all my cars to 0 degrees;ie.parallel on both FWD/RWD and never had any problems.
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Wed 24 Aug 2005 13:05
Fiesta 03 Zetec Toe Setting? - howy868
I've just checked the car and the reading is bang-on to the book, so I guess it must be right. But I agree with you that parallel is usually a good start, from a wear point of view, if you don't know the OE measurement. I do wonder if that toe-in is dialed in for some kind of stability advantage - but then Mr Ford doesn't have to pay for the tyres if they wear prematurely!!
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Wed 24 Aug 2005 13:43
Fiesta 03 Zetec Toe Setting? - pug3
My old Alfa 145 had excessive toe-out and scrubbed the inside of the tread. I checked the setting with my local dealer and was told to set it parallel, although I think officially it should have some toe out for the "steering feel".I set the tracking to parallel and did not notice any different feel to the steering but the tyres wore even.I might not have noticed the difference in feel because the Alfa always felt a bit of a barge compared with my 205GTi.
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