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Date:         Thu, 24 Sep 2009 12:59:19 -0700
Reply-To:     Rocket J Squirrel <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Rocket J Squirrel <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Front tire wear
Comments: To: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@turbovans.com>
In-Reply-To:  <01b601ca3d50$a00e7320$6401a8c0@PROSPERITY>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

On 9/24/2009 12:52 PM Scott Daniel - Turbovans wrote:

> re > Wheel alignment is a dark and mysterious subject to me. > > start with just the 'straight ahead' understanding . That's not hard, > right ? ....... > the wheels need to be nearly upright, and parrellel to each other, and > to the long axis of the vehcile........ > ie. pointing where they are going. > nothing to complicated there, *yet* ......right ?

That's a roller skate. I got that much figured out. Jeez -- I'm not /that/ simple.

-- Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott 84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana") 74 Westrailia: (Ladybug Trailer company, San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) Bend, OR KG6RCR

> > it's only when the vehicle turns and leans that things get interesting. > Those relationsips are all determiend by the design and layout of the > suspension........and we get to fine tune ( alignment ) on the basics > settings built in. > > end of post....... > the rest is 'extra.' > _____________________________________________________________________________ > > > I love this ..........don't know if anyone will appreciate this , but .. > there was a cover shot on Road & Track magazine, of some hot japanese > car ........some rear wheel drive mazda or .....no, it was one of those > Mitsubishi eclipse cars.......in any case, rear wheel drive, front > engine, 2WD. > > the car is showing cornering with considerable lean to the outside. > Normally, if you are in a left turn, the car will be learning to the > right. > and that's a 'normal picture' ...........turning left, car leans right, > front wheels are turned left. > > but in this shot ..........high speed performance turn to the left, car > is leaning right .......BUT ...........the front wheels are turned to > the right. > They have the tail hung out, so they are countersteering to keep it > pointed in the right direction - so that's cornering left, but holding > in right steering correction to stay on line. > Which is an odd 'picuture' cornereing left, leaning right, but front > wheels also turned right. We dont' normally see that too often. > > When we do counter steer to stay on the line, like on ice say > .........we're not generating any real cornering force, so the car > doesn't lean much . > > So to get this shot, they'd have to be cornering pretty hard to get the > car to lean noticeably towards the outside of the turn while also > countersteering to stay on the line. Something you don't see too often. > That cover shot was over 10 years ago, when cars still leaned outward in > turns nicely .......more modern preformance cars don't lean outward > cornereing quite that much. > > In the beginning of car manufacturing, it took a long time to come up > with independent front suspension that worked well. The upper and lower > A-arm front suspension on vanagons .....is a great suspension type. > Nothin' wrong with it at all. It's identical in concept and execution to > the front and rear suspensions on my 450 SLC mercedes ..........( with > the exception that that car also has a rear anti-sway bar - otherwise it > is the saeme > upper and lower a-arms in the front, with coil springs and anti-sway bar. > in the rear, same thing - traiing arms and coil springs. > > that the vanagon has rack and pinion steering is quite a good thing too, > not readily recognized perhaps, by vanagon owners. Compared to what the > previous desing had.....which is all Bay and Split Window buses going > back to the beginning of time, with their steering boxes and Swing Link > in the front..... > vanagon's rack and pinion steering is a massive step forward. > and ......taken care of, vanagon rack and pinion steering hardly wears > - very nice. VW did a super fine job on vanagon suspension and steering > I think. > scott > www.turbovans.com > > ----- Original Message ----- From: "Rocket J Squirrel" > <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM> > To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM> > Sent: Thursday, September 24, 2009 7:55 AM > Subject: Re: Front tire wear > > >> Now if you'd said that it was the outer edges of both front tires wearing >> out then I could-a shared that I had the same problem, too, which turned >> out to be excessive toe-in, which was scrubbing the rubber off the tires >> at an alarming rate. But with inside and outside edges being scrubbed, >> well, there's someone here that knows that that might be. >> >> Wheel alignment is a dark and mysterious subject to me. >> >> -- >> Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott >> 84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana") >> 74 Westrailia: (Ladybug Trailer company, San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) >> Bend, OR >> KG6RCR >> >> >> >> On 9/24/2009 4:50 AM William Greenamyer wrote: >> >>> Both front tires are worn on both edges of each tire. It is almost >>> like the >>> tires had been run greatly under inflated (tends to wear the edges of >>> the >>> tire) but I always keep good pressure in all of the tires. >>> >>> William >>> > >


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