Im a new member...boy,what a wealth of info...joining is the best thing i've done in along time!thanks for all the invaluable info...now my question...my 01 xlt escape 4x4 just had a wheel alignment done and there still seems to be excessive toe in(top of tire/wheel leans in more than the bottom)i've noticed many other escapes that seem to do the same thing...is this a characteristic of the vehicle? Brent M.

 

That's not "toe" you are describing, it's camber. They can both be adjusted for an alignment, but toe is the one most often out of spec when alignment is needed. Whaat you describe is typically an optical illusion, as I've found out myself. I've noticed it on a whole host of other vehicles too. The factory camber specs are almost completely neutral front and rear, and the rear spec actually has it going from 0 degrees to negative camber, which is the opposite of the way it looks. That is where the top of the tire points inward toward the vehicle and the bottom sticks out away from the vehicle. Mine actually has a slight bit of negative camber now(within spec less than 1 degree, I believe), and it stil looks like it's a bit pigeon-toed from behind. I think all that might be due to the visible slope of the suspension members underneath the vehicle. Same thing for the front, it loks the opposite of what the alignment sheet says it's at, which is a neutral for mine after the alignment was performed.

A toe-in condition is where the outside edge of the tire is directed towards the center of the vehicle, and toe-out where it's pointing away, so the tires will roll inward towards each other or outwardd away from each other. Picture a foot with toes, your big toe pointing in or out in line with your knee. Spec on that is neutral too, within 1 degree in either direction, I believe. This is much harder to see, if not impossible just by looking at the vehicle's stance.

Both toe-out and negative camber will wear the inner part of the tire more quickly. The opposite is ture of the opposite conditions.

 

Only front camber is adjustable on the Escape. The rear is not. Speciality Products manufacturers replacement rear control arms that are adjustable if that is an issue.

 

thanks for the info...I realized after I had written it that I had gotten toe and camber mixed up!!thanks again for the feedback!