I have an 85 740 GLE Non-Turbo, and am trying to do my own wheel-alignment. I understand toe-in is the only thing that can be set (without replacing rod-lengths etc).

I checked my toe-in using the following method:

1. Parked on a flat surface, with the steering wheel centered and wheels pointed straight.

2. stuck a pin in the center of the front tire-tread, pin facing forward: height was about the center of the wheel.

3. stuck a pin at the same height on the other front wheel

4. Measured the distance between the 2 pins.

5. Rolled the car back so the pins were now facing backwards.

6. Measured distance between pins. Unfortunately, tranny/engine interference meant the pin-height was lower than the wheel-centers during the measurement.

Rear-Measurement - Front-Measurement = 1.5 cm (I have 185/70-R14 tires)

Volvo's Toe-In Spec for my 740 is as follows:

Toe-in...
- measured on the wheel rim: 5/64" +/- 1/64" (2 mm +/- 0.5 mm)
- tire sides: 3/32" +/- 1/32" (2.5 mm +/- 1 mm)

Any idea how Volvo calculates their toe-in specs ? Seems like I have excessive toe-in, but I'd like to know what to set it to before I start playing around with the tie-rods. Shouldn't excessive toe-in cause abnormal wear equally on both front tires ?

Also: my right/passenger-side (US car) front wheel shows a LOT of wear on the outer edge. On noticing it, I got my tires rotated so I had a fresh one on. After 150 miles of driving, I can clearly detect a saw-tooth pattern forming on the outer-edge that looks like the picture below (assuming the front of the car is to the right ->). The wear on the center & inner edge of the tread is perfectly flat.

What could this be due to ? Again - if it was excessive toe-in, shouldn't this pattern be visible on both front tires ?



Thanks !