I was thinking of checking the toe in, but I recall when the new tires were put on last year that the 50 year old wire wheels are not perfect. There is a definite wobble side to side when they are spun. I don't notice it when driving, But if toe in should only be 1/8", well the wobble is a little more than that I suspect. How do you measure the toe in accurately?
My Son bought a fifty year old Elan Sprint. I had to fit a new steering rack and so needed to adjust the toe. Got out my trusty Dunlop AGO40 tracking gauges, set the toe and then rolled the car forward and found it was out.
Issue is that Lotus pressed steel wheels are made of thin metal and like yours can twist making the usual toe equipment hard to use.
So what is the solution? Well you can go to a garage with a modern four wheel alignment laser system. I believe these can account for wheels that are slightly out of true.
What I did was this … I got myself a set of trammel bars. Marked a line on a piece of tape on the rear of each wheel and measured the separation. I then rolled the car forward until the same marks were on the forward edge and measured again. The suspension toe in is then the difference between the two measurements. You can then, using basic trigonometry, work out the toe angle. If you want it in inches at the wheel rim rather than the outside of the tyre then again some simple geometry to perform. In my case I was just happy to know that the wheels had a little toe in, rather than toe out.
Hope that is clear and is of use.
Harry
