Toyota Corolla Alignment Specifications
by JoAnn Joubert
Check your wheel alignment any time you have your Toyota Corolla's steering or suspension components repaired. In addition, adjust alignment if your Corolla fails to drive straight, pulls to one side or feels unsteady at high speeds---or if the tires appear to wear out unevenly. The alignment of the front wheels occurs in relation to the thrust line, whereas tire size influences the alignment of the rear.
Toyota Corolla Wheel Specs
The average Toyota Corolla has 6.0 x 15 (6 inches wide by 15 inches in diameter) wheels on both the front and rear, along with P195/65 R 15 tires. In addition, the Corolla has a rack-and-pinion power-assisted steering (PAS) system, which has extreme sensitivity to the wheel alignment.
Alignment Definitions
Any wheel alignment will deal with the total toe, camber and caster. The toe generally has the greatest effect on alignment and allows for the easiest adjustment. Tires that suffer from poorly aligned toe will show excessive wear on the outside. Aligning the toe, however, is not enough.Keeping each component in line will require a total vehicle alignment. A poorly aligned camber will result in heavy wear on one side of a tire as well, exhibited on either the inside or outside thread depending on the direction in which the camber is misaligned. The caster is only relevant to the front of your vehicle and does not affect the tires. Instead, the caster will affect the steering wheel, sometimes resulting in poor handling and driving ability. Too little caster leads to unstable steering that requires constant correction as your vehicle wanders and weaves while traveling in a straight line. An abundance of caster will make your Corolla difficult to steer.
Aligning Your Corolla
For a 2007 Corolla with P195/65R 15 tires, the alignment specs for the front would equate to a total toe of zero degrees with a margin of 0.2 degrees. For the camber, you need -0.53 degrees, with a margin of 0.75 degrees. Align the caster to 2.83 degrees with a margin of 0.75 degrees.
For the rear tires perform a total toe and camber without a caster setting. For the total toe, you need 0.26 degrees with a margin of 0.26 degrees. The camber requires -1.45 degrees with a margin of 0.5 degrees.
References
Writer Bio
JoAnn Joubert started writing in 2005, specializing in the areas of equestrian sports, cars and business. She authored a textbook on the creative industries and was awarded for her work on U.S. presidential nomination reform. Joubert holds a Bachelor of Science in political science from the University of Louisiana.
