How precisely should the alignment be able to set toe?

[MrShorty]

Took my Explorer into the shop on Saturday to get the alignment done (replaced bad ball joints a few weeks ago). The caster and camber were off a little, so I had him tinker with the shims until he got those right, then he did the toe (presumably). When he got done, I asked if he had printed out the final numbers off the computer. He said, "no, but I can tell you what they were." So he told me and I wrote them down on my sales ticket. Camber and Caster are now within specs, but he told me he'd set the toe to +0.2 in. on each side. That didn't seem right to me, so I went to the library to look up the specs in Mitchell. As I said, camber and caster are in specs. But the manual says that toe should be ±0.13 in or ±0.25°. If we give him the benefit of the doubt and say that he said, "inches" when he meant, "degrees", shouldn't he be able to get it closer to the listed ideal of 0 when setting the toe? I suppose I should also ask if there have been any changes in the alignment specifications for a '92 Explorer in the last several years.
I plan to take my truck back in and have him try again. I figure I paid him ~$100, I should get a proper alignment. Just give me the necessary information so I can go in and tell him that I want to try again.

 

[RiverRat]

The shop should have printed out the alignment report.

If you looked up the alignment specs then you know what they should be. It's fishy that the shop didn't give you a report.

I don't know that you would get anything by taking your truck back to the shop unless you can prove it's not driving down the road properly or wearing tires.

Depending on the vehicle it is a mix of getting caster, camber and toe to within specs. Some you can get right on and others you are lucky to get in specs. I always tried to get well within the middle of factory specs.

The other issue is some vehicles don't align due to worn steering/suspension parts.

 

[etc]

Is it -.13 to +.25 or -.25 to +.13?

If it's the first it's withing limits. More than likely he meant degrees.

 

[Runnin'OnEmpty]

MrShorty, I believe the specs are .13 degrees toe-in / +or- .25 degrees. As you can see, there's quite a bit of leeway to still be in spec.

If the alignment tech set the toe at a positive .20 degrees, then it's indeed in spec. That works out to about 1/8 inch toe-in. Anywhere from 0 to 1/8" is good for a 4x4.