{Wheel alignment How-to}

{How to set you toe in and toe out}

    This is a how to on doing your own alignment.   It basically covers how to do your toe adjustments and get them pretty much to where you don't have to worry about going to the alignment shop after doing some work on your suspension such as lowering, replacing a ball joint, and changing your tie rod ends.

    The first thing you'll have to do if it's not already done is to put the car on jack stands and raised high enough to be able to get easy access to your tie rods.  Also make sure that your steering wheel is completely straight and from a little ways off from the car, look at how the front wheels are set with the steering wheel completely straight.   You should have a good enough eye to be able to tell which front wheel needs the most adjustment so take not of that as this will come into play later in this how to.

For now, let's say the right wheel is pointing in a bit more than the left side with both wheels having toe in.   This in turn will tell you that the drivers side or left side needs more adjustment than the right or passenger side.

    Next, you'll need to get the tools to be able to do this job right.  You'll need a tape measure long enough to be able to measure across the car, some wrenches, and a couple of levels long enough that they'll be able to attach to the tires via a bungee hook.

    While under the car, you'll see the tie rod, the locking nut, and the actual steering arm.   In the picture below, you'll see all three by looking at the wrenches that I have on each of the three just mentioned.  In the picture, from left to right is the tie rod end, locking nut, and the steering arm which would the the most right wrench.

    The next thing you want to do is take the middle wrench which is the locking nut and the wench to the right and loosen up the lock nut from the tie rod.   Keep in mind on how this loosens as you'll need to remember how the threads turn in and out of the tie rod.

    Once this is done, you'll need to do this to the other side as well.   So by now, you should have both of the locknuts loose and backed off of the tie rod end so that adjustments can be made.

    Next, since the drivers side or left side needed more adjustment than the right side, take the left wrench you see in the picture on the tie rod end and old it in place while turning the right wrench or steering arm counter clockwise exactly 180 degrees.   You're now turning the drivers side tire to the left and reducing toe in just a bit so the car tracks straight. 

    Do the same for the right or passenger side but this time, you'll be turning the steering arm clockwise 90 degrees to again, bring the tire out to the right just a bit to reduce toe in.   Make sure that while you're doing all this that you don't turn the wheels in any way to disrupt the alignment process.

    Now stand away from the car again and eye the alignment again.   See if the tire now look to be a bit straighter than they were and less turning in with toe in.   If not, then adjust the side more as needed but don't turn your steering arm more than 180 degrees at a time so that the adjustment is gradual.

    If you feel that the front tires now look right and are pointing straight forward, it's time to actually measure your work and make the necessary fine tuning needed to get that perfect alignment.

    In the picture below, you'll see how I used the levels on each tire using the bungee cord to hole it onto the wheel.   Here, you'll see the drivers side done and make sure that you have the level far enough down so that you can use a tape measure to tie the front and back of the two levels for measurement.   The other picture is of the passenger side.  I made sure that the levels were just about at the center of the wheels for the best and most accurate results to the toe adjustments as shown in the pictures.

    Now that you've mounted the levels, make sure that they're both level by using the bubble to make them so.   You'll see this in both of the levels I have on the car in the picture below.

    You're set now to take your tape measure and measure the distance from the front of the tires and the back of the tires.   What this entails is that you take the tape measure and on the front of the two levels, you take a reading of the distance between the levels outer edges.   Jot this down.   On my car, I was reading 63 inches exactly on the front of the levels.

    Doing the same thing as you did with the tront, measure the distance from edge to edge of the levels (being careful not to mess up their balance or grip on the tires) and jot down the reading or distance you get.   I got a reading of 63-3/8 inches.    So this tells me that I need to do a little bit more adjustment to the toe and that the toe is is still a bit off.   Your measurements may be a bit more off so adjust as needed to get the same distance for the front and the back for that perfect alignment.

    Most cars have 0 toe in so that means that the distance from the front of the tires are the same as the distance of the back of the tires.  It won't hurt that you have a little bit of tow but no more than an 1/8 of an inch or so.    Make sure that you have no toe out or having more distance in the front measurements than what you read in the rear.

    Once you have your toe set and you've adjusted it to the best you can, lock the locknuts back down to the tie rod end by holding the tie rod end with a wrench while turning the locknut towards the tierod end and tighten it down.

    Remember too, since your steering wheel is straight, you want your wheels to be straight too.   So this is why I encourage you to take a good close look at the wheel alignment before you make the adjustments and try to figure how many turns you may need to the right side or left side tire to get the wheels actually straight.     If you don't have it perfect once it's done and your steering wheel is a bit off, you can either make further adjstments to correct this on the appropriate wheel or do take it to your alignment shop to completely straighten the wheel.

    So keep in mind that if your drivers side is turned in or out more than your passenger side, you'll have to do more adjustment to that tire to  keep the steering wheel straight once it's all done.

    I hope this has helped you in doing this and save you about 80 bucks which is the going rate for an alignment shop to do.