I took my car to get it aligned today and was told my rack and tie rods are bad, and this is why my steering wheel is crooked. How do I go about fixing this? He tightened them down because they were loose and they seem fine now.. but he wouldn't align the car.

 

he didn't align it because aligning a car with damaged components is pointless. It doesn't solve the main problem at all which is the rack and the outer tie rods.

 

Ok my next question, I'll buy the rack but how do I adjust the tie rods to get the wheel straightened out?

 

Check your steering rack bushings since you are replacing the rack as they may make your steering wheel crooked as well. If using remanufactured racks, they should come with the inner tie rods attached, but double check with them. The outer tie rods will have to be purchased separately. When they align your car they will adjust your tie rods in order to correct the toe setting.

 

Hmm I replaced the bushings a while ago and he was referring to the outer rods when he said it was the reason for the crooked wheel?

 

So all you need to change are the outer tie rods? If so you can probably do it yourself and then get an alignment afterwards. When removing the outer tie rods, keep in mind the number of threads or amount of turns it takes to remove them. This will get the alignment roughly close to how it was. Make sure to get an alignment though as outer tie rods may be made of different length which will throw off your alignment. If you decide to have someone do it, labor should not be too expensive.

 

I'm not really sure, he said my rack was bad (probably from the liquid on the boots) but after replacing my ps hose I haven't been losing any fluid. I don't understand how the outer rods could go bad but if this is the only real problem as to why my steering is jacked (as well as my alignment) then this is great news

 

The liquid on the boots may indicate that here are slow leaks on the rack seals which are covered by the boots.

 

This kinda sounds like the problem im having. My problem is that my front passenger wheel is cambered in while my driver side wheel is nice and straight. I thought it was the end links or sway bar links because the driver side one was OEM and the passenger side was aftermarket, so i took the oem one from my friend and that thing was still cambered in. Any idea?

 

Sway bars/end links don't affect the alignment. Camber and caster are adjusted by the lower control arm eccentric bolts. Toe is adjusted through the tie rod. Outer tie rods can go bad at the ball joint. If you don't want to change your rack then get a pair of outer tie rods and replace them, it's not hard. Or get shop to replace them and align it.

Since the shop refused to align the car because of bad components, then you have to fix it first. Have them check your lower control arm bushings as well. You would have to adjust camber caster and toe in that order. Starting in the rear (only camber and toe) and then to the front. So make sure everything is good first.

 

I have brand new lower arms in the front and the passenger side is at -2.9* while the driverside is fine. The alignment shop said there was nothing he could do to align it straight?