E46CT

After reinstalling my stock suspension, went for a drive and my steering wheel was cocked to the left pretty significantly as the car went straight. Turn the wheel so its straight, and the car pulls severely to the right.

So knowing suspensions and alignments as I do, including having operating $200,000 hunter alignment racks myself, I figure i know enough to get it decent so the car will drive normally. eyeballed the front wheels and determined the passenger right was pointing slightly to the right, as compared to the left. We're talking millimeters. You have to stare really hard. I must've went back and forth 10 times making visual notes.

So I jack up the front right corner, place a jackstand for safety, undo the tie rod jam nut using a 21mm opened ended wrench (you can also use vise grips to crack it), and shorten the tie rod by giving it about 5 turns. Tighten the jam nut and went for a drive and voila. Got it right the first time. Steering wheel straight, car tracks straight.

If I was keeping the car long term, I'd probably just go get an alignment. But this proves you can do this too if you're ever in a jam and need your car to drive straight right away, or want to put off buying new tires a few months. You don't necessarily need to go do a $200 alignment every time.

For best long term results though, especially if you're not too savvy, you should. Especially if you are installing new tires. protect your investment. This is just to get you in the ballpark.

Scenarios

1) Steering wheel straight, car pulls left

Fix: you need to adjust one or both of your wheels to the right

2) Steering wheel straight, car pulls right

Fix: you need to adjust one or both of your wheels to the left

caveat, even with a good front alignment, a bad rear alignment can make you pull as well.

you can take a straight edge and place it against your wheel and take measurements relative to the body of the car to figure out which wheel is out, relative to the other. You would measure the distance to an identical part of the body matching left and right sides. For example the bumper or fender.

Before doing any of this though, make sure your steering wheel is centered. You also cannot make any adjustments with the weight of the car on the ground as the tire loaded up gives too much resistance. The exception is if you have something slippery under the tire like a greased cookie sheet or a proper rotating pad on ball bearings.

You likely won't get it right the first time, so you may need to repeat your corrections until you get the car straight.

Also your car going straight doesn't guarantee a good alignment. It just gets you in the ballpark.

There are other methods allowing you to do an alignment at home, you can search youtube.

Anybody here do a quick alignment at home like this? how was your experience.

Whats your personal home alignment technique?

Again, best results often involve getting a real laser alignment. But with enough knowledge and patience, you can do pretty well at home too (not saying that's what I did here), i just wanted it to drive normal but without having to go through the hassle and cost of an alignment on a car i'm not keeping long.

TOPENDMS

You can do an alignment without a rack, but you measure based on marking the tire then rolling the vehicle forward and measuring again.

Here's the Lexus Manual method:

6. INSPECT TOE-IN

NOTICE: Inspect while the vehicle is unloaded.

(a) Bounce the vehicle up and down at the corners to stabilize the suspension.

(b) Release the parking brake and move the shift lever to N.

(c) Push the vehicle straight ahead approximately 5 m (16.4 ft.). (Step C)

(d) Put tread center marks on the rearmost points of the front wheels and measure the distance between the marks (dimension B).

(e) Slowly push the vehicle straight ahead to cause the front wheels to rotate 180°. Use the front tire valve as a reference point.

HINT: Do not allow the wheels to rotate more than 180°. If the wheels rotate more than 180°, perform the procedure from step C again.

(f) Measure the distance between the tread center marks on the front of the wheels (dimension A).

HINT: Measure "B A" only when "C + D" cannot be measured.

If the toein is not within the specified range, adjust it at the steering rack ends.

RWD Specs ..
C + D: 0.00 (+/- 0.18°)
B - A: 0 (+/- 0.0787 inch)

AWD Specs ..
C + D: 0.05 (+/- 0.18°)
B - A: 0.0197 (+/- 0.0787 inch)

berniebenz

https://www.audiworld.com/tech/wheel63.shtml