AZ BS Thread 4²0

So I just got an alignment done on Saturday and pretty satisfied with the numbers they got (no more rubbing) when they set the caster back to +4.5.

I noticed after I got the truck back from the shop that while everything tracked pretty straight they didn’t quite get the steering centered after the alightment.

It’s nagging at my OCD a little....should I just call it a day and accept it because it’s not super off or would you guys go back a third time and risk pissing off the shop???

This is driving straight down the road.

 

Maybe I’ll try a different Firestone since the warranty should be good at any location.....

 

The only part they would have to tweak is your tie rod ends. Much simpler than a full alignment.

 

I’ve never messed with those. Is that something I could just put the truck up on stands and fix at home myself or is it an art to getting them adjusted just right?

 

Preach my fellow small friend.

 

You'd have to be aware that you were adjusting your toe at the same time. Basically what you are doing is making one side of your steering rack longer or shorter, which alters the angle of where that front tire is pointing.

Here's a good video explaining it:


So if you could undo your jam nuts and perfectly rotate both tie rods the EXACT same number of degrees your steering wheel would come back straight and your toe would be unaffected. If you didn't do it right your toe will have changed. There's toe relative to each other and "straightness" relative to the steering wheel.

Get what I'm saying here?

 

Ah I see.......screw that, I’ll take it back to the shop before I fuck it up.

 

Have to adjust both sides evenly is the trick. How crowned is the road they test drove it on vs. Your usual roads?

 

That kinda looks like @Rextinkleton93

 

good morning!

 

I don’t know that Firestone did test drive it when they were done. I thought they just had it up on the rack and then parked it next to the door when they were done but I wasn’t watching them like a hawk so maybe they did take it out for a spin before dropping it off out front

 

It's not as intimidating as it sounds but it is definitely a precise adjustment that needs to be made.

Oh and because our tie rods attach to the front of the spindle and not the rear it's the polar opposite of that video... longer = toe out, shorter = toe in.

I'm just waiting for homebrew electronic alignment racks to come down in price, that shit is gonna be cool as hell.

 

Happy birthday @freddy2923 !

 

No they don’t test drive it, I’ve taken mine to the same chandler one as you.

 

@MaverickTRD that interior is sexy af on the highlander, but this is also $43 or 45k I forget which one this was.

 

Yeah I had mine at one of the Carefree hwy locations but maybe they just don’t test drive stuff after they’re done as a habit / liability reasons???

 

So it doesn’t look like you need to undo the alignment cam bolts to adjust the toe / tie rod ends — I already put my LCA skids back on and while it’s not a big deal to take them off again it is one more thing to do before I take it back to Firestone......I want to make it as easy and monkey proof as possible for them.

 

If you want to try it, mark your tie rods with a paint pin. Do 1 full rotation in the direction you need, and snug em down, put them back in the spindle and go drive it. You have a life time, worst case you have them do it again. Or go to a different location but you might learn a bit on the way.

They have always test drove my truck.

 

Yeah it's pretty much the most retard-proof and fastest part of doing an alignment... have you ever heard of "toe & go" alignments, usually used in a derogatory manner?
That's basically where they chuck your car up on the rack, look and see that all your other numbers are in the green (possibly ignoring them even if they are not green), dick with the tie rod ends to set toe, put the jam nut back down and send you on your way having charged you for the full alignment.

As long as those skids don't limit access to your tie rods the monkeys will not get upset.

 

Good point, you could always try it yourself, get the wheel tracking nice and straight, and then take it to a different Firestone and say "I hit a huge pothole, can you just check it for me??" and if the toe comes up out of spec no biggie, they'll set it back and hopefully not tweak you wheel.

Then you can feel proud of having done some cool wrenching on top of having a straight wheel.

My personal moment of pride came when I eyeball-aligned my miata after having stripped the whole suspension out:


I asked the tech "how'd I do eyeballing it?" and he did a double take... "you eyeballed that? All the numbers were in spec!"
Of course I was at the high end on one side and the low end on the other so all the cross numbers were messed up and it still needed spring preload set and so on.