OK, here's my dilemma. I had to replace the front crossmember in my Rex. Previous owner got in a lil fender bender. And I don't know of any alignment shops around me that will touch a lowered car. When I bought the car, I did my own toe in/out adjustment. But I had to test drive it like 20 times before I had it right (wheel centered and drives straight when you let go of the wheel.) Now I have to do it all over again. And I'm getting tired of jacking it up and adjusting the tie rod ends. I've already done it like 7 or 8 times. Is there an easy way to align the toe in/out and have the steering wheel centered?

 

Using the alignment rack at a shop is so much more accurate than doing it this way, but if it wont fit on teh rack, here's what you've gotta do.

You want the steer ahead to be straight. That is, the car to move in a sitraight line. Forget about the steering wheel position for now.

Using chalk, draw a line parallel to the car, from the edges of both rear wheels to their respective front wheel. (Measuring tape and some friends help.)

Next, you want to straighten the steering wheel. Using a rigid and straight object, make a mark on the ground for the front and rear, outer edges of both front wheels. (Press a piece of playwood up against the wheel and draw a line that is parallel to where the wheel is pointed.)

To determine the toe, measure the distance between the front edges and the rear edges fo the front wheel. This is your toe in/out. If the front edges are 1/8 of an inch closer together than the rear edges, you have 1/8 of an inch toe in. If teh rear edges are closer together than the front, you have toe out...

You also want the front wheels to have the same relation on each side to the lines runing down the length of the car, so that when the toe is set, the steer ahead is striaght, Otherwise the car will pull. This doesn't mean thw front wheels have to point parallel to these lines, it means that if teh right side points slightly in, the left side does too, and at the same angle.

I'm not sure what the specs for your car are, and all the specs I have access to are in degrees rather than inches. I believe FWD cars benefit from a slight amount of toe in.

It's a bit hard to follow, but read it through a couple times adn you'll get it. It's the same way the alignemnt machine works at my shop, only we use infrared laser beams, Not chalk.