So - first off, I know of course everyone will tell me that it is important to get an alignment done and my tires will wear faster, I do know this. I've searched this for about a week but nobody seems to have decided to take the easy way out. The car is a '97 Civic HX, also.

I have a toe in of about .8 on my front right (the front of the wheel is pointed inwards) and .2 on the front left. That's pretty bad, not enough to make it hard to drive, but enough so that it is annoying. I need to replace the tie rod (inner and outer) on the right side to make further adjustments, as I have no more thread to screw them in and fix the toe. The alignment shop told me they are safe to ride on, and no damaged, but to get the alignment I need, I have to replace them. This isn't too expensive, but I am out of luck until next Thursday. I have a lot of driving to do until then for work, and with no money, there isn't much of an option for now.

So what I figured I can do until then, since I have over 500 miles to put on the car between now and then is to bring the toe of the other side in to match the tow of the right side, and drive with a crooked wheel for a bit. It would drive straight I assume, and the only thing that would be bad is the crooked wheel, which the alignment shop would use as an indicator that both wheels need serious adjusting once I get the tie rods for the right side.

Obviously, if I could, I would just not drive until then, or get a proper alignment, or borrow someone's car - but all of these options are just not available to me until next week . Has anyone actually here done something like this that can tell me if it works out alright?

 

I've done it. It sucked. Fairly difficult to get near center but if you're willing to put in the time to adjust it as much as it takes, you should be ok.

 

no don't . some thing has to be bent or the wrong part i have never run out of threads on a tierod . a better idea would be to measure from the front of both tire's and then the back of them. and try to even them out. It will wear the tire's and be unstable if you adjust them both to .8

 

I believe the problem lies within my whole suspension, the inner tie rod is probably bent, but then again I can't see any bent parts and the mechanic even said it looked fine, but I should get it replaced.

Though I really meant adjusting one (left side) to -.08 and the other (right side) is already at .08 and then when it drives both wheels would be completely forward but the wheel would just be turned. If they were both .08 it would just be super toe in on both sides and man that would suck.

I'm getting a new tie rod as soon as possible, but in the mean time I figured I'd do something to prevent driving 500 miles on this crappy alignment until I get paid.