So, I have taken my car into Sears 4 times to get the alignment straight.

Started out with bald tires, warped rims, car pulled left bad.

1. New tires, new rims, new alignment, car pulls left, barely

2. Another alignment, computer says it was barely off, still pulls left.

3. Another alignment, I don't think they even bothered to put it on the rack, did not have a printout for me.

4. Another alignment! Now it finally drives straight and the computer readout is good, but the steering wheel is still just a little off.

The last thing I am going to do is take it back to Sears because the wheel is off 2-3 degrees.

Can I just losen the tie rods, and turn each of them the same number of turns to fix the wheel offset? Is it that simple? From reading the shop manual, you should only take off the steering wheel for drastic changes. Thanks for any input.

 

You could adjust the tie rods. It will probably be close. However, "probably close", isn't good enough with toe, if you want to avoid increased tire wear.

Take it back, make them do it right. Again, and again, and again. Or, refuse to pay for it.

I'm never having Sears do an alignment again. After making them put it back on the rack 3 times, and them trying to avoid giving me the printout so I can see that they did not align the car to the specifications I had requested, I simply yelled at the manager for 30 minutes and refused to pay.

I had simple requests too, "-3.5* front camber, 0 toe front and back." First alignment, -1.5* front camber ("We matched it to the rear so the car will handle for you." farking idiots). 2nd time off the rack, -2.5*/-3.4* l/r front camber (Seriously, wtf?). 3rd time, -4* front camber (he maxed out the adjuster), and rear toe in (didn't even get far enough to look at rear toe before).

At that point, I was done, and just accepted those values. 2 years later, I still have -4* of front camber. Whatever. Sears mechanics can die in a fire.

 

Yes, you can just loosen the tie rods. Just get both of them to turn the same amount, within 1/24th of a rotation or so, and you'll be ok.

 

ROFL, HAHAHA, sorry it's not that funny, but that is almost my exact experience with them, other than the refusal to pay. Sears Auto FTL

I think the toe would be the same, as I am just adjusting the position of the steering wheel. If I only did one side, it would screw up the toe, I know. My plan is to adjust one side out and compensate by adjusting the other side in.

Now when you start talking about 1/24 of a rotation, that could get screwed up. I will scribe the starting marks, so I can go back if I need to.

If all else fails, I'll pay for another alignment from a shop that I can trust to do it right.

 

I've never had Sears do my alignments...but the last two Civic's I've owned I always sit in the car when they're doing the alignment.

 

You could try adjusting both tie rods by the same number of turns/threads. As mentioned above though, be precise. You should be able to get them both within 1/16-1/32 turn very easily with wrenches the wrench swings a larger arc than the nut so you can usually get it precise enough by eyeballing. I don't think you'll get too far off from where you need to be.

I've had similar awful experiences with alignments at general shops (*cough*NTB*cough*). I know a bad job when I see/feel one because I did alignments for years when I worked for a Honda dealer; not a single car ever left my rack with a crooked steering wheel, a pull, or screwy tire-killing toe issues. I no longer wonder why people drive around with screwy alignments and shredded tires: Because apparently, charging customers for a horribly botched alignment is a common theme with many "gravy" shops. If a person didn't know any better - someone like my 62 year old mother for example - then they'd just get ripped off.

If I had access to a rack, I'd just do it myself so that I know the job was done right. Unfortunately I don't. One of these days I'm going to pick up some toe plates and a camber gauge and set up a jig for easy DIY alignments. Until then, I just take it to the dealer because they do the best job for me. I have a good relationship with them and I know the technicians, so they will usually accomodate my requests for a non-standard alignment.

It's unfortunate that the majority of shops other than a dealership that can justify the investment (and have the cash to swing) for good a alignment rack and tire equipment are the big name chain stores that hire substandard techs and overcharge you for a crappy job. A lot of the smaller shops that you can trust to do a good job just don't have the space or money for a good rack.

If you have a small local performance/racer shop that has the equipment and specializes in non-standard tires and alignments, consider yourself lucky. If they do a good job and follow your instructions, support them by going back - even if it costs you significantly more. It's definitely worth it to pay more for a job done right the first time, vs. paying less initially but making more trips and possibly having to pay again to have it re-done multiple times.

 

If you do a little research on H-T and other car forums, you can find a lot of info on DIY alignments. I have adjusted the toe on 3 of my cars based on info from Ausmith and others and have have been very happy with the results.

 

I do my own toe alignments with a pair of laser levels, unistrut, bungee cords, jack stands, and a long piece of wood.

 

Targa, I actually came up with an idea for a sort of DIY alignment rack awhile back, just never had the money to build it. Basically it consists of long "platforms" made of 2x8's or 2x10's, built up 8" or so, with long ramps for my car to drive up on. Then I was going to have pieces of thin hardboard, 2 pieces with the slick sides together, for the tires to sit on so they can move freely while adjusting. All of this would go along with some sort of string setup, measuring off the exact centerline of the car, using some laser levels, string, and other things.

Maybe one day I'll be able to build something like that.

As for my alignments, I used to go to a Chevy dealer where my buddy worked as an ASE-certified tech. When the shop was more lax, he could do side work and we did stuff on my car up there all the time, including alignments on their Hunter machine. I would usually just give him $20 since I was helping with the work. I tell ya', it was sure nice installing suspension and changing CV axles with the car on a lift and thousands of dollars of Mac and Snap-On tools available.

But he can't do that kind of stuff anymore, so I take my car to a local family-owned shop (I know the owner's son, who also works there) that does alignments the old-school way. They don't have a rack, but rather a platform that extends out over a pit. Lowered cars are no problem at all. They can only align 1 axle at a time, but they do quality work. I have never been dissatisfied with them. I go by there all the time if I'm having an issue with the car, and the guy will help me out and maybe give me some tips. He has also hooked me up with parts at cost, too. In return, I ALWAYS recommend their shop to anyone in my area needing alignments, CV axles, steering racks, etc.

 

my buddy used to work at sears auto, he worked the desk. he had his lowered del sol aligned at his work place and noticed that it still pulled to the left a lot. he went back in and had to argue with his own boss just to have it re-aligned. he ended up going in a couple more times before the isuue was resolved. his advice was, never take your car to sears auto because they never calibrate their machines and that is why the machine used to align his car was so far off.

 

the new hunter machine is ****. aslong as the plates are good. anyone can do the alignment.

 

That's good advice and makes complete sense. The numbers say it's straight, but reality says otherwise.
I am going to try to adjust the steering wheel via the tie rod ends, but I just haven't had time. I'll post results when I do it.

 

Alright if you just want to straighten up your steering wheel without getting it realigned i suggest do this loosen the big jam nut and say your steering wheel is off to the left i always use this method "left up, Right down" so if its off just a lil bit, i would first try doing a 90 degree turn on each adjuster using the method above and i suggest to mark it with chalk also to give you a better idea.

Also to give my input on doing alignments (Im a tech at my local lexus dealership) I dont know about all roads but most of our roads here have road crown so what i like to do is have just a little bit more positive camber on the left side for example if a car has -.07 on the right im gonna set it up to about -0.5 on the left to help the car go straight, also for caster i like a little more positive on the right so the car goes straight and then set the toe within the specs i like to have them as even as possible. Another thing to look at it is tires will cause a pull, you can have the alignment settings **** but if you dont set the tires up correctly it could pull, This is why i straight track all the tires when i do a set of tires, you can do straight tracking on the balancer but not all balancers have it, thus some shops or lazy techs just trying to get the work done as fast as possible and get there money dont do it. Anyways thats just my input on doing alignments there is alot more involved then just setting it in the green and expecting it to go straight.

 

I've seen a number of technicians doing this and I don't agree with it at all. In my opinion, setting alignments differently left to right for a street-driven car is wrong.

Yes, many roads are crowned. Many other roads are not. Divided highways are crowned too; what happens when you're driving in the passing lane (opposite side of the crown) with your alignment set to permanently pull to one side? It's also not going to behave the same way in left turns vs. right.

I've never had anyone complain to me about pulls on an obviously crowned road.

 

Thats why my differences are very minimal, its not like the car is going to pull a crap load it may have a slight drift in another lane, and my specs are not going to cause the tires to wear irregular, I do all my test drives on the flattest road around are shop, It would almost be impossible to make a car go straight on every road and every lane some people just have to realize this, With lexus owners they expect alot more then your average honda owner or even a toyota owner, on the new ls460's The factory had to make new replacement brackets for the suspension to do this very thing to the alignment specs cause we were having alot of owners complaing about there ls460's pulling from the factory.

 

I hear you. Dealing with higher end car owners can be a real bitch sometimes. The worst are the clueless ones who think they know it all, but have never wrenched on a car for a single day in their life. Sometimes these are white collar engineers that design things like, oh say, cars . . .

 

Yes it can be very frustating sometimes haha, we even had a lady come in one time complaing that her a/c blew too cold lol...but anyways i dont want to go off topic, but to the OP i would def. go back to sears and have them re-do the alignment with the steering wheel actually straight and tell them you want a copy of the paper with the specs. on it and you def. should not pay for that, but i understand if your just sick of dealing with them and obviously they cant manage to get it right, but if you do post a pic of alignment settings sheet i'd like to see how they set it up.

 

I've found many mechanics don't like doing alignments and rush through it. Setting a cars alignment is very easy. You just need patience. I do alignments all day on everything from mail trucks to cars and suvs to freightliner big rigs and dump trucks. You need to find someone like myself to get it right, someone who specializes in alignments. I would not go back there and would call to complain to Sears and try to get your money back. Good luck