Understanding alignment. Basic advice

[fowlken8]

So. I went back to my old trusty shop, with 70 year olds doing alignments lol these guys are old. Their dad, he’s still alive somehow, and will talk your ear off about technology and anything you can imagine. Genetics? I hate relying on others for things I imagine I can do but I had to cave in and they’re surprisingly still open.


anyways. They were able to fix my alignment. Said the toe was really bad and the camber on the driver’s side was off slightly over 1 degree. He said he had to align it “twice”. A test drive made it settle then had to do it once more. It drives smoother. Less steering wheel shake. Wheel is straight now.

told me to keep an eye on it and if things go “wonky” to come back for an adjustment.

when my wheels were off, all I noticed was visually awful camber. What do I look for? Feel for? Just tires getting out of line? Steering wheel shake?


also, screw all of the big name companies who told me they were unable to touch my vehicle due to modifications.

 

[Jeepwalker]

Ha ha!! Yeah, those chain shops ...I haven't had good luck with them either.

Not much to add to your story, except any shaking feeling is usually a result of worn parts, not really alignment. Unless things were maybe so far out of alignment it was obscene. If those guys know what they're doing ...and it sounds like they do, those old-timers would have checked for worn parts first thing ...before attempting to do any aligning. Once they know everything's tight, then they'd move on. It's real difficult to do an alignment when parts move around between one adjustment and another.

Alignment issues generally cause wandering, pulling, pulling or wandering when you hit your brakes (tow off), binding, or the 'feeling of binding' when you turn your wheels sharp, like going in/out of a parking spot. Worn tires, etc.

Glad you got er lined up and a good story to boot!!