I’m not exactly sure when the alignment got out of whack, but a couple years ago he had his front struts and shocks replaced, so that could have something to do with it.

Anyways, what I found was that his right front wheel was slightly cocked to the left, what they call tow-in regarding alignment. Welp, I just basically eyeballed it once, turned the adjustment about 3 full turns, locked it down and had him go for a test drive around the block.

Second check, I realized I slightly overshot good alignment and went back about ⅓ of a turn, then had him test drive it a couple days.

Today I felt it was still ever so slightly overshot, so I turned it back about ⅓ more turn, and now it drives perfectly smooth!

Disclaimer: You’ll find a lot of videos online about this and how supposedly easy it is just with some string and reasonable mechanic common sense, but that isn’t always the case. Sure the string/laser methods are fantastic and all, but that only works if the front wheelspan and the back wheelspan are equal.

Not all vehicles are like that, I used to own a car where the back wheelspan was about an inch and a half wider than the front wheelspan, meaning the string trick couldn’t possibly work right on that car. Thankfully my roommate’s vehicle apparently has equal wheelspan both front and back, making the process easier.

But don’t always trust YouTube, know your skills, your tools, and your vehicle before doing anything, especially if you’re not sure…

  • over_clox@lemmy.worldOP
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    18 days ago

    Hmm, interesting, today I learned that even automotive acronyms have different dialects… 🤷