Great information! If the car wants to pull to one side or the other, is it camber, toe, or a combination? I will be taking the car out tonight...hopefully.

 

If you've got too much toe, either out or in, it will tend to wander and try to follow the shape of the road, particularly those long grooves that heavy trucks press into the slow lane on the highway. It's called "tramlining" and it's usually a toe problem.

That said, the more negative camber you have, the worse the tramlining will be. If you set up lots of negative camber and a little toe-out to improve turn-in at a track or auto-x, you'll probably fight the car every inch of the drive to the venue and home again. If you set up 1 degree of negative camber and 1/16" of toe-in, it'll be way easier to drive.

A steady pull to one side means that either the camber or the caster on one side is different from the other side. OR, it could be that your tire pressures are different. OR, it could be that your tires are nearly worn out. OR, it could be you have a worn out ball joint. It's not likely to be toe related - if the toe is different from side to side, the steering wheel will be off center but that's it.

 

Took the car out for a little spin last night. It tracks straight, no pulling to one side or the other. The steering wheel is just a little off center to the left when driving in a straight line. Does that mead I need to adjust 1 tie rod, or both?

 

Sounds like you need to adjust the toe on the LF tire outward and the toe on the RF tire inward (by equal amounts if you're happy with the total toe).

Changing the toes unequally or adjusting only one side will change your total toe.


Norm

 

As Norm said, "both". I'd change it one flat at a time on each side until you get the steering wheel centered. One flat is a noticeable change.

 

I think I have everything very close. I did some adjusting to get the steering wheel straighter. It still bothers me that I can't get the car perfectly square between my parallel lines. I took some measurements side-to-side from tire tread about 4" up from the ground (front and backside of the tires) and found that I was 1/16" toe-in. Made 1/12 turn out on each tie rod and ran out of time to take more measurements. Hopefully I am at nearly zero toe now.

 

The most important word for EVERY DIY alignment job is "patience".


Norm