Steering Wheel Off Center after Alignment, Was it Smart to do this?...

[N-Wing]

Summary: After alignment my car drove fine but the wheel was not centered when going straight (about a 1/4" off). I just went under the car and adjusted the steering rods by holding the knuckle (Not the bolt) and spinning the turn buckles up (to turn the Wheels right). It appeared that the buckles were designed where up or down moves the wheels in the same direction regardless of side (meaning both up was moving the wheels in the same direction (as opposed to affecting the toe). It seems to have worked. Question, was I supposed to use the bolt rather than hold the knuckle? It was pretty hard to move but not ridiculously so. It took about 3/4 turn. I am thinking I am good. Thoughts. Pic below of the rods. My only other experience with turnbuckles was on an RC car years ago...


Details on how this happened for those interested: It's actually quite simple, I'm an idiot... I accidentally took my car to town fair tire for an alignment. I thought I set up the appointment at a different place and when I called to confirm before leaving to go there, I realized I called the wrong place originally. Unfortunately the guy talked me into doing it there saying they do sports cars all the time etc etc. When I got there i again explained that the car is difficult to align were they sure, they said yes. 10 minutes after the car was on the platform they called to tell me it wouldn't align and I had to call Joe in NY to walk this guy through it (which is just terrible...). The car went away for the winter pretty much from there so I didn't really pay much attention to the wheel position and now that I have taken it out, I saw the problem. I was way too particular to let that go.

I try to take it to Joe when I need an alignment but it's a 2hr drive to get there and the back. Should have known better. Joe always tells me it's not hard to align people just need to follow the directions but don't.


https://flic.kr/p/F51Rc2

 

[ftuhy]

I'm trying to understand if you loosened the locking nut on each rod before doing the adjustment. If not, that can put too much strain on the threads. But as you noted, if you put a wrench on the flat spot of the rods and rotate both in the same direction, then toe-in remains constant and steering wheel position changes. I've done that tweak myself on a couple of my cars, including my NSX.

To get the steering wheel truly on center, it may take multiple adjustments, because its difficult to have the tires pointing exactly straight ahead when driving the car onto the lift, etc. But if you know exactly how much you need to tweak the position, it may be possible to do it in one try.

As to shops following directions, the power steering rack failed on my NSX when it was about 2 years old & was replaced under warranty. My guess is the dealer didn't even attempt to set the alignment and the front tires wore out in under 2000 miles. I took the NSX to a "discount tire shop" I'd known for years. Their lift had too steep a ramp, so we had to lift the nose by hand to get it onto the lift. The mechanic said the alignment was a mess. He corrected it, and 16 years later my front tires still wear correctly and I've never done another alignment.

I've found lots of places that sell alignments, but far fewer that actually take the time to do the alignment.

 

[N-Wing]

I did NOT loosen the nut. Looks like I should have done that and frankly thinking back I'm surprised that did not occur to me. I did NOT have to 'murder' the turnbuckle to get it to move. I don't suspect any damage. It is pretty close to perfectly straight now so I am pleased. Now I'm just nervous about the alignment in general...