Wheel alignment is slight off now from my brother trying to take off my lug nuts and he pulled too hard sideways and was jerking the wheel side to side.
Now the car pulls slightly to the left when trying to go straight. The steering wheel trys to adjust itself to be centered, but the wheels arent centered when the steer wheel is... so i have to constantly steer right to make the car go straight... Also i noticed my steering is alot more stiff now. Requires more force to turn, before the alignment was messed up it was smooth.
Just wondering will an alignment fix all these problems? Or is something else messed up too now? Also is it possible to do your own alignment?
Messing up the alignment due to ham-fisting a wheel removal raises a red flag in my mind. Definitely get the rest of the suspension checked out, as something (bolts, nuts, bushings, mounting bracket) could be loose.
As PhatRoyale mentioned - alignment should fix that up. Just ask them to straighten the wheel as well - some techs forget to check that.
As for alignment yourself, I wouldn't attempt it unless you had some alignment equipment and experience. Could measure and eyeball it (old school bee-line alignment system worked with this method at our old race shop). Though this would be only good enough to get you to the alignment shop in one piece. I wouldn't count on it on a daily driven car.
Messing up the alignment due to ham-fisting a wheel removal raises a red flag in my mind. Definitely get the rest of the suspension checked out, as something (bolts, nuts, bushings, mounting bracket) could be loose.
As PhatRoyale mentioned - alignment should fix that up. Just ask them to straighten the wheel as well - some techs forget to check that.
As for alignment yourself, I wouldn't attempt it unless you had some alignment equipment and experience. Could measure and eyeball it (old school bee-line alignment system worked with this method at our old race shop). Though this would be only good enough to get you to the alignment shop in one piece. I wouldn't count on it on a daily driven car.
The guy at the wheel shop told me almost the exact same thing. He said changing lug nuts will not mess with the alignment unless i did stuff with the suspension or other components. The only slight problem that i know of with my suspension system is that the shocks/struts are worn and when i go over a speed bump, it rock bottoms, unless i go at like 1km/hr.
I've never really had any issues though even with the weak suspension. I've hit potholes and such too on them but never have damaged my rims or tires by it. Could this be the reason why i messed up the alignment? or would it be something else?
There's no real way for removing lugnuts to change your alignment. Just find a coupon for a 4-wheel alignment, probably $60 or something. Should take care of most of your problems. Bottoming out will change your alignment, so will hitting big potholes....
As for alignment yourself, I wouldn't attempt it unless you had some alignment equipment and experience. Could measure and eyeball it (old school bee-line alignment system worked with this method at our old race shop). Though this would be only good enough to get you to the alignment shop in one piece. I wouldn't count on it on a daily driven car.
I had to do that after replacing the steering rack on my dad's car - myself, with a straightedge and eyeball. I told my dad then to go get an alignment ASAP and it came back as "it's not out of alignment." I have only two explanation - I'm lucky or the shop is crap.
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Little Pig - 1999 Corolla LE - Manual Swap - 2001 front end - #138 @ CASC-OR Autoslalom 2012
Big Pig - 1997 Camry LE - need new tires, rear struts and alignment
Skinny Pig - 2010 devinci St-Tropez
The guy at the wheel shop told me almost the exact same thing. He said changing lug nuts will not mess with the alignment unless i did stuff with the suspension or other components. The only slight problem that i know of with my suspension system is that the shocks/struts are worn and when i go over a speed bump, it rock bottoms, unless i go at like 1km/hr.
I've never really had any issues though even with the weak suspension. I've hit potholes and such too on them but never have damaged my rims or tires by it. Could this be the reason why i messed up the alignment? or would it be something else?
Well the worn suspension is definitely not helping matters. Still, even a heavily worn spring/strut should not drastically change the alignment unless the strut body was damaged or the spring is now hung up on the chassis. Could be a small chance that riding an extended time on weak struts have damaged the bushings on the suspension. Allowing some movement in there that could through your alignment off.
Are any of the struts leaking? Any discoloration on the strut body that could indicate a past leak? Double check the axle carrier bolts - sometimes will will loosen on you, I've had the lower rear axle carrier bolt completely fall off (nut backed off and the bolt wiggled free) - that made the car run "off".
I had to do that after replacing the steering rack on my dad's car - myself, with a straightedge and eyeball. I told my dad then to go get an alignment ASAP and it came back as "it's not out of alignment." I have only two explanation - I'm lucky or the shop is crap.
Nice! Sometimes is a function of both - a little lucky and good eyesight, shop found it within spec. Human eyesight is incredibly sensitive - as long as the straight edge is perfectly true and you are making consistent readings, set front toe to zero - maybe OK.
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