One of the 1st things you are supposed to do is set the air pressure before checking an alignment, but I have never watched the specs on screen while airing up a tire (or before/after)…
That was true on the alignment machines of the 50’s and 60’s when the tires sat on a disc that measured the different angles. The tires are usually not in contact with anything on newer machines, but I haven’t seen the very latest so that might change.
What you described with the tire sitting on the disc was much more recent than the 1950s and 1960s, imo
1 Like
Hey guys. Thanks for the many replies. Just want to clear things a few things up.
I read some of Keith’s post on if you need an alignment or not and I mostly agree with what he said based on that you don’t need an alignment done unless you’ve replaced parts.
One day I decided to mess around with the alignment of my front tire because I had hit a curb during the snowy season. I ended up pushing the toe of the front left wheel so badly that my steering wheel was crooked. I decided not to mess with any more as to not screw things up even more and just drive it as is.
I drove that way for almost two years! The car didn’t behave abnormally at first but then it exhibited really weird behavior that I was attributing to something else. These weird behavior includes swaying back and forth in a really short burst at random times, like something was loose but slotted back in place, then gets loose again. Then the back left tire started to wear really bad recently.
But anyhow, all I did was align the tire that I originally messed with. I did this by measuring the distance of the other tire and tried to match the distance as best. Since Keith mentioned that you don’t need an alignment, I’d figure just getting close to factory settings is best. I got pretty dang close too. My steering is mostly straight now and just about a quarter inch off.
The main reason why I put it off for so long was because the turning of the bolts can be confusing if you don’t do this regularly.
My next objective is to find a good Camry and take measurements and transfer it to my car and see how much adjusting I need to do.
My car drives a lot better now but there’s a lot of vibration still due to not balancing and road forcing the tires. I wished there was a way to do that at home without needing an entire Hunter machine.
Honestly though? Even though it’s cool I can do my own alignment, I’d rather just pay someone to balance and road force my tires lol