About 2 weeks ago I went to get my car aligned. The alignment shop replaced all 4 tie rod ends stating they were all worn out. After replacing they aligned the car to the following specs


I drove the car home from the shop and everything felt normal, tracked straight, the steering wheel was straight. The only thing that was weird was the air pressure in the tires was at 42 pounds (compared to 30).

When I got home, I took the car home washed it, pulled the wheels (to inspect the brakes for an upcoming track day) and aired the tires back to 30# cold.

Today I drove the car to an autocross event, did 10 runs in the session (no spin outs, etc.) and every thing felt fine. As I was leaving I aired the tires back up to 35 (they were at 30 hot) and drove home, when driving home I noticed that the steering wheel is clocked to the right approximately 20 or 30 degrees.

The car seems to track normally and didn't feel weird.

So my question is;

Did the alignment shop not tighten something? How did I do 10 autocross events without noticing it?
Did I break something? If so what could be broken (I can throw the car on a quickjack tomorrow but would need to know what to look for)
Could the air-pressure be off (the DIC showed them all within 1-2 pounds from the lowest to the highest)

 

Sounds to me like maybe they didn’t tighten something back down

 

that is what I was thinking as well, but why would it be fine for an autocross all day which I would think is pretty harsh on suspension/steering components. At a stop light on the drive home, i twisted the steering wheel lock to lock, I heard no noises and it had no measurable impact to the performance.

 

Take it back. They will straighten the wheel in 10 minutes.

 

is it safe to drive back to the alignment shop?

 

Yes. They will put the car on the rack and make an adjustment to align the wheel. It will only take a few minutes.

 

thanks. I was reading online that this is likely a result of the tie rod ends needing to be adjusted. Is it possible that they were not appropriately tightened? I guess I am still curious is this a result of a mistake from the alignment shop or something that I did? If it's a mistake of the alignment shop, is there anyway that I can verify when I leave / return home to ensure that it was done correctly upon repair?

 

Both tie rods would have to be loose......not likely...Even then they would have to turn in the correct direction to cause that. Something moved, either in the rack or the suspension. Take it back and have them check EVERYTHING.

 

that is what I suspected, I got an appointment for tomorrow afternoon (Tuesday 8/4) and hopefully we can get it fixed right away. I assume that you believe its safe to drive given that it does track straight down the road.

I will double check the air pressures tonight after work and make sure they are all set to 30 at rest per the door instructions.

 

Toe is off. Looks like 0.06" and 0.07" in on the front. i usually do 0.001-0.002" out per side. rear looks ok at 0.06" in but might be loose. i go for 0.09" in per side.

 

would toe impact the crooked steering wheel? The car was intended to be setup with a track alignment. The original ask was a bit of toe out up front and a bit of toe in in the back.

 

yes. but you have toe in in the front. Looks like a Hunter result sheet. If so, negative toe number is toe out. You had 0.4 +/- toe out originally?????

 

they replaced the end links on all 4 wheels so they didn't record toe out prior to replacing the end-links (does that make sense?)

 

Uneven toe side to side causes the crooked steering wheel, might be front or rear.
Something changed while you were driving, and I'd be freakin' alarmed.
Something moved, might be anything... loose tie rod end or maybe a camber/caster eccentric. If it moved enough to make the wheel 20-30 degrees off, what's to stop it from moving more, possibly to the point of catastrophic failure (loose bolts falling out...).
I might be brave enough to drive it to the shop, but I'd be concerned the whole time...
Let us know what you find!

 

yes. they just didn't count the turns when replacing them. Not a big deal since they aligned it afterwards.

 

did it change while I was autocrossing? I.E. is this something that I did?
Would it make sense to put the car up in the air after work and inspect to make sure nothing is loose? If so, what should I check? If I use a quick jack to raise the car up, can I just tighten check all of the bolts in the suspension and ensure everything is tight?

How can I confirm it will be safe this weekend for the track day?

 

If I were you, I wouldn't put it on a lift, inspect, or tighten anything. You have an appointment at the shop for tomorrow, so let them see it just the way it was when it left their shop.

 

22mm open end wrench for the tire rod ends. The eccentrics are 21mm- check all six. tighten theses tight, really tight. When they aligned it did they paint pen a stripe on the eccentrics to the cradles to use as a visual to see if the eccentrics moved? If not you can use a sharpie.

 

That would be ok if all the problem is is a off center steering wheel. If one or more eccentrics moved, it can be a handful to drive.

 

He's only driving it to the shop, and he's already driven it and didn't mention anything about it being a handful to drive. There is a lot of value to being able to show the car to the shop and tell them you haven't touched anything since it was in their shop. If you start wrenching on it, you open the door to relieving the shop from being responsible for their own work.