How do you adjust front wheel toe?
 

my 90 gxl has front wheel toe-out (wheels facing slightly out from eachother) after a fender bender. the front end is pretty much screwed, the frame is slightly buckled. The car drives ok, but the steering wheel has to be turned slightly to go straight. The front right wheel looks to be pointing slightly out, because the strut tower was pushed back a little. I just want it fairly driveable again, just to use as a back-up beater car.
Anyway, so im trying to fix the toe-out. I loosened the nut in the middle of the tie rod, then took off the nut on top of where the ball joint where the tie rod connects to the part at the wheel. But i cannot disconnect the tie rod at all. Do i have to disconnect it from the wheel end, to adjust toe? If so, how do you disconnect the ball joint stud from the part at the wheel? It seems stuck in there pretty good - do i just whack at it with a sledge? :confused:

fsm covers how to adjust toe (under steering or suspension, i believe). No need to be taking apart things.

Ok, thanks, i forgot about the fsm. So i suppose the tie rod can spin where it connects to the steering fluid chamber...

Figures I took pics of my car today, wish I would of took a pic for you to see

ok i figured it out, pretty simple, the car drives straight again, thanks

I would highly recommend you take it to an alignment shop and pay them.
Toe adjustments are made down to 1/32"!
If you're off by just a little bit, it'll prematurely wear your tires.


-Ted

If your strut tower has been pushed back as you say, the whole car may actually be 'crabbing' down the road sideways, which will wear all four tires funny. Changing the toe may help but there is likely lots of other problems that only straightening the car will fix, if it is as bad as you say. Depending on what direction the force of the hit came from, the car could be messed up in all three axis. For just a beater car you may be OK but I wouldn't expect it to handle properly at 'sporting' speeds, as caster, ackerman geometry, and weight transfer may all be affected, meaning it may bite you suddenly if you push too hard. Just be careful if you can't get it completely fixed. Noone wants to see you get hurt :-)

I think he is aware of the tires wearing funny. He seems to know his car is basically "totalled" and the tires will wear funny due to the accident.

I think he just wanted it to drive halfassed straight so that he could use the car as a backup. Not dump money into it having the frame straightened and then the front end aligned...

Just suggesting that he be careful if he's gonna knowingly drive an unsafe car, thats all.

Werd! :bigthumb: