Front End Alignment Confusion

[ninelevenick]

Okay, maybe I haven't thought hard enough about this, but why is my steering wheel turned to the 1:30 position when I am going straight down the road? This is after replacing the control arm bushings. I did not mess with the tie rods, but I did remove the aluminum cross member. I lowered the front end a bit too.

[Tyson Schmidt]

You got the steering rack bolted back in a millimeter or two off from before. A small movement at the rack makes a big difference at the wheel.

[ninelevenick]

Tyson,

Should I simply reposition the steering wheel and center it?

[Plays with cars]

Control arm bushings, changed ride height, repositioned steering rack, ... Me thinks you should be considering an alignment. Depending on how much you lowered it your toe settings could be out of wack.

[ninelevenick]

Control arm bushings, changed ride height, repositioned steering rack, ... Me thinks you should be considering an alignment. Depending on how much you lowered it your toe settings could be out of wack.

Absolutely, the toe and camber are off due to new bushings and lowering the ride height, but it seems like I could center the steering wheel first and then fine tune toe by adjusting the tie rods. Is my understanding accurate, or am I off base?

[James Brown]

If you get it aligned, they will center the wheel, or you could center it yourself and get an alignment sometime soon.

[Plays with cars]

Do the alignment work, then center the steering wheel. Camber --> toe --> steering wheel.

Edit: yeah, what James said