Should I get my 300M aligned?

Bill Putney has me nervous. The steering wheel is slightly crooked after
getting the clunk repaired but I hate to get the car aligned and wheel
straightened and risk someone not knowing how to handle the front end of an
LH car during an alignment messing up the bushings again . Also, looking at
the car yesterday, I noticed that the hose for the windshield washers was
sticking out the back of the hood. It was easy to route the hose correctly
but even though the dealer got the clunk fixed it still shows they ignored
details. Would the plastic wiper cowl trim have to be removed to change the
inner tie rod bushing? If not, than the first dealer messed up the hose and
not the one who changed the bushing and fixed the clunk.

 

Thousands of these cars get aligned every month- there are plenty of
competent shops that know how to do it. And you can check yourself
afterward: with the car sitting level and the wheels straight ahead, the
tie-rod joint at the wheel should be centered on the ball (top of joint
horizontal) and the bushing end at the steering rack should be
perpendicular to the retaining bolt head (plane of "flat" end of tie-rod
vertical).

Yes.

 

I concur with both of Steve's answers. Sorry to make you paranoid about
the tie rod - the important thing is to just be aware of it and check
after the alignment. Since you didn't know about this before, you don't
know if that had ever contributed to or caused the problem or not.

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

If the tie rod bushing was damaged during an alignment, would that affect
the position of the steering wheel assuming the mechanic did not double
check the steering wheel and compensate?

The reason I ask is at some point, many years ago, the steering wheel became
slightly misaligned to the right. I never did anything about it and I don't
remember at what point it happened. It could have gone unnoticed after an
alignment since my wife mostly drove the car.

In changing the rack, bottom half of the steering column, and struts, I made
the Chrysler dealer align the steering wheel.


After the clunk was fixed by the Dodge dealer, the steering wheel is now off
to the left about the same amount it used to be off to the right.

I find that a strange coincidence.

 

No. The wheel can be perfectly centered and the tie rod can be in a
binding situation. Also, the tie rods can be properly centered
torsionally, and the wheel can be off-center if the shop didn't bother
to center the wheel as a step in the alignment.

Steering wheel centering has to do with both left/right tie rods being
adjusted in *length* properly to center the wheel. The binding issue
happens when a mechanic adjusts the length without making sure that the
tie rod inner and outer ends wind up in the proper rotational
relationship as a last step before tightening down the jamb nuts. FWIW,
that issue isn't unique to the LH cars. All older rear-drive cars with
recirculating ball steering need to have their tie rods "centered"
torsionally so that both the inner and outer tie rod joints are in a
neutral travel position. Its just that a lot of mechanics don't expect
to have to do that with rack-and-pinion cars, although they SHOULD since
a lot of GM cars are exactly the same way, IIRC.

 

An astute DIY'er that knows what he or she (yeah right!) is doing can
maka the adjustment by trial and error, first figuring out which way to
turn each adjuster. You would simply adjust both tie rods the exact
same amount in opposite directions (i.e, lengthen one, shorten the
other), making a note of exactly how much of a turn was made for the
first correction, and drive it to see how it is. Put reference tick
marks on the tie rod and adjusters with a permanent marker *before*
making any changes - otherwise you'll lose track of where you are in the
iterative process. Adjusting them in opposite directions affects
steering wheel centering without throwing the toe setting off.
Adjusting in the same direction changes the toe setting but keeps the
steering wheel centering (or lack thereof) the same - so you *don't want
to do that.

By proportioning the amount it is off after the first adjustment by how
much it was originally off and comparing that to the adjustment (turns)
first made, he should be able to hit it dead nuts the second time. But
yeah - technically, it should be returned to the shop to make them
complete the job correctly for no cost.

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

So my question is, how did the steering wheel get off? They replaced the
bushing. Nothing else is on the receipt. Neither the Dodge dealer or the
Chrysler dealer itemized an alignment at any time during the huge amount of
front end work. When I asked the Chrysler dealer about it the service
writer said it was part of the job and in the cost of the job so not
separately itemized. So assuming it was done at both shops, and knowing
that it went into the Dodge dealer with the steering wheel straight on, how
does it get off during alignment unless the shop is incompetent? And if it
is, why would I let them do another alignment there?

 

Because toe can be corrected by adjusting one or the other or both tie
rod adjusters. A lazy tech will adjust only one to get the total toe
right so that the tires don't wear - but that will, by definition,
change the steering wheel centering. An honest and competent tech will
keep the centering right as he corrects toe (by working with both left
and right adjusters - and he will test it after it's done, and if it's
off a little, he will adjust it again until it's right (both in spec.
and centered). An honest but incompetent or an dishonest but competent
or a dishonest and incompetent tech will not get the job done, excpet by
luck. An honest and competent tech will adjust according to the
interplay between total toe and steering wheel centering. Like any job,
an otherwise competent and honest tech will also take short cuts (i.e.,
not worry about the centering) if his boss puts too much pressure on him
for throughput/productivity.

Keep in mind that even if the toe adjusters are not touched, making
adjustments in camber and caster will also throw off the effective
steering wheel centering by introducing forces into the system that tend
to pull it in one direction or the other (i.e., left or right).

This is why I insist on getting 'before' and 'after' printouts on my
alignments. That way, if things aren't 'feeling' right, I don't have to
scratch my head and wonder about which of the several things could be
causing that new symptom like you are now doing - I simply look at the
numbers and see what changed that would correct or cause whatever.

That's something you have to decide. It's also where the printouts can
help you decide about the integrity (honesty and competency) of the
shop. Any shop that refuses to provide printouts is automatically off
my list - and you may find that to be the case. It's like a lot of
things in industry - if they know they are being audited, the deviant
behavior will be tempered. And if things are fudged, a clever auditor
can determine that too (though sometimes not immediately).

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')