Chad05TL

Over the past several years I have had about 4 different alignments from the best Hunter machines to the older laser machines. Surprisingly the laser machine was better than the Hunter because I think the Hunter machine had "operator trouble". And even then my steering wheel was not perfectly straight even with the laser.
So, what to do?
How do you find a straight line if you do it at home?
Fortunately, on the 3rd gen TL, the front tires are equally apart from each other as the rear tires are equally apart. So, that helps a lot! We can use the front tires as a guide for the rear tires, and vise versa. The rear tires must be set as close to 0 degree, 0mm toe as possible. And aiming the rear tires toward the front tires is the best line you will get that is at zero, since both front and rear tires are equally as wide, or nearly equal.
I have used Rope to try to tell if was pointed toed in or toed out. And it did a fair job.
I have used fishing line to tell if was pointed toed in or toed out. And it was much better.
But the best way to tell if a tire is even slightly toed in or out is to use a Level with a straight laser line. This method does not work with "Pen lasers". Those are not straight in relation to the outer construction of the pen so it will not shine straight.

Enter Harbor Freight Tools.
https://www.harborfreight.com/hand-t...der-93884.html

Adjusting the rear tires.
First check the distance between the tire and the laser line to see how far away the line is from the tire naturally. And it looks like about 1/2" to 1". This is pointed straight down.



Next, Lay the Level against the tire Like this



Now adjust the rear tire until the laser line is about the same distance (thickness) away from the front tire.


Repeat the same procedure for the front, but shine the laser to the rear, using the rear tires as a guide.



When the rear toe is off center, it will throw off your steering wheel EVEN IF THE FRONT IS STRAIGHT.
Why? Because the car will compensate like this:


Therefore, your rear toe must be set to absolute zero before you can adjust the front.
The best procedure to align at home:
Set rear camber first.
Set Rear toe 2nd
Set front toe 3rd.

The reason for this is procedure is because the rear camber may slightly affect the rear toe. So, set rear camber first. Then set rear toe, because rear toe can affect the front toe. Then set front toe last because it does not have a bearing on rear toe unless you drive backwards everywhere. ha!

Since you do not have a home alignment machine, you will have to set it, then go drive, then recheck to see where it sits. I think it is best to raise the vehicle slightly on the rear to allow the rear toe arm to move as you turn the bolt rather than having the weight on it. It may be slightly easier for the adjustment to be dialed in with ease if "all" of the weight is not sitting on the tire. Try it both ways to suit yourself.

Turbonut

iTrader: (1)

Steering wheel can be off-center even if the wheels/tires are set correctly.
The steering wheel is adjusted by turning each tire rod end equally as this will keep the correct setting but move the wheel.

Really tough when setting the alignment w/o proper equipment as a 1 degree error is only .017".

Chad05TL

True on the first paragraph. The steering wheel can be off center even if the front tires are aligned properly. There is a BUT though. "But you won't know how far off center your steering wheel is until you zero out the rear toe."

as far as proper equipment goes. That is only as good as the person using the equipment and that's usually not good. And even if you do find a good mechanic, most the time they won't dial it in to the smallest of margins and give you the same care they would put on their own car. So good luck with that.
secondly, if you compare the rope and string method using this Level/laser combo device.. you have to realize the accuracy is much greater using the level/laser instead of the rope and/Or fishing string. Because the string method works like this.. to align the rear toe, you tie the string to the front tire, then pull it back to the rear tire. When you pull it back to the rear tire, press/hold the string to the backside of the tire and then look at the front side of the rear tire and see if there is a gap between the string and the tire. If there is a gap then your rear tire is toe-in. If there is no gap, the lift the string off the rear side of the tire with your hand, and see where the string begins to lift off the front side of the tire. This would be toe-out if you have to pull the string out much at all before the string lifts off the front side of the tire.
****Ok I said all that to make this point. Whether you are trying to find out if the rear tire is toe out or toe in, both methods only use the "distance" from the front of the tire, to the rear of the tire to check if the tire is pointed in or out.. Which is only about 2 feet? But the Level laser method uses the whole distance from the rear tires to the front tires to see if it is offset. Now that is a ton better. That is like maybe 10 feet or so. So what I am saying is that the level/laser will get you where you want to be. Even the best hunter machine will only "look" at a distance from the machine itself to the tire.. Which might be 15'? So I am going to do something engineers call "hand waving" about the .017 equals 1 degree comment. And don't forget! Mechanic shops use the 2mm specification for the rear alignment. They say it is in spec if you are 2mm or less. So good luck convincing them they need to spend some time on getting within .01 of zero. I Don't think so.. Been there done that. The method I used here is better than a so called professional alignment. Because a pro alignment depends on the person doing the job and what they think spec is, and how good they are and the procedure they use and if they want to put in the effort and how busy they are. Plus I have been to several places and only 1 was any good. And even if they are good, their machine only looks at distance of 15 feet away " or so". There is not enough difference between 10 to 15 feet to amount to anything significant. The mechanism of adjusting the alignment with that will oblong bolt introduces error as well if that bolt moves unexpectedly while making the adjustent. So, IMO it's not a good design to adjust the alignment. But it will get it in spec. And it's a cheap way of making the adjustment, which is probably why Honda uses it.
anyway, to each their own. Go get a "professional alignment " if that makes you happy then do it but after that, when your steering wheel is off center or it pulls to 1 side or another, I told you so.

Chad05TL

1 more thing that many professional mechanics dont do. Few of them set the steering wheel dead on smack dab straight before they start the alignment. Why? Because they don't fully understand that if the steering wheel is not set straight before the alignment, that it will not be straight after the alignment. Crazy!

so by the time you consider all these points I make and all the room for error, that .017 gets dwarfed by all these other issues.