Hi,

Just put new tires on and I don't want them to wear unevenly...

On newer cars its easy to tell if it pulls one way or the other, but on older cars the steering wheel has so much more free play, it seems to drive straight, but how do you know for sure?

 

It's probably not something you can tell by just visual inspection. Take it to a shop that does front end alignments and have them check it.

I took my '73 wagon to a local tire shop for new tires and an alignment, and they had no trouble working with a nearly 40-year-old car in either coming up with the specs or doing the actual work.

Plus, on newer cars, as tight as the steering is as compared to cars of decades ago, I still wouldn't wait for the alignment to be bad enough that noticeable pull occurs. Again, I'd have alignments done regularly so you catch problems before they become bad enough to become noticeable in terms of the handling of the car. If you wait that long, the damage is already done.

 

Having the alignment checked is the only way to know for sure. For example, you could have the camber out by the same amount on both sides and it would still drive straight and wear tires. What did the old tires that were on the car look like? If they had an abnormal wear pattern, you probably have a problem.


How much free play do you have? I've got a 70 ElCamino, the same year A body as your Cutlass, and I don't notice any free play. Have you checked the steering linkage for worn, sloppy joints? If you're not sure, a good alignment guy will check all that and tell you before doing the alignment.


Something to watch on your new tires is to rub the palm of your hand back and forth across the face of the tread. If you feel a saw tooth effect across the tread, you have a problem. Sometimes you can feel a problem long before you can see it.

 

1. If you've got that much play in your steering, then you've got something far more wrong than just bad alignment.

2. (Variation on the old theme, "If you have to ask the price, then you can't afford it")
If you wonder whether you need an alignment, then you need one.

- Eric

 

These methods are NOT guaranteed accurate, if you must know, it must go on an alignment rack. Also you must be on VERY level ground for these.

TOE:

Find a common spot on each front tire, could be tread edge at the inner sidewall. Make a chalk mark an equal distance from the ground on the same spot on each tire, facing forward. Now measure in between those two spots.

Roll the car back so your marks now face the rear of the car, the same distance from the ground you chose while the marks were facing forward. Measure again, compare measurements, you will roughly know if the tires are toed-in or out.

CAMBER:

Use an accurate level large enough to touch a common spot on your rim's edges, but small enough it wont touch the tires. Lean it out from the rim, top or bottom, until it shows true vertical. Measure with calipers the distance from the level to the rim. You can compare these to your rear wheels since there are no alignment adjustments possible in the rear of your vehicle. However, this will not prove much, since we don't know the camber specifications for your vehicle, but you can at least see if its close to 0 (vertical).

 

Hey thanks for the replies... end result: I'll end up taking it in somewhere just to be safe. I guess I was more wondering if there was anything to tell me if it was just routine or an emergency. Honestly I would have done it same day but the place I got the tires didn't do alignments

As to the steering wheel free-play its not bad -- probably somewhere between a half-inch and one inch -- which I always thought was normal for older cars (i.e. it feels the same as my Dad's '66 Cutlass and the '58 Olds I drove back in high school)
I just meant compared to new cars where I can steer with one finger and can change lanes by moving the wheel 1/4"

 

And that's why so many swap in Jeep Grand Cherokee steering boxes.

- Eric