OK the steering column [on my 2005 Prius is at 129k] is obviously not straight. Left from a recent 4 new tire purchase ~ 3k miles ago. It was a more minor fix and I chose to live with it for a while, but now that i have some free time I tackled it just yesterday. I conducted a cheap general-fix from a YouTube vid involving cotton twine and some heavy jackstands. I initially centered the steering column and ran the twine around all 4 tires and anchoring to the jackstands in front of the car, as seen in the pics. What helped was that i already knew the car was leaning to the right, hence the left leaning steering column. After eyeballing the twine-to-tire contact on both front tires, i got the idea as to how much sway i was dealing with. I then proceeded to put the front end up on jacks and tweeked both right/left wheel "tie rod" nuts to center line of car. Both tie rod nuts were near rusted together so i added some penetrating oil. I ensured both front wheels were parallel and no TOE-IN. I am aiming for even tread wear and extended tire life. A test drive was positive. The steering column was back to center again and at high speeds the steering wheel tight with a solid feel and with no noticeable emanating wheel noise; centering was good.
That method is better than the one I used back in the 70s, using a wood carpenter's ruler. It worked, though. I think you adjusted the toe-in using the tie rod ends, not camber bolts. Camber is a different adjustment. Did you mention finding evidence of a front-end collision on another post? You may have other adjustments to make, such as both camber and caster.
WRONG NOMENTCLATURE... Correct Andrew, sorry that's TIE ROD adjustment vice CAMBER BOLT i just EDITED my original posting. thanks.
Andrew. You are correct, i did notice evidence of an historic driver-side collision upon removal of front driverside headlight. Interesting. Will look into the camber and caster issues. Big thanks.
So interesting test drive. As the newly adjusted "parallel" front-rear wheel alignment proves noticeable driving changes at higher speeds >50mph. At lower speeds less noticeble: - TITE STEERING. tighter/stiffer/responsive steering wheel at both slow and fast speeds - SMOOTHER RIDE. Much smoother feel and glide of wheels to the road. Sensing fuller wheel-road contact. Assessing longer life of tires & tread wear. - LINGERING TURNS. I'm seeing that unlike the toe-ins of what i am used to, the steering column doesn't want to recenter/self-correct to car center-line, influenced by the inward turned tires. During my highway lane changes and highway exiting, the Prius [now with parallel alignment] responds to my steering by retaining some of its turning momentum causing me drift--kinda' like getting nudged when you're running fast,. I dont think its dangerous, just different from what I'm used to and i will need to make some driving adjustments. Don't think i can drive well with my thigh as I had in the past.
