Alignment issues. Plz help

[GBR]

I have a 99 Lude non-sh, I lowered it with aftermarket struts and tried to get it aligned to spec, now obviously with not having a camber kit, my camber is negative but not horrible enough to address. toe came into spec, but not caster. Soo my problem now is that when wheels are straight and i turn the steering wheel left my radius of revolutions is alot less than when turning to the right. so flipping a U turn now usually requires me doing a 3 point turn, unless its a wide street which is annoying. The car was aligned at firestone, and the guy their told me my tie rod has no more thread for adjustment and in order to correct the turn radius and make it even like stock again, I'd have to get an after market caster shimmy. I've tried finding this part with no luck, I honestly have never heard anything about a part like that, so can anyone help with me understand what the hell this guy is talking about? Or any other solution to my caster issue to solve my reduced turning radius?

[Rabbit]

Maybe he's meaning about a camber kit?

You said you don't have one...

[GBR]

Lol, nah thats on the list besides the caster issue, but thanks, always gotta cancel out the obvious

[DustPan]

Sounds like he messed with your steering column. I haven't heard of a caster shim. Caster on hondas is adjusted by two point camber kits, or older hondas that had the lateral bars, or if you have an aftermarket traction bar. The only thing caster will effect is the pull side to side. Positive caster is better then Negative caster and you want about .5 degree higher on the passenger side to compensate for road crown.

[GBR]

Thanks for the info dustpan. Also to add, lately my car has been having insane torque steer since my last alignment, car would have a very dramatic pull to the right under accleration and very dramatic pull to the left under full release of the throttle, So took my car to firestone AGAIN and they just kept saying its my motor mounts/struts/ball joints. Well all them are less than 5months old and have been fine all this time, so i take my car to my dads shop and had one of his mechanic's check it out, within a few minutes he figured out by pushin on my passenger side tire the wheel had no resistance at all, pretty much my wheel was just bouncing around in the wheel well with minimal support, the jackass tech at firestone installed my radius arm bushings in BACKWARDS, where it connects into the radiator support. They're somewhat cone shaped and obviously are meant to go in one direction. AND then tried to make up for the caster change by installing like 4 washers to push it back out. Long story short i took my car back to firestone AGAIN AGAIN and bitched, they refused to accept being responsible for this, also said my steering issue isn't their fault, I must have messed with the rack, or its bent or blah blah etc. They refuse to fix it, saying they wont do it for free and its not part of the alignment that he'll charge me to fix it. I told the manager: "IF its not part of the effing alignment then why the hell was it messed with before? I've been dealing with it for months now, every since i put on my snow tires and had it aligned here, where its only ever been aligned since i've owned it, and i'm sick of doing 3point turns to flip a u turn in most streets, I want it fixed." I continued to argue with the bastard and he continually just kept backin up his tech saying "My guy installed the parts exactly the way they came off" I replied with "Even when its wrong? Your lousy tech should have known instantly that haaving to install washers to fix the caster presents a problem, but he continued to ignore that and knowingly covered up HIS mess up with washers instead of deciphering what he had done wrong and let my car go out the door knowing something wasn't right and failed to let me know anything so in the event something was broke or needed repairs I had no idea to even be able to get fixed, sounds like alot of guilty/shady behavior from your tech."

So lots of arguiing etc, got no where they wont fix my steering and want to charge me $95 per hour to figure out the "puzzle" + parts, so with that said i'm hoping my dads shop can figure out whats up  with the steering issue without needing an aligment machine and i'm pretty much screwed @ firestone. I have lifetime alignments there and really really dont want to pay for somewhere else when i have lifetime alignments THERE, my dad obviously does not have an alignment machine. Bleh, any ideas?

[DustPan]

Yeah just raise the car pull both wheels and remove both outer tie rods completely. keep track of how many turns it takes to twist them off. Add the number from both sides together then devide by 2. Then reinstall the outers and twist them on that many turns you came up with. Put the wheels on and lower the car then back the car up then pull forward. let the car go straight even if the wheel is not. keep track of where the wheel is pointing. Loosen the u joint under the dash, slide it off the rack and pinion splines, center the wheel then slide u joint back on the splines and tighten. Then take it back to get it aligned and you should be set.

[GBR]

Thanks mucho DustPan, I'll try that asap, Ive got a few other things i gotta do on my car before i tackle that issue, lol