Poor man's toe alignment gauge

[cohocarl]

I've been very unhappy with my Vibe's wandering, especially at higher speeds, but haven't had the time to leave it at the dealer for a day or two for an alignment. I assumed the wandering was partially due to the positive camber of the front wheels, and with the Hotchkis springs I put on a couple weeks ago which drops the car and reduces the camber, the wandering would improve which it did, but it still wandered more than it should.When I rotated the tires (I waited about twice as long as I should have) the front tires were worn more than I expected they should be.I thought I'd take a few minutes and make up a toe gauge to check the toe. What I found was it had a fair amount of toe "in", (the front of the front wheels were pointed inward, and the rear of the front wheels were pointed away from each other.)I adjusted the tie rods for just a fuzz of toe out, took it for a ride, and the car seems to have settled down greatly, and actually seems to want to go straight. I'll post a follow-up report tomorrow, but from my brief ride, I think I've got my wandering under control. The crude toe gauge I made is no way as precise as the dealer's equipment, but I bet it's fairly close. Hopefully I will have a few days between X-mas and New Years so I can take the car into the dealer for a thorough alignment.Below are a few pics of the gauge. It's made out of a 2 x 4, and some scrap pieces. The upright pieces need to be secured very well so they don't bend easily. I pre-drilled through the first piece of wood, and screwed them together so they'd be very snug. I put the 1st upright at the end of the 2 x 4, positioned it up against one tire, then screwed the other upright about 1/4 inch away from the other tire. I then took out my drill bits (easier to slide a different size drill bit through the gap than try to hold up a tape measure and squint) and found one that was about the same size as the gap between the upright and the tire, then moved the gauge to the other side of the tires (front to back, not side to side...), and tried the same size drill bit in the gap. I found that mine had about 1/8" less gap in the rear of the front tires than in the front, so the front tires were "toed in". I measured this 3 times to make sure I had a consistent measurement.I adjusted the tie rods so I had just a little bit of toe out. I'm not suggesting everyone go out and screw around with their tie rods, but if your vibe wanders around more than you think it sould, you may want to check your toe.

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[Sub-Vibe-R]

When I dropped my Vibe, I notice also some wandering on hightway.Once the allignement done by the dealer, the trouble been resolved.Get your car alligned and it will resolve you trouble.