In the process of replacing upper & lower Control Arms and tie rod on passenger side of my son's 86 Cutlass. His first smack up. Can anyone tell me a real simple way to get a down and dirty alignment so that we can bring it to a shop without messing up the tires.

thanks,

KC

before you take the tie rods off count the threads, then make the new ones the same thread count.This will get you ther no probs, as long as your garage is not 1500 miles away

if all you need to do is get it to an alignment shop, just kind of "eyeball" it compared to the rear tire on the same side. make it straight up and down, and try to get the toe in as close to straight as you can. a good trick is to run a piece of string about 20 feet long between 2 jackstands- one in front of the car, one behind- so that it just barely touches the rear tire sidewall on the front and back side, and use that as a measuring point to get the toe straight. it's what circle track racers from the bomber class at the local 1/4 mile bullring up to Indy cars at the 500 do to setup their cars, and you can do it, too.