4 wheel or 2 wheel alignment?

Hi,

I just bought a '99 Camry XLE and the steering wheel is off centre while driving straight. At first it didn't seem like much of a problem, but it's bugging me more and more evreytime I drive it. I'm taking it into a Toyota dealer Tuesday for a wheel alignment, but would like some info so I sound knowledgable at the dealers.

The actual symptoms are when the car is pointing straight, the steering wheel is 1/10 of a turn to the left. If I hold the wheel in that position the car drives straight and stops straight, it even drives pretty straight when I don't hold the wheel. I was thinking there was just an adjustment to adjust the steering wheel position. If I count the revolutions from dead centre, the steering whell can turn more times to the left than to the right, hence the centre is offset to the left.

Is a 4 wheel alignment necessarry/possible on this car? From what I've read on the net, many things can cause this problem. Is toe in the most common cause of this type of problem? Would a simple 2 wheel alignment be able to fix this problem, without all the extra cost of a 4 wheel alignment?

Thanks!

Norm

PS Love the car

Father Guido ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ I plan on living forever... so far, so good

Reply to
Father Guido
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In news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com, Father Guido being of bellicose mind posted:

In the case of Camry, BOTH the front and rear wheels have toe adjustment provisions. The front toe adjustment can be zero but the rear be out of spec which will make the car "dog-track" (thrust) which in turn will put the steering wheel off center. So.... your Camry MUST have a four wheel alignment.

Reply to
Philip®

Most dealerships that i know of charge the same for a 2 wheel or 4 wheel alignment. A camry which has adjustable toe arms in the rear gets a 4 wheel. Other vehicles that are non adjustable in the rear and have rear toe correcting bushings have to have a 2 wheel alignment.

Reply to
JonS999

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