So I took my car to the alignment shop THREE times, as my car is badly toed-out (see pics). They haven't fixed it yet after installing a new center link, but the tech keeps telling me a bad steering box (because there's some play in my steering) will affect the toe-in position. I don't see how. Anyone wanna back me up on this?

 

What city you live in. I see so cal, im here also. If you're not far from me in my travels around oc this week, maybe I could take a quick peek and definately tell you what's wrong

 

If there was excessive play in the steering box, that could cause the car to be difficult to align correctly. However, the alignment shop should be able to set one wheel straight and get the other one to zero toe (or whatever specs you prefer)

 

Hey thanks. The car is still at the shop but I'll keep you posted.

That's what I was thinking. The steering box should have NO effect on the toe-in (or caster and camber) of the wheels - only the alignment of the steering wheel and shaft. I mean the steering is sloppy but that would affect both wheels equally I would think.

 

Yes you're right. The steering box doesn't have an effect on the distance between the front and rear edges of the wheels (which is toe in/out)

 

Your steering box could be removed from the car completely and you could still set toe. It has no part in the actual setting. The only relationship is you watn to set it up so that the toe is zeroed out to whatever spec they are aiming for while the steering box is centered. If the steering box isnt centered, then it will just always have some play in it or be very hard to center... but your toe setting will still be right on.

 

Is your center link installed correctly? If it's flipped over, you can get excessive toeout without changing anything else.

 

Sounds like a bunch of bs to me. Did you have the center link replaced or did they say it was causing this issue initially?