I am not the smartest on this site, but unless I missed something, the OP said "I have a car (not Mercedes)......". I can't answer his question because some cars (not Mercedes) have the tie rods in front of the wheels and some have them behind the wheels. I can't come up with a way to say which way to turn the tie rods not having all the facts.

PaulM

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84 500 SEL (307,xxx miles)