I'm not sure I understand all of your response. It may be true that some MB's have steering wheels that can't be moved or boxes that can't be adjusted. & yes, I agree that changing the adjusters on the tie-rods adjusts the steering wheel position. This is why the steering wheel should start out straight.

I mentioned my example because of his mentioned the car going crooked. Toe-in could be measured correctly with the wheels NOT parallel to the frame (with some equipment). Yes, the car will go crooked, and yes tires will wear badly - probably very badly! This is especially obvious for rear toe-in and introduces the "thrust angle". The toe-in can be fine, but if the rear tires are not parallel to the front tires, the car may go down the road crooked. Yes, tire wear will be bad and yes the car will go crooked.

I have had a lot of alignments and seen a lot of crazy things done to alignments. Some of the best use age-old Hunter Lite-A-Line's, especially shops that do custom vehicles - low riders, jacked up trucks, etc. Alignment is all about geometry, not computers. Light beams and a skilled tech will work MUCH better than a $100,000 Hunter and someone who doesn't know or core.

HTH,

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Brian Toscano