After doing a ball joint replacement on my 1979 245 (now RIP) I attempted to set the toe-in to be good enough to limp into a superb Volvo shop that had the best alignment equipment.

It was not easy, the measuring a marking and lifting and lowering the car like to drove me nuts. Yes, I finally just limped in the 15 miles, during a low-traffic time.

Here's my suggestion: Lift the car and support it on jack stands. Get two open-end or adjustable wrenches. On the tie rod near where it fits onto the tie rod end you should see flat spots. This is where one of the wrenches will go, the other on the tie rod itself, or the locking nut. By loosening and turning the tie rod into or out of the tie rod end you can change the working length of the tie rod.

Examine the way the tie rod connects to the wheel, learn whether shortening the rods will move the front edges of the wheels closer to each other or farther apart.

Moving the front of the wheels closer to each other is increasing toe-in. Moving them apart obviously reduces toe-in. When the wheels roll with the distance between front edges exactly the same as the distance between the rear edges (measured plus/minus 1/64 inch) toe-in is zero. I was unable to measure those distances to that accuracy.

Your symptom of tire wear on the outside tire edges indicates too much toe-in.

Remember that changes must be made equally on both left and right tie rods.

So if shortening and tie rods moves to reduce toe-in, you want to shorten the left and right tie rods by a small amount. One turn may be too much. If one turn changes the length 1/16-inch, that's 1/8-inch total, a large change. I suggest making a 1/2 turn change on each side. Then do a test drive.

On straight level smooth road release the wheel and see if the car continues to track straight or does it "wander". If it wanders, the tow-in is too little. Re-adjust.

What you want is a car aligned well enough to take it to a shop with Hunter brand equipment and a technician skilled with aligning RWD cars. Doing a four-wheel or "thrust" alignment on a RWD car is a waste of money unless the car has been wrecked and bent.

Such shops are used by dealers and other repair shops who don't have enough need to own the equipment. Ask who the dealer uses, or ask a trusted body shop.

Good Luck,

Bob

:>)