Can anyone advise how to adjust the tie-rods and thereby align the steering wheel? (7/00)
With spanners .. not molegrips like the last bloke who did my alignment... Basically you want to adjust both rods the same amount .. so if you do 1/2 turn OUT on one side ..you need to match it with 1/2 turn IN on the other side .. then go for a short drive to find neutral position .. and try again.. the basic idea is too keep the length of stuff between the adjuster constant.. (7/00)
Do it at the track rods ends .. you can do this without jacking the car up.. I think it is 15 or 17mm spanners .. in fact .. one of each. Basically you want to equally adjust the track rod ends .. so as you screw one rod into the end ball joint you want to screw the other out by the same amount. The aim of the game is to keep the total distance of the steering rack/ball joints constant; just turn in 1/4 turns each side and you should maintain your alignment. .. .. you can do the steering wheel by one spline too .. but it is fairly coarse.. (9/00)

I'm prompted to write this by watching Mike Brewer on Driven last night, parking various superminis. I see it every day, and it makes me wince.

I've just had to replace my steering tie rods (ball joints in Mazda-speak). The steering rack is connected to the wheel hub carriers by the track rods. The track rods screw into the ends of the rack, and are connected to the hub carriers by the famous track rod ends. The inner end has a ball joint, and so does the outer.

If you drive a manual steering car, you'll know that it is much harder to turn the steering wheel when the car is completely stationary than if you inch it forward or backward slightly. But it's pretty easy to turn the wheel with power steering when stopped - but it puts enormous strains on the steering joints, and it knackers them. Obviously this is what the previous owner did in Nagoya whilst parking prior to stuffing it into the bus stop. ;-)

Most cars just wear the (outer) track rod ends, but Mazdas generally (BMW's and others, too) are inclined to wear the inner joints. (Not that the outer ends are immune) The symptoms are that the front end feels generally loose and rattly, and if you grasp the wheel with the car jacked up, or even not) and turn the wheels as if steering by hand, you'll find a bit of play and a discernible clunk.

Pretty straightforward job to replace them, but the parts cost 70-odd and of course you need an alignment job.

So please - don't turn the steering wheel with the car stationary, just because you can. Make sure it's moving slightly. I might want to buy your car one day! :-) (1/01)