Crazy Steering after suspension upgrade

[Uber E30]

So, i know im dumb and missing something. I did a full suspension upgrade (all bushings front and back, springs, shocks/struts, bearings, ca's, inner and outer ties, etc). Now when i go to drive the car the wheel has a mind of its own and would be impossible to drive above 10 mph. I know it will need an alignment, but is that its current problem or did i fuck something up?

When i put the tie rods on i put them in the shortest position. Im thinking thats what it is but i have no idea where they should be. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[CorvallisBMW]

yup, you need an alignment. Toe is all fucked up.

[atomic]

^^^ agreed that you do need an alignment

You should have adjusted the new tierods to as close as the same length as the old ones were before installing them, that way things would be somewhat close to the way it drove before hand after the new bits/pieces were added...

[Fidhle007]

So, i know im dumb and missing something. I did a full suspension upgrade (all bushings front and back, springs, shocks/struts, bearings, ca's, inner and outer ties, etc). Now when i go to drive the car the wheel has a mind of its own and would be impossible to drive above 10 mph. I know it will need an alignment, but is that its current problem or did i fuck something up?

When i put the tie rods on i put them in the shortest position. Im thinking thats what it is but i have no idea where they should be. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

You're kidding, right?

[Uber E30]

Nope, im pretty new to working on cars. It really only occurred to me after i had test driven it that i didnt adjust the tie rods to the previous spec. Thanks for the help guys!

[Farbin Kaiber]

Goodness.

[dashboardmonkey]

^ What with sig?

[KenC]

... toe is WAY fucked up. Put it up on jackstands and try to eyeball allign. It should be good enough at that point to drive it to an alignment shop.

[dashboardmonkey]

If you use a tape measure you can get it VERY close.

[gearheadE30]

I did the tapemeasure trick among others, and still ended up with a killed tire because of a bad alignment. Take it to a shop; it isn't that expensive.

[E30Idea]

When i put the tie rods on i put them in the shortest position.

[Uber E30]

They were in that position be default. I should just say i never bothered to set them correctly. So yeah i took it down to a shop and its working good now. Thanks for the help =]