Originally Posted by old96A4

.... I'm sure I'm going to get flamed here but here goes. For tow in, get a 6 foot level or some sort of straight edge. put it across one of the front tires about half way up. I have a box I use. make sure it hits both sides of the tire and go back to about the center of the car and measure the distance from the car to the straight edge. do this on both sides. have your wheel straight, loosen the tie rod ends. I like the idea of putting the tires on two pieces of tile with grease in between so the tire can move easy done it both ways. center the steering wheel. move the tie rods to get the measurement the same. Then take two wood trim pieces and put a notch in it so you can use a tape measure to measure the distance front and back of the tires. I soot for zero tow in. I can get with it 1/2 inches. keep playing around with it. The camber is harder to do. I usually watch my tires for wear every day for a while and move the adjustment in the back a little to compensate. .....

Originally Posted by old96A4

I've had my two Audi's aligned at a few different shops. My tires still wear funny. So I've found , check your bushings to make sure there ok first. In the rear of my 96 the upper bushes we're shot, I replaced those, I bet the lower ones are shot now but any way. I've been doing my own alignments and I think I get closer than some of the shops I've taken it to. I'm sure I'm going to get flamed here but here goes. For tow in, get a 6 foot level or some sort of straight edge. put it across one of the front tires about half way up. I have a box I use. make sure it hits both sides of the tire and go back to about the center of the car and measure the distance from the car to the straight edge. do this on both sides. have your wheel straight, loosen the tie rod ends. I like the idea of putting the tires on two pieces of tile with grease in between so the tire can move easy done it both ways. center the steering wheel. move the tie rods to get the measurement the same. Then take two wood trim pieces and put a notch in it so you can use a tape measure to measure the distance front and back of the tires. I soot for zero tow in. I can get with it 1/2 inches. keep playing around with it. The camber is harder to do. I usually watch my tires for wear every day for a while and move the adjustment in the back a little to compensate. the front you have to loosen the 3 bolts on the top of the suspension to adjust it. But if your bushing are bad for get all of this... its not perfect but it gets it close. no worse than some of the shops around here. you can try using a level for the camber but its hard getting it right when the suspension moves so much.

Originally Posted by Reggie

old96A4 is right - chances are there are suspension parts that are worn. Also it appears the tires were not rotated regularly. Using the parking brake alone will not cause alignment issues - but can cause wear on the rear tires if done on a dry road as those tires slide across the asphalt