ball joints help

I've had luck aligning my wheels at home on jack stands. I put a thumb tack in each tire then put both thumb tacks in the front by spinning the tires forward and measure the distance between them and then roll the tires backwards and measure the distance again. The goal is to get the same measurment. I've gotten it within a 1/8 of an inch I drove the car like that for 2 years and I never had strange tire wear. But all I did was replace tie rod ends not bushings.