steering wheel off center after allignment

[volvopilot]

hi all,

I have a V50 D2 from 2011. It was tracking fine with the steering wheel centered. I did need 2 new front tyres since they had no treat left (1.5mm). Nice even tire wear.

After replacing the 2 front tires for Vredestein Sportrac 5 205/50/17 93W, the steering wheel is slightly off center to the right. Even though it is still tracking nicely and not pulling to any side.

I got an allignment with a professional done yesterday. He did this twice, but no luck. He did need to make some adjustments but the steering wheel is still slightly off center to the right.

Today I returned to the allignment shop and they checked it up for free and the allignment was 100% bang on. We used a leveling equipment for the wheel to get it dead center.

to rule out the tires we swapped left and right front wheels.

Still off center to the right? I'm out of clue. Anyone who got an idea? Maybe get the steering wheel off and center the wheel on the hub?

[TeamG]

With a slight camber on the road surface, you usually need to compensate right a bit to stay straight. Is this it?

[Gaz2]

Unless you think the steering wheel has at some previous time been removed you should not contemplate removing it now. It's perfectly possible for the alignment to be correct yet the steering wheel to be off centre. The cure is to adjust the track rods. Shorten one then increase the other by an equal amount i.e. count the turns. If the wheel is only slightly off centre you may not even need one full turn of the adjusters.

[Bashy]

This should have been done at alignment, a device to make sure the steering wheel stays centered, i would go back or better go elsewhere and explain to them....

[MDS40]

They should have used a locking bar on the steering wheel before making the tracking adjustments.

[lockstock]

Originally Posted by volvopilot

hi all,

I have a V50 D2 from 2011. It was tracking fine with the steering wheel centered. I did need 2 new front tyres since they had no treat left (1.5mm). Nice even tire wear.

After replacing the 2 front tires for Vredestein Sportrac 5 205/50/17 93W, the steering wheel is slightly off center to the right. Even though it is still tracking nicely and not pulling to any side.

I got an allignment with a professional done yesterday. He did this twice, but no luck. He did need to make some adjustments but the steering wheel is still slightly off center to the right.

Today I returned to the allignment shop and they checked it up for free and the allignment was 100% bang on. We used a leveling equipment for the wheel to get it dead center.

to rule out the tires we swapped left and right front wheels.

Still off center to the right? I'm out of clue. Anyone who got an idea? Maybe get the steering wheel off and center the wheel on the hub?

as others have said. Sounds like incompetent techs. Steering wheel should be locked bang on centre before the align rear and front and get thrust angle to near zero. They have cocked something up i the procedure and now they arw doing 'half a job' to correct it..... edit, as I write this I realise what may be going on... What system do they use and was it a full alignment? They need to do all 4, check rears first for thrust angle. If the geometry of car is off slightly at rear (so rear wheels don't point 100% even square forward down cars centre line) then the front wheel alignment needs to be slightly off too so car tracks dead straight. If they don't do this, and just set up front tracking based on cars centre line, and the rears thrust angle is not zero, then you will constantly have to add a little steering to keep the car straight.

To be 100% they ideally need a hunter system.

[Austin160]

To me, the simplistic view is that the steering wheel was correctly set at 3o’clock/9o’c before any wheel alignment adjustment was carried out, so the fact that it currently isn’t is almost certainly to do with that adjustment - unless something else (by coincidence) has changed.

Centring the steering wheel and clamping it in position before making any adjustment does indeed act as a confidence booster, and leads the customer to believe that the wheel will stay at that point on the road. Happiness!
Reality:- clamp the wheel in the 3/9 o’c position. Let’s say alignment is out by 4mm (x degrees) - the usual trick of adjusting one track rod (easier isn’t it)by 4mm brings everything back into line and wheel is still centre. Great, until it’s on the road, and the wheel is off centre! Correct, but often-not-done way is to adjust each track rod by 2mm to ensure the wheel stays as it is. As has already been said.
Kind regards,
Austin.

[Zebster]

It is worth noting that the toe/tracking can indeed be 100% correct, but with the steering wheel well off-centre. The only way the steering wheel will definitely left in the correct straight-ahead position is if it is first locked in that position, then adjustments made to both sides of the vehicle to achieve the correct toe angle.

Decades ago I'd just make the necessary adjustment to one side to achieve the correct toe setting, then remove and straighten the steering wheel. But adjustments to the steering wheel are far too difficult with a modern car.

[Welton]

It makes sense to LOCK the steering wheel dead centre and then take up any tracking adjustments by sharing this on both sides of the steering rod ends....the reality is a little time consuming, I've had by wheel very slightly out a few times after tracking on a Hunter machine with the correct before/after print outs etc. our steering wheels are very large and exaggerate the smallest of errors.

In my mind the steering wheel of a modern car with stability/traction control should not be removed and refitted on the splines as this could upset the steering angle sensor.