Steering wheel off centre

J

JDM

Senior member
Car has been in for some warranty work over the past couple of days at Astle in Scunthorpe. Very pleased with the service compared to Doncaster and the service consultant was a pretty keen petrol head and had some good banter with him..

Driving back home tonight though and noticed the steering wheel is slightly off centre when driving straight.. Its slightly turned to the left. Now I can't say I noticed it was like this before it went in but I can't be 100% sure. Besides they only put a couple of miles on it as I recorded the mileage before it went in..

There appears to be no wheel wobbling or pulling to the left or right which makes me think its not the balancing or tracking but I'm no mechanic..

Can anyone shed any light? I know when I had a recent routine inspection carried out by local Indie they reported the front bushes appeared to be wearing slightly but were not in need of replacement. Does anyone think this could have an effect on it?

Cheers guys and girls..
 
I thought this was a sign of mis-alignment of the wheels, because it should be straight, and if you put it straight you turn... Mine is the same, irritates the hell out of me, so I was planning to have some laser alignment done. Wouldn't mind knowing if I am wrong though.
 
Mine ended up slightly off centre after wheel alignment :headbang:

I am happy that my tires are safe :thumbsup:


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Had some experience of this with my old 3.0i SE.

It was nice and straight for a long time, then it needed the front arms and bushes replacing. Once that was done, it was quite a bit out of line and triggered a light to come on. Once I had the wheels aligned (with no other work done) then the wheel was back to normal and the light went out.
 
Any decent tyre shop can re-allign it for you (heel and toe will do)... often will only charge for the adjustments they need to make.
 
My alignment place always realigns the steering wheel to be "straight" when they're doing an alignment of the front suspension - IIRC the Hunter system reminds them to ensure the steering wheel is level before making the adjustments.
 
JDM - what work did you have done? Anything to do with front suspension, steering rack, etc?

If so it's a simple case of having the tracking reset. They will lock the wheel to dead centre, undo one tracking arm to move it in/out and the opposite side the same in the other direction to compensate. Hope that makes sense.

This problem is commen when one track rod end is rusted up, so they make all the adjustment on one side leaving the wheel off centre.

Remember a Zed can only be aligned on a Hunter style system with correct weighting in the boot, seats and full tank of fuel, else it will handle like a shopping trolley.
 
Hunter machine sorted my slightly off centre wheel too. Wonky steering wheel is my pet hate on any car.
 
cj10jeeper said:
JDM - what work did you have done? Anything to do with front suspension, steering rack, etc?

If so it's a simple case of having the tracking reset. They will lock the wheel to dead centre, undo one tracking arm to move it in/out and the opposite side the same in the other direction to compensate. Hope that makes sense.

This problem is commen when one track rod end is rusted up, so they make all the adjustment on one side leaving the wheel off centre.

Remember a Zed can only be aligned on a Hunter style system with correct weighting in the boot, seats and full tank of fuel, else it will handle like a shopping trolley.
Click to expand...

I had the bluetooth microphone replaced and a new release bearing on the clutch. I took it back to the dealers today who confirmed that the steering wheel had been removed to replace the microphone but that it was not possible to put the steering wheel back on incorrectly as the spline only allows for it to be put on in one postion.. They removed the steering wheel again and put it back on again while I waited and its still exactly the same..

This pic is driving in a straight line.

img0887dj.jpg


I just find it weird as Im pretty sure I would have noticed this mis-alignment before it went in as its my daily driver.

The service consultant says it is more than likely a tracking issue but they do not have a tracking machine there so would need to send it away to be sorted.

I think the best thing from here is to get the front bushes replaced (powerflex type ones) and then get a four wheel alignment done.

This is really bugging me now... :headbang:
 
I've had the wheel aligned several times on my Z4M but it's always ever so slightly off to the right.

I'm told each time (by various places and specialists) that the tracking is just so. With that in mind, if you take the steering wheel off and rotate left a notch or two and replace will this upset the computers / stability control etc?
 
billy_beemer said:
I've had the wheel aligned several times on my Z4M but it's always ever so slightly off to the right.

I'm told each time (by various places and specialists) that the tracking is just so. With that in mind, if you take the steering wheel off and rotate left a notch or two and replace will this upset the computers / stability control etc?
Click to expand...
Mine also seems to be a couple of degrees out, but you may find that one notch is more than the current error in the steering angle, so you may end up with it moving in the other direction more than it does now.
 
ive been all over to try get the tracking done on mine but knowone will touch it! balancing is easy to get done but the tracking is a knightmare! everyone keeps telling me it has to be weighted and all sorts!
 
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