Steering alignment off?

[Canonite]

My steering wheel has always pointed slightly to the right (around 12:30) but left it as I had a bit of an overhaul planned.

I’ve recently had new tyres, lower arms, drop links and track rod ends fitted.
I had a 4 wheel alignment done and while it felt better and the parameters were within the tolerances, my steering wheel was still skewed to the right while driving straight.
Took it back and pointed out as I did before that the steering wheel was still not central in relation to driving in a straight line. They did the same 4 wheel laser alignment again and although it felt better initially, it’s gone back to how it was before after very few miles.

So what’s causing it? Is it related to the steering rack if there was air in it or should I be getting the suspension and steering looked at?
Is there a chance something could be bent?

[clf]

After refitting.my steering wheel one time, my wheel was very slightly out. Even though there is a notch supposedly to prevent this, I removed it and replaced it (and was able to) a couple of degrees anticlockwise. Been fine since.

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[Mike Noc]

The marks don't prevent you from fitting the wheel incorrectly, they just identify how to align it correctly.

The steering wheel on Mrs Noc's car came loose not long after we bought it, and when I took the airbag off to tighten it found it was way out of ailgnment.

Some cowboy had decided to straighten the wheel by repositioning it on the steering shaft and then couldn't be bothered to tighten it back up enough.

All corrected now and it is back in the correct position.

[Canonite]

There is a larger spline on the steering shaft that prevents the steering wheel from being positioned incorrectly. I’m not going to force the wheel to even it out as that’s just defeating the object and I suspect would be detriment to the handling of the car. I have a black oak wheel fitted, and made sure it was mounted to the correct splines, the issue was present prior to this.
My issue is with either the geometry of the subframe, individual components or the rack itself. I would have thought renewing the components and having it all realigned would have corrected it, but it hasn’t. So I’m now wondering what else it could be.

[clf]

Originally Posted by Canonite

There is a larger spline on the steering shaft that prevents the steering wheel from being positioned incorrectly. I’m not going to force the wheel to even it out as that’s just defeating the object and I suspect would be detriment to the handling of the car. I have a black oak wheel fitted, and made sure it was mounted to the correct splines, the issue was present prior to this.
My issue is with either the geometry of the subframe, individual components or the rack itself. I would have thought renewing the components and having it all realigned would have corrected it, but it hasn’t. So I’m now wondering what else it could be.

It won't affect the handling, but I too made sure it was aligned to the correct mark, yet I was still one maybe two spines out lol.

If the car drives straight and true (Although there will likely be very light bias to left), and there is no unusual tyre wear, then changing the wheel.position will do no harm.

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[Jules]

Originally Posted by Canonite

There is a larger spline on the steering shaft that prevents the steering wheel from being positioned incorrectly. I’m not going to force the wheel to even it out as that’s just defeating the object and I suspect would be detriment to the handling of the car. I have a black oak wheel fitted, and made sure it was mounted to the correct splines, the issue was present prior to this.
My issue is with either the geometry of the subframe, individual components or the rack itself. I would have thought renewing the components and having it all realigned would have corrected it, but it hasn’t. So I’m now wondering what else it could be.

4 wheel alignment is only as good as the operator.

Take it back and complain or take it somewhere with good reputation and know what they are doing !!

But 1st have a look underneath at exactly which bolts have been touched and Mark them. There are some bad outlets out there who charge for tracking and adjust absolutley nothing.

Even laser alignment can leave the steering wheel off centre because no roadwheel runs perfectly true in reality.
When we know the tracking is good we adjust BOTH the track rods 2 or 3 flats (or as necessary) to get the wheel perfectly straight again.


The steering wheel splines fit in any orientation but we always ensure both notches are lined up otherwise the self cancelling indicators will be unsymetrical.


We seen some terrible tracking attempts in our time and some lazy operators try and loosen the track rod without holding the lock nut 1st which stresses the ball joint and is very bad practice.


No car leaves our workshop with misaligned tracking so if still have problems you know where we are

[COLVERT]

Did they put the steering wheel in the central position before they adjusted the track rods ???

[Jules]

Originally Posted by COLVERT

Did they put the steering wheel in the central position before they adjusted the track rods ???

Easy way of checking without removing airbag ..........
If indicators self cancel evenly either side of centre, the splines are correctly positioned

[T-Cut]

The steering column splines are irrelevant in most cases of a cockeyed steering wheel. The steering wheel position and front wheel tracking are independent variables that have to be individually set in the correct order. Before wheel tracking starts, the steering wheel should be set straight ahead/centrally positioned and locked there using a simple jig. The rear toes and thrust angle must then be adjusted/set and then both track rod ends slackened to allow each front wheel to be set independently. If the steering wheel is left 'free' and only one side is adjusted or each side not adjusted proportionately, then the tracking can be set to spec but the steering wheel will turn in the processs. This results in an off-centre driving position. Most cars with this problem have never had the steering wheel removed.


TC

[Jules]

The steering lock itself is another clue if someone has tampered with the splines.

75 steering lock should be dead centre which coincides with even Left and Right indicator cancelling.

There's so much misunderstanding with the tracking process