steering wheel not horizontal

Nikolaymk · Post by **Nikolaymk** » 01 Feb 2004, 22:28

I've just noticed that when cruising on the m-way my 4 spoke steering wheel is not perfectly horizontal when the car goes straight ahead (as it used to be) but is tilted to the left a bit. Also when I let go, the car goes slightly to the right. The wheels have been balanced and alighned a week ago. What else can cause this?

AndersDK · Post by **AndersDK** » 01 Feb 2004, 23:03

Either you have a wear problem in the steering linkage joints - or you may have disturbed the alignment by hitting a kerb with the right wheel.
A binding brake also do this.
Whatever the problem - inspect ASAP to avoid the tyre wear down prematurely - and for safety reasons.

jeremy · Post by **jeremy** » 01 Feb 2004, 23:45

very seldom is wheel alignment done properly! - usually it is done from one side only and as a result the wheel is not straight. To get it right it is necessary to centralise the rack - then align each wheel and then re-set the wheel - fun!
jeremy

edd001 · Post by **edd001** » 02 Feb 2004, 00:13

i agree with jeremy. you should get the tracking done first and make sure it is correct then worry about the wheel

Dave Burns · Post by **Dave Burns** » 02 Feb 2004, 00:58

Uneven tyre pressures and odd front tyres can have the same effect, if its gone like this for no apparent reason then there is something going pear shape for sure.
Any good tyre place will have the latest four wheel allignment equipment and hopefully a good bloke to meddle about with it, thats the sort of place you want to go to, they will set the steering wheel on centre and adjust the wheels to the correct angle.
Dave

Nikolaymk · Post by **Nikolaymk** » 02 Feb 2004, 01:51

Yes, this is exactly what they did. I'm not sure if the steering wheel was tilted before the alighnment as I only noticed it yesterday. In the garage they secured the wheel to the seat in horizontal position and only then did the laser stuff with the tyres. I guess since the work is guaranteed I'll go back and ask them to check it.
Will uneven front tyre wear cause this AFTER the alighnment? My fronts are a little more worn on the outside, that's why I did the alighnment on the first place.

AndersDK · Post by **AndersDK** » 02 Feb 2004, 02:36

Possible -
To rule out such a problem - try swap front & rear tyres.

Dave Burns · Post by **Dave Burns** » 02 Feb 2004, 02:53

Good point from Anders about changeing wheels over, but perhaps it would be better to change the fronts over only, if it is just a tyre problem the steering should pull to the other side, the rear tyres being an unknown quantity in such instances may be best left out of the equasion.
Don't alter the pressures just swap straight over, if you change any of the variables you wont know whats what with the results.
Dave

Nikolaymk · Post by **Nikolaymk** » 02 Feb 2004, 04:27

I'll do that. And just a variation on a theme: Since my rear tyres have better thread than the fronts, after everything is sorted is it a good idea to put the rear tyres on the front to even out the wear? What are the downsides of this?

MarcusB · Post by **MarcusB** » 02 Feb 2004, 18:24

Yep, get the alignment rechecked. You might expect the car to veer ever so slightly to the left (in LH drive countries that is!) because of road camber, all else being sound.
Re. tyre rotation: Subject to the generally accepted wisdom that it's safer to have your better pair of tyres on the rear, I reckon it's a good idea to rotate the tyres because the wear rate is so much higher on the front than the back (for FWD vehicles) that rear tyres may well die of old age rather than wear out. Happened to me.
Opinions vary on how often this should be done, say every 12k / i.e. every other oil change?
see e.g. http://www.bridgestone.com.au/tyres/pro ... tation.asp

AndersDK · Post by **AndersDK** » 03 Feb 2004, 00:00

Agree with Marcus -
Best tyres always goes on rear - which means you have to keep an eye on tyre wear in general - to rotate tyres before difference in tyre wear is significant.
The reason is that the rear tyres are responsible for traction in terms of steering stability for the whole car.

Nikolaymk · Post by **Nikolaymk** » 07 Feb 2004, 16:07

I just had the alignment rechecked. The chap that did it the first the time did it again. This time the steering wheel tilted to the right. I let him drive it around the block to see how "perfect" a job he had done. After that it took 3-4 people the best part of an hour to do the alignment properly and the wheel is now perfectly horizontal.
So be careful out there. I wrongly thought that they would put someone experienced on a job like this. But apparently it's always the rookies.