How hard is it to set a steering wheel straight?!

Hammyman

Horizon81 wrote: »

You're saying the camber of the road throws you off to the left 99% of the time?
Maybe 10% but I'd say 99% is a bit excessive.

How do you think water drains from the road?

property.advert

Hammyman wrote: »

How do you think water drains from the road?

Ain't been to school that one.

Horizon81

So you're all saying that 99% of the time when you're driving, your steering wheel isn't straight?

Don't make me laugh! There's plenty of roads I know where the camber throws you towards the right slightly, so you're steering to the left slightly to correct it. In short, I know my car as I've had it for years, and I know it isn't set up correctly now. I've had it aligned a couple of times in the past and never had this problem.

wba31

Hammyman wrote: »

How do you think water drains from the road?

What?? so you're saying the water particles don't walk over to the side of the road on their own accord?

harveybobbles

If you get the steering wheel straight, you will find whn you replace your front tyres that the steering wheel will be off centre again.

We ran a P reg 850 2.5 at work when it wa 18 months old. We had it for 8 years cos it was that good. Anyway, the steering wheel was off centre when we bought it and thought nothing of it until wereplaced the front tyres... This straightened up the steering wheel.

And every time the front tyres were getting worn, the steering wheel would go off centre quite a bit!

So, OP I'd leave your steering wheel alone until you renew your front tyres and then get yoyr steering wheel straightened

pendulum

So you're all saying that 99% of the time when you're driving, your steering wheel isn't straight?

Don't make me laugh!

You seem to know better than the mechanic and everyone else here so why are you wasting your time asking us questions.

Horizon81 wrote: »

Took it back again and they adjusted it again but it's still slightly off to the right when the car is going straight ahead. How hard can it be to set it up perfectly?!

Just re-read your OP. That's NORMAL. Sounds like you have a mild case of OCD and are wasting the mechanics time tbh.

System

If you pay a mechanic to do the tracking, you are entitled to expect the job to be done 100% accurately, not 99%.

If they failed to adjust both tracking arms to set the correct tracking, then what else have they adjusted incorrectly, maybe ?

Yes, camber can have an effect, but there are many roads which have little or no camber - e.g. different lanes of some motorways.

However, the tracking may be set correctly, many other things can cause the steering wheel angle to change.
Uneven tyre wear, incorrect tyre pressures, incorrectly fitted tyres, suspension wear / damage, to list just a few.

The mechanic should have given a report on the condition of the steering and suspension etc.

Stephen_Leak

Useful thread.

I'm having to take my car back (I won't say where. I know that the baboons at Longleat would've done a better job.) to have this sorted by the depot manager on orders from the regional manager.

I'm afraid that I have very little faith that this will put things back to how they were before. I suspect their equipment may not be calibrated accurately.

Therefore, the fact that www.alignmycar.co.uk have no less than three centres in Bristol is good news.

Mankysteve

BAA1 wrote: »

?

Yes, camber can have an effect, but there are many roads which have little or no camber - e.g. different lanes of some motorways.

All motor lanes will have a camber so that they clear the rain if they didn;t driving(over taking or in traffic dont middle lane hog) in the middle lane would be a very scary experience. The middle line is usually humped back slightly so the car will drive straight.

Of course there are rare situation where there is adverse camber and sometimes on poorly built private road it'll be completely flat.

SteveJW

A few years since I worked on the shop floor, but this is one of my pet hates. I'ts a sign of shoddy workmanship at the least

Assuming the vehicle has a steering rack, the track rod end ball joints should be disconnected from the steering arms. The rack should then be centralised, most racks have a blanking plug that a pin can be inserted in only when the rack is centralised. In this position the steering wheel should be in the correct position, if not either the steering wheel is not correctly aligned on the column or the column is not aligned on the steering rack, this needs to be corrected. Next both track rod ends should be removed, counting the number of turns. The total number of turns for both should be added together and then divided by two, each track rod end should then be fitted using the figure obtained, ball joints then secured and all tightened up. Remove the pin inserted in the rack, assuming the tracking was not far out originally this should be accurate enough to allow you to drive to where you intend to have the tracking checked and adjusted.

The lazy way, just take of the steering wheel and reposition, not an easy job with modern cars and air bags etc

Main cause of miss-alignment assuming no impact damage or wear in any components lazy mechanics adjusting tracking by only adjusting one side

My 1996 mazda 323f steering wheel still in line, never varies with tyre wear and I've never noticed the camber making a difference