Steering wheel not aligned/centered properly

[alamez]

i took my 2014 brz to the local subaru dealer for them to replace my weatherstripping since it was looking beat up. I noticed that i was turning my wheel to the left to keep my car straight so i told them to take a look at it. When i went to pick it up they said i needed new tires so they did not do an alignment. I went ahead an put some new tires along with new wheels Konig Rennform 18x8 wrapped on hancook ventus v2 concept 2 225/r18. After getting my wheels and tires installed i went back to get the alignment. When i drove home i noticed the steering wherl was still off. Went back today and it seemed fine until i got out of traffic and was drivingn about 30mph+ In a straigh line, still slightly not centered, to go straight i have the steeringwheel at about 11:45 where the hour mark would be.

[alamez]

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[Sleepless]

They didn't pay attention to your steering wheel while doing the alignment, go back and tell them to fix it

[Shark_Bait88]

^This.

I got my steering wheel replaced under warranty, it was doing the flaking thing on the left side, and they didn't align the new one properly. It bugged me like crazy even though it was just slightly off, so I went back and had them fix it. NBD

[KendallH]

Keep in mind that many roads are not perfectly flat (to aid in water runoff), so on some roads you may find yourself correcting to the left slightly. On the other hand, I've aligned my car several times (myself, I'm a technician) and I can never seem to get it perfectly straight no matter what I do. Always seems off to the left slightly. If you go back, ask them to add some ballast to the driver seat to simulate you being in the car.

[alamez]

Thanks for the advice hopefully they get it right the third time.


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[krayzie]

Originally Posted by alamez

Thanks for the advice hopefully they get it right the third time.


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Make sure you also check your tire pressure as it can also play a part (mine is dead straight until I've been driving for a while on a warm day and the tires heat up > increased tire pressure may throw off the steering center a little). Uneven tire wear can also cause this.

Usually the experienced alignment tech would account for road crown when aligning. You don't seem to have too much negative camber either so that also helps with being less sensitive to road crown at the expense of handling.

[smg1138]

I've had issues with my steering wheel being crooked right after an alignment. When I get my alignments done now I always add a note asking them to check the wheel afterwards. I don't know if it's just super tricky on these cars or what.

[Kestrel]

I'm having this issue with the dealership. I got an alignment after installing camber bolts and the steering wheel is off to the left. Brought it in to be worked on and it felt exactly the same. Tried to get it look at again and the guy said " lowered cars will be like that". It's really pissing me off because obviously it's not correct.

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[Twinz]

Assuming all your bushings are in decent shape, there is no reason a car (lowered or not) can't drive in the direction the steering wheel is pointed. The thing about the front wheels is that the steering wheel can compensate for differences in toe. If one side has x toe and the other has x +/- y toe, the car will still go straight ( assuming the rear alignment is ok) but the wheel will not be pointed straight. OP, your sheet looks like the wheels were pointed mostly straight while on the rack, but there's no way to know that the steering wheel was centered when the wheels were straight. It sounds like the steering wheel was not straight when they got the two front wheels straight.