Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Steering Wheel Issue - HELP!!!

I have a 99 SVT with about 37000 miles on it. I recently got the alignment done at the Ford Dealership. The wheel was slightly off-center when driving straight, before I brought it in. I told them the main reason I wanted the alignment done was to get the steering wheel back to center.
Well, sure enough they aligned the car nicely so that it goes perfectly straight down the road. However, to make the car go straight, the wheel has to be about 3-5 degrees off center. If you put the wheel dead-center, the car will drift right, as if the wheel was turned to the right.
I brought the car back and told them the wheel was still off center. The checked it and said that the alignment was fine, but they still rotated the tires and put all the tires' air at 32psi, to see if it did anything. They then said the tested it on local roads and the wheel was straight except for crowned roads, (roads that are higher in the center and lower on the sides for drainage reasons.) Well, I had a funny feeling they would say that.
However, the wheel is still off-center on all road surfaces, including the highway, where you can't get any flater a surface. The worse part of it is that after today, the second time I brought it in, now the wheel is worse than after they did the initial alignment, because now it is a couple more degress to the left.
So what should I do? The car goes straight and doesn't pull, but only if the steering wheel is cocked to the right. Should I leave it alone and live with the annoyance of an off-center wheel, or should I make sure they get it right for the $79 they charged for the initial alignment. How anyone ever had this problem before after getting an alignment...should the wheel always be straight after getting an alignment, or is it hard to get it perfect? Your help is greatly appreciated!

Sorry to hear about your problem. However, I do have a solution. My Ford dealer was incapable of getting my car aligned and having the wheel on center. After trying several times to get it done right at the dealer, I took it to a suspension shop with a laser guided alignment tool. They got it perfect the first time.

Moral of the story, sometimes the dealer isn't the best place to take your car for work. Specialty shops often know more and have better equipment to service your car.

I brought mine for an alignment once at Town Fair Tire. The steering wheel was turned to one side before the alignment. I get it aligned and now it was turned to the other side. I brought it back the next day and told them. They said that means the tires need to be remounted and balanced, so they did it for free since it was not aligned correctly the first time. So they finish up, bring the car around and first thing I said to them was, "So, is it completely straight now? and they go "Yup, perfect."

So I drive off, and still exactly the same as before the remount and balance.

So who knows if something is not right with the car or they are just idiots.

They are probably just idiots. They just want you to come in get the job done, get paid and then they never want to see you again. I have had this same problem with several different cars at different tire places. The only shop that has ever done the job right is Les Schwab tires and they consistently do it right. It wouldn't be so bad if the other places would charge less but they don't.

By the way, there is a do-it-yourself solution to this problem.

Presuming the wheels themselves are correctly aligned (your description seems to confirm this), and only the steering wheel angle is off, it's possible to change the steering wheel angle without changing the steering alignment, using standard do-it-yourself tools and techniques.

Basically, it involves loosening tie rod end adjustments on each side of the car and turning them to adjust the steering angle. If you *carefully* track *exactly* how much you turn each adjustment, and verify that the amount *removed* from one side is *added* to the other, the final wheel alignment will still be the same, but the steering wheel angle will change.

Obviously, this will be a trial-and-error project, but isn't difficult if you're familiar with basic mechanical procedures.

For example, if the steering wheel is 3-5 degrees to the left when it should be perfectly straight, I'd start by shortening the left-hand-side tie rod by one thread revolution, and lengthening the right-hand-side tie rod by one thread revolution. The final distance between the wheels is unchanged, but the steering wheel will now be "one thread's" distance further to the right than it was. A quick test drive will confirm this, and give you an idea how much further you should go. A small dab of paint on the tie rod adjustment will help your keep track of exactly how much you've turned the adjustment.

Obviously, follow all safety procedures, and don't attempt this if you don't believe you have the skills do complete it correctly. That said, this isn't rocket science.

Yes, I've had this problem before, and yes, I've heard the "road crown" excuse from shops that simply don't want to take the time to do the job right.

Take it back. Centering the steering wheel is part of an alignment. Get the service manager involved if needed. They are letting the tail wag the dog (tech telling management what to do).

my 2000 svt does the same thing. i got it aligned @ Big O Tires and watched the do the whole thing. I paid them $59
for them to tell me they could fix the problem and they had the new lazer computer thing. There comp. told them that they couldn't make any adjustments, so I was pissed and told them to screw off for ripping me off. why did i pay $59 for something they couldn't do. they said the camber needed adjustments, but that my car didn't have any ?
I'm going some were else on my next tire rotation to try and have it fixed. Big O is full of it!!!!

The guy doing the alighnment must be a moron if your wheel isn't perfectly strait!!!!

So, I contacted the dealership yesterday, (Enfield Ford - Enfield, CT) and they said the service technician checked it out and said everything was fine. He said that I would have to bring the car down again and drive the foreman around who did the work and show the problem. According to them I am driving on different roads then they are testing it on, so we are getting different results. Of course however, this is ludicrous as the problem occurs on every road surface surrounding the dealership and in their parking lot.

Nonetheless, I left work early to go talk to the Ford dealership in person. When I got there they told me all there foremen had gone home for the day. While I waiting to schedule an appointment for the next day, a man who appeared to be sometype of technician got involved. He started to basically blame me for all the alignment issues and formulated a bunch of excuses in the meantime.

He said the wheel will never be "pefect" and dead center again because it is not a new car. Then he launched into some mumbo-jumbo about the road conditions. When I explained to him that I tested it everywhere, including the highway on the straightest, flattest part, he went on to say you can't get it straight there either. After this I further explained to him about my knowledge of the "crowned roads" theory and told him about the lie that it is. (Because if it was totally true, that would mean every car that is in alignment correctly, would have a steering wheel that is off-center on many surfaces - including brand new cars.)

I went on to tell him that I paid $79 to get the car aligned and the steering wheel center, therefore it should be perfect. Next he started to say well there are many factors that could be affecting it like the wheels, tie-rods, wheel bearings, etc. As true as it is that those conditions may effect the location of the steering wheel, if anything was wrong, they should have and would have told me during other service I got done on the car a week earlier. This included replacing all brake rotors, a sensor in the engine bay, a trunk issue, and then the alignment. While performing work on the brakes, they noticed I had a bad wheel bearing and replaced it for me. The point is, if any of these other issues really were present on the car affecting the steering column, they surely would of noticed when the were pulling it all apart. So, yet again his theory didn't hold much water!

After debating with him for a little longer, he began to tell me that because I have aftermarket 18" Enkei's on the car, it is causing the trouble. However, these wheels were only on the car since mid-November of last year, are in excellent condition and were professionally balanced by Discount Tire Direct, from where I purchased them. (They actually have made my car rider smoother and overall better, then when I had the factory wheels on, which were given me an uncomfortable ride at times.) This was the point at which this service man was trying to blame the faulty work done on my car, on my choice to use aftermarket wheels. Then he told me because they are over 16", they don't have the machine to do it at their place, so they had to bring the car to Town Fair Tire. He then proceeded to explain how the alignement is done, which I already had a general idea through reading much literature on the internet, and said it is a hard procedure that they cannot get perfect with my car.

Nonetheless, we agree that they would take one more stab at it and see what happens. So it is down there now, as I write this.

What really got me frusturated was the nature in which this individual would speak to me. I was respectful of the fact that he dealt with Fords for his job, however, he continued to bombast with a bunch of excuses. The manner he spoke to me was also from a "I am an expert and you know nothing about your own car, " point-of-view. Our 15-minute discussion was civil, but nonetheless I was getting very agitated. Furthermore, I was especially angry in the way that he tried to incriminate me in saying that the cause of all my problems were the aftermarket wheels I put on. At one point I actually said, "You not going to get me to incriminate myself," after he tried to make me say yes to his notion that all my problems occurred after I put these wheels on, which of course they didn't. I was able to read this guy like an open book and it was easy for me to see that because I was a twenty-something year old with nice wheels (the only modification to the car), he was trying to tie me into that demographic of people that have absolutely no knowledge of the workings of their car and only care about nice looking wheels. Both of course, categorically untrue.

Well we shall see how it goes today. In writing this, I have now decided that I will print this thread out, with all your comments, past and future, and will give to Enfield Ford along with a document stating the nature of the way I was treated yesterday. Your help and further postings will be appreciated. Let's let them know that a correctly done alignment job should result in a car that drives straight and a steering wheel that is dead-center, no stipulations or contractions to that statement!