[zog24270]

Hi I would be grateful for some advice on how to get the steering wheel in the central position when dead ahead. Its irritating that the wheel on my vvc is either a little to the left or the right. I have gone through the procedure several times of demountign the steerign wheel, then repositioning it one or two splines on. It looks fine when i re mount it - but as soon as i start up the wheel slips to left or right.
Be grateful for any ideas. Tracking seems fine.

 

[roobs]

Hi. I would probably try parking on a hill facing downward. Let the car roll a few meters to be sure the wheels are straight then apply the hand brake. Hopefully, with gravity pulling the car forward the wheels aren't likely to relax sideways. Then try realigning the steering wheel. It only takes one notch out on the positioning to be noticeable.

Sent from my SM-G988B using Tapatalk

 

[zog24270]

Hi. I would probably try parking on a hill facing downward. Let the car roll a few meters to be sure the wheels are straight then apply the hand brake. Hopefully, with gravity pulling the car forward the wheels aren't likely to relax sideways. Then try realigning the steering wheel. It only takes one notch out on the positioning to be noticeable.

Sent from my SM-G988B using Tapatalk

Hi many thanks for that, really good tip. Will try it tomorrow. Its just annoying to look at that lovely steering wheel and not have it lined up
cheers

 

[Man in the Car]

It only takes one notch out on the positioning to be noticeable.

...and it only takes moving it one notch/spline to make it out by the same amount but the other side (I know from having tried this myself in the past).

The offset steering wheel situation is usually caused by someone adjusting the tracking on one side track rod only, rather then adjusting both; usually because they are either bone idle or clueless.

The only way to acheive 'dead-ahead' steering alignment is to ensure that steering wheel is clamped in the straight ahead position, and then adjust the track-rod ends - if the steering wheel is to the left when the wheels are straight ahead, the left hand track rod needs winding in slightly (shortening) and the right hand one needs to be wound out (lengthened) by the same amount. Ideally you either need a tracking alignment tool of some sort to assist with this to ensure that you don't end up upsetting the tracking.

Alternatively, you could just take the car to a garage that does wheel alignment and ask them to adjust the steering wheel to centre. Another option would be to make the adjustment yourself and then take the car for an alignment check to verify that it is OK (don't know about where you are, but in the UK most places will do the initial check for free. The danger here is that if it does need adjusting, they may end up with the steering wheel slightly misaligned again!

 

[mgbob]

A good wheel alignment shop would be able to sort this and it's surprising how much better these cars feel when the wheels are all correctly aligned. If your car is tracking correctly and it's just the steering wheel that's not straight, moving the steering wheel one or more teeth on the it's spline should get you near but a method I've used is to adjust the track rods on each side by the same but opposite amount, so if your car steers to the left when the steering wheel is straight ahead, unscrew the left track rod end by say half a turn and screw in the right by the same amount. Lock the nuts and go for a test drive, if it needs a bit more, do the same again, until you get it just right. This can be a bit slow and laborious but it's free and you can get it just right with patience.