Off Centre Steering Wheel

[Pww]

My Corolla TS steering wheel is slightly off centre when driving in a straight line. Tracking seem to be fine as when letting go of steering wheel car remains straight. Toyota have carried out a wheel alignment etc but is still not 100% centred. Has anyone else had a similar problem and was it an easy fix? 

[Cyker]

If it goes in a straight line and the tie rods are properly centred then the steering wheel is not on straight.

Most likely the tie rods are not even tho' - I've had this before when the moron doing the tyre alignment didn't centre the steering wheel properly before putting it on the tracking machine and wound the tie rods unevenly so the wheel was 10 degrees off centre in a straight line. Took it back and complained, and the guy was about to take the steering wheel off and put it back on but I stopped him and made them do the alignment again properly - In the end the manager did it himself, with the steering wheel properly centred this time!

Other causes can be tyres at different PSI or different sizes or a suspension problem, but these should be caught by any half-competent tech doing the alignment.

Could also be the road, as some roads have ruts or a lot of camber which can cause this, but then it would only happen on those roads and not all the time!

[Pww]

Thank you for the info. Going to book it back in tomorrow and get them to re check it. Hopefully they will sort it. It's better than it was before they looked at it but still not straight. It's a minor fault but so annoying when driving. 

[Hardy888]

It should be a straightforward thing for them to adjust the steering wheel alignment. One of those things that gets missed with a rushed PDI

[Cyker]

Yeah, it's also dangerous - If you paid for the alignment recently, definitely take it back and don't let them charge you to fix it; They should have done it properly in the first place. Just test it properly when you get it back and if it's still off, go back right away!

I have a feeling they've not driven onto the ramp straight and had to turn the wheel after to get it straight, but because the wheel's loaded it has more tension in one direction which throws off the alignment. (Which is why you should not turn the steering wheel while the car is stationary)

Just try and keep an eye on it and make sure they don't take the steering wheel off - I've heard of really bad garages doing this to 'fix' it, and it messes up the steering geometry and also risks the clock-spring getting broken at full lock.

Hopefully your dealer won't be anywhere like that kind of cowboy garage tho'!!

 

[Pww]

I will definitely take it straight back in. Was originally done last week at my local Toyota dealership but my wife dropped it off and picked it up and I hadn't driven it until today. 

[TonyHSD]

Poor workmanship definitely if the issue comes after an alignment has been done. It is a sign of suspension problems when issues comes without any mechanic intervention ( you hit a kerb to large pothole), the car should be checked immediately.
Your case perhaps is the Toyota garage responsible and so they should fix it free and apologies. This is so often happens that seriously putting me off taking my car for regular wheel alignments. I use to do that every year with a friend of mine and the only person who I know that take a pride of what he was doing, he left his job unfortunately. If Toyota not competent enough to fix your car you can go to another garage specialist, let them check and fix your car and ask for statement then ask Toyota to pay for. One thing and only one I do not like from many people involved in the trade is unprofessional approach and dealing. 
Good luck 🤞 

[alan333]

An Avensis I owned a while ago had a weird steering wheel story.  It had 2 new cheap front tyres when I bought it, and the steering wheel was a bit off.  I adjusted the tracking and it ran true and straight without scrubbing tyres etc.  However, that car had a hum noise which I blamed on these tyres.  Eventually I replaced them with a pair of quality tyres and the steering wheel was now the same amount off, in the opposite direction.  ie if I hadn’t adjusted the tracking to begin with it’d now be straight.  Never figured that one out (and the hum noise remained).

[AndrueC]

Usually it just needs a more skilled/conscientious engineer but I had an annoying problem on one of my Jazz that appeared to be caused by new tyres. The car would point straight when the wheel was straight but it would gradually crab toward the verge. In the end the garage gave me two new tyres and the problem went away.

They theorised it was a badly constructed tyre, something that used to be common but they thought had been eradicated in modern tyres.

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=12

[TonyHSD]

2 hours ago, alan333 said:

An Avensis I owned a while ago had a weird steering wheel story.  It had 2 new cheap front tyres when I bought it, and the steering wheel was a bit off.  I adjusted the tracking and it ran true and straight without scrubbing tyres etc.  However, that car had a hum noise which I blamed on these tyres.  Eventually I replaced them with a pair of quality tyres and the steering wheel was now the same amount off, in the opposite direction.  ie if I hadn’t adjusted the tracking to begin with it’d now be straight.  Never figured that one out (and the hum noise remained).

Exactly what my friend an alignment specialist told me before. He also said that a slight pull towards inner side of the road is common and normal so if you have your car slightly pulling to the left not to freak out. You can try on large motorways in middle lane should be going straight or outer lane and should be pulling to the right., it’s because of road camber for water drainage. 👍

[Red_Corolla]

Happened with my last car when it was built. Sometimes the rack is centred in such a way that the dead horizontal position is halfway between two splines, so the wheel has to sit slightly off in one direction or the other. The cure when it's out by that very small angle is to adjust both track rods by an equal amount, just to tweak the  centre position without altering the actual tracking.

[Cyker]

I've heard of weird things like that too; There was someone here who had tracking issues, but they went away when they swapped the wheels diagonally front-to-back!  

[Gerhard_Corolla]

My steering wheel is little bit skewed to the left, but the car drives straight without any input. It's a new car, barely four weeks old, and never drove it on a highway until last weekend, and only then the 'flaw' became apparent. The steering is so soft that I didn't noticed that in normal city driving...

 

I'll be asking for a wheel alignment check up this week, hopefully it's nothing.

[TonyHSD]

On 3/25/2022 at 8:07 PM, Cyker said:

I've heard of weird things like that too; There was someone here who had tracking issues, but they went away when they swapped the wheels diagonally front-to-back!  

Tyres can off set the wheel alignment and cause uneven tyre wear and unstable feel at higher speed plus pulling to one side., similar to if you have different tyre pressures L to R. 👍

[TonyHSD]

6 hours ago, Gerhard_Corolla said:

My steering wheel is little bit skewed to the left, but the car drives straight without any input. It's a new car, barely four weeks old, and never drove it on a highway until last weekend, and only then the 'flaw' became apparent. The steering is so soft that I didn't noticed that in normal city driving...

 

I'll be asking for a wheel alignment check up this week, hopefully it's nothing.

Check the tyre pressures on cold and adjust accordingly. If you in Europe LHD, the car can naturally pull to the right  and you may find yourself always slightly pointed the wheel to the left to correct, this is normal and it’s because of the road camber for water drainage. New cars should have steering wheel spot on as this and the headlights adjustment are the last thing made before the car leaves the factory 👍

[Pww]

Thanks for the replies, Car is booked back in with Toyota on Monday so will update what they find. Car drives smooth with no other obvious faults. Not hit any potholes or curbs. Car doesn't pull in either direction when letting go of steering wheel. Just appears to be off centre. Toyota put new tyres all round before I bought it as an approved used in December. 

[Gerhard_Corolla]

16 hours ago, TonyHSD said:

Check the tyre pressures on cold and adjust accordingly. If you in Europe LHD, the car can naturally pull to the right  and you may find yourself always slightly pointed the wheel to the left to correct, this is normal and it’s because of the road camber for water drainage. New cars should have steering wheel spot on as this and the headlights adjustment are the last thing made before the car leaves the factory 👍

Thank you!

 

I check regularly the tyres pressure and haven't noticed any noticeable variation on any of them. I ride on 225/40 R18 Continental tyres, 2.6 BAR at the front and 2.4 BAR at the rear; way better ride quality and handling than the recommended 2.4Fronts/2.2Rears. Indeed because of the drainage slopes you can feel that pull to either side, but it's mostly on the biggest Autobahns, and unnoticeable in the smaller ones or B roads. I'll use the changing of season tyres to point out all the issues we have with the car:

 

-Not straight wheel.

-Noise on the front left tyre area, that first I thought it was a wheel bearing issue, but the noise only present itself up to 2K rpm and at slow speeds. Researching a little bit throughout forums, in theory, the issue has something to do with the exhaust system when the engine is cold. Supposedly it rattles against the exterior sidewalls and the solution is changing a faulty fixation bracket.

-Uneven height of the head lights.

 

It's the first car we've bought in Germany, and we were surprised by the lack of 'client service/culture' and presentation/delivery of the vehicle. By service culture I mean that everything is assumed to be known by the client or to be found in the manual, and by presentation I mean how the vehicle was delivered: some cleaning, paint, brake and wiper fluid levels; not forgetting of course the 2 liters of gas the car had, we barely made it to the petrol station. How things work and issues are resolved are astounding, I cannot say 'bad' things about the system per se, everything is quickly and efficiently dealt with. I don't get how to marry those things together...

 

We love the car, but we would've loved to have less technologic gimmicks, like assisted parking and instead get better exterior window trims and panels, for example. Nonetheless, we love some of those gimmicks, like the blind spot assistance.

 

You'll never satisfy all your customers!

 

🤪

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Woofwoof]

noticed something similar, i guess its to do with road camber

[Stopeter44]

On 3/29/2022 at 2:59 PM, Gerhard_Corolla said:

It's the first car we've bought in Germany, and we were surprised by the lack of 'client service/culture' and presentation/delivery of the vehicle. By service culture I mean that everything is assumed to be known by the client or to be found in the manual, and by presentation I mean how the vehicle was delivered: some cleaning, paint, brake and wiper fluid levels; not forgetting of course the 2 liters of gas the car had, we barely made it to the petrol station. How things work and issues are resolved are astounding, I cannot say 'bad' things about the system per se, everything is quickly and efficiently dealt with. I don't get how to marry those things together...

It may be just the dealer ? I live in France, so have no idea of how things may be in Germany, but my last two cars we delivered with comprehensive explication of the controls and especially the Infotainment system. The last one, the Yaris, included flowers for my wife !

[Gerhard_Corolla]

3 hours ago, Stopeter44 said:

It may be just the dealer ? I live in France, so have no idea of how things may be in Germany, but my last two cars we delivered with comprehensive explication of the controls and especially the Infotainment system. The last one, the Yaris, included flowers for my wife !

I think is the 'client service' mean throughout Germany, maybe it's way better in smaller dealers and with the premium brands, but in general our buying adventure was terrible. We're Mexican, and trust me, we've had torturing experiences with auto-dealers in the past, but mainly in the 'after sale' timeline; in general, the pre-sale and delivery steps of the vehicles are way, way better...

 

It's unthinkable to receive a car with paint or cleaning issues, or just be given the manual and expect the clients to read a 600 page booklet and do not ask inconvenient questions.

 

The after sale experience has been wonderful, all the issues have been solved promptly and efficiently. That's why we cannot understand why the pre sale process was a nightmare! 

 

When you should try to attract clients, you repel them, and when you should try to keep the clients as far as you can, you treat them incredibly...

 

🤪

 

 

 

[Stopeter44]

34 minutes ago, Gerhard_Corolla said:

The after sale experience has been wonderful, all the issues have been solved promptly and efficiently. That's why we cannot understand why the pre sale process was a nightmare! 

 

When you should try to attract clients, you repel them, and when you should try to keep the clients as far as you can, you treat them incredibly...

Some people panic when confronted with a non "local" accent, given that the after sales service has been exemplary, I am inclined to think that the person, or maybe the people, you dealt with concluded that you would not understand German. I am English, but live in France, and occasionally I have had some strange experiences because people have assumed that I would not understand because of my accent.

[Gerhard_Corolla]

46 minutes ago, Stopeter44 said:

Some people panic when confronted with a non "local" accent, given that the after sales service has been exemplary, I am inclined to think that the person, or maybe the people, you dealt with concluded that you would not understand German. I am English, but live in France, and occasionally I have had some strange experiences because people have assumed that I would not understand because of my accent.

Indeed, our only 'terrible' experiences have been at reception desks' in medical appointments, only two occasions to be precise. We obviously understand that language barriers sometimes are quite difficult or impossible to brake. Nonetheless, those two occasions and while trying to buy the car, were the only times that we've experienced a non cooperative attitude from the other side...

 

It was a complete nightmare! We researched everything we could and was needed about the buying culture and process, the dealers and their inventories, what they supposedly value in business relationships, and of course our own worth. We visited seven dealerships and wrote/talked to at least another five, with the money upfront, and we could only sign the papers on a car after a hard working period of six to eight weeks. We ended paying less for the car than what we initially offered to pay, but somehow it was an impossible price to meet at the beginning of the process...

 

We were trapped within the 'authorized' dealerships circle, because we needed to insure the car with the Lexus/Toyota Group; we didn't had driving 'experience' in Germany, so our insurance premiums were extremely high. We were quoted $1,300 euros/year for a comprehensive/full insurance with other providers, but within the Lexus/Toyota group, thanks to being 'customers' our premium or 'risk' category dropped considerably and we're paying $580 euros.

 

We're having an amazing time in Germany, we love it, but we still cannot understand why buying a car was so difficult...

 

[Stopeter44]

3 hours ago, Gerhard_Corolla said:

We're having an amazing time in Germany, we love it, but we still cannot understand why buying a car was so difficult...

Well, all's well that ends well. I, too, think Germany is a great place and enjoy visiting. Tschuss! 😉

[phillev]

I know this is an old thread Pww but you never got back to us on how you got on with your steering wheel issue and what the problem was, think I may have this same issue on a new Aygo

 

Cheers.

[Niky]

Mine is the same. Complained twice to the dealer, they had it checked, confirmed the steering is slightly off, but because the car doesn't pull to any side they said its normal and refused to fix it. Once had a Yaris with 1k miles only, while mine was in for a service and it was absolutely the same - the car didn't pull left or right, but the steering wheel was off slightly to the right. 

Will be putting new tyres soon and will ask them to fix it - obviously at mine expense, but will however remind them the issue has been there since Ive collected the car - brand new. Hopefully they will make little discount