Steering wheel returning to centre

[Edgie70]

Hi guys , a little thing that has been a bit annoying , when going around a corner the steering wheel doesn't always come back to centre , it's only a bit off but I still have to manually centre it , car drives straight and doesn't pull and steering wheel is centred when driving , drives really well just a bit annoying, thanks 

[Saxmaniac]

Wheel alignment?

[Edgie70]

27 minutes ago, Saxmaniac said:

Wheel alignment?

Not been checked tbh but it does drive straight and does not pull to one side and wheel is central , no tyre wear .....

[Corollanutter]

I would get the full alignment checked out. It sounds like the castor angle is out. 

[Edgie70]

10 minutes ago, Corollanutter said:

I would get the full alignment checked out. It sounds like the castor angle is out. 

Yeah because thinking about it , I had it on full lock once and it didn't actually return back ( would've done a circle lol )  , I had to manually bring it back from full lock !! 

Wonder how much that'll cost at Toyota 🤦🏻

[taxidriver50005]

Could also be tyres

[Edgie70]

Think I'll ring my local dealer and see how much for a geometry check , things only done 19k as well 🤦🏻

[50p]

as it's a 2019, it may still be under the 5 year warranty. Maybe worth checking and a try?

[Edgie70]

Just now, 50p said:

as it's a 2019, it may still be under the 5 year warranty. Maybe worth checking and a try?

It's full dealer history with 19k on it , don't think the warranty would cover a geometry check unfortunately 

[sportse]

I had an old Honda civic that did this, it turned out to be the power steering on mine. It was one of the early electric power steering systems. 
 

On mine it got so bad that you could drive in a circle with no hands on the wheel as it wouldn’t self centre at all. 
 

but covered by the garage as it was an approved used car. 

[TonyHSD]

I think a video will be helpful if you really want a exact suggestions and opinion about it. The reason is because many if not all electrically assisted steering wheels never completely return to centre after a turn as the electric motor gears does have some resistance. Also the larger the wheels are the more pronounced is that event and another factor are the tyres tread pattern and pressure. Lower pressure or v shaped all season tyres add to the not complete self centred wheel. 

[Edgie70]

5 minutes ago, TonyHSD said:

I think a video will be helpful if you really want a exact suggestions and opinion about it. The reason is because many if not all electrically assisted steering wheels never completely return to centre after a turn as the electric motor gears does have some resistance. Also the larger the wheels are the more pronounced is that event and another factor are the tyres tread pattern and pressure. Lower pressure or v shaped all season tyres add to the not complete self centred wheel. 

Thanks , I'll video it on a private car park and update , when I say it's not coming back to centre I mean the bottom steering wheel spoke is at 25 past ( or 25 to on a clock ) and I have to move it back to half past , definitely gonna ask about a geo check though , it did stay on full lock once but I was on a hill so not sure if that's anything to do with it but it's weird because the car drives great 

[TonyHSD]

30 minutes ago, Edgie70 said:

Thanks , I'll video it on a private car park and update , when I say it's not coming back to centre I mean the bottom steering wheel spoke is at 25 past ( or 25 to on a clock ) and I have to move it back to half past , definitely gonna ask about a geo check though , it did stay on full lock once but I was on a hill so not sure if that's anything to do with it but it's weird because the car drives great 

My point is don’t go straight to do a wheel alignment as usually these cars has rock solid suspension and unless the car hit a kerb, pothole or been involved in an accident the geometry will remain unchanged for many miles and years, and taking it to someone who may not be as good will result at least off set steering wheel, this will annoy you even more . My Auris has traveled over 140000 miles within 4 years since last I did alignment and before that another 60000 miles and never been out of alignment and tyres always been wearing off evenly. 

[Corollanutter]

After a pothole strike that took out a rim and two tyres almost 3 years ago I had the geometry checked at a local but trusted Kwik Fit (the steering wheel was not centered after the strike). Great job done - all 4 wheels checked - car felt a lot better and the steering wheel was centred. Cost around £50. Quite a lot of the geometry was out - even on wheels that had not been hit (during my ownership anyway). I intend to get it checked again in a few months. 

[Edgie70]

19 hours ago, TonyHSD said:

My point is don’t go straight to do a wheel alignment as usually these cars has rock solid suspension and unless the car hit a kerb, pothole or been involved in an accident the geometry will remain unchanged for many miles and years, and taking it to someone who may not be as good will result at least off set steering wheel, this will annoy you even more . My Auris has traveled over 140000 miles within 4 years since last I did alignment and before that another 60000 miles and never been out of alignment and tyres always been wearing off evenly. 

Did a little video , obviously on private land and no traffic , about 6 / 7 seconds steering doesn't correct to perfectly straight and just off a bit , perhaps there's nothing wrong and it's just me being silly 

[TonyHSD]

20 minutes ago, Edgie70 said:

Did a little video , obviously on private land and no traffic , about 6 / 7 seconds steering doesn't correct to perfectly straight and just off a bit , perhaps there's nothing wrong and it's just me being silly 

Definitely nothing wrong with steering returns and how it is exactly how it should be. For your peace of mind you can turn steering to one side and get measured the tyres tread depth in all 4 canals if you have summer tyres and see how evenly they wear, no more 0.5-1mm differences is ok but no more.  
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