TakmaN

It's been bugging me for a while but I think since I bought my car it seems like my steering is mis-aligned. I have to keep it turned a little to the left to have my car go straight. My car has had a few alignments done and drives straight but the steering wheel has to be turned which annoys me to no end. I told the people at the alignment shop that my steering wheel appears to be croooked on two separate occassions yet nothing has been done. Is this something they should fix? Also, to my knowledge, my car's previous owner had an aftermarket steering wheel on the car so could it be that the OEM steering wheel was just not put on straight? If this is the case, is it a reasonably easy DIY to take it off and put it back on? (Did a search on how to swap steering wheels and saw no DIY guide and found that some said it's difficult?). Also, the center piece of my steering wheel (the horn part) looks like it pops out on the upper right side and the left side looks stuck down. Not a big deal but I wonder if this would affect airbag deployment at all?

Sorry for the crazy questions, just curious and annoyed!

coldfire

It won't affect the airbag deployment. Your alignment shop can easily adjust the steering wheel using the tie rod ends. When an alignment is done the wheel should be straight (and held there) before any measurements or adjustments are made.

loftust

Ensure the wheel is held straight before you get the Geo done. What is straight to a mechanic may not be straight to you. You're the customer at the end of the day so they should cater for your needs.

TakmaN

Thanks for the responses, I basically went back to the shop to have my car aligned again as it still pulled left after the initial alignment. They were nice and ajdusted it for free. I noticed my car seemed to be a bit sloppy and bounce a bit from side to side and the steering wheel was still crooked so I went back a third time. A technician there took the car out and drove it around the block and noted nothing was wrong... even after I told them it's barely noticeable on streets but pretty noticeable at highway speeds which is what I'm on 99% of the time. The shop owner then told me that it was probably my tires and that I can't keep coming back taking up their time like that. He said it politely but in a creepy way like he was going to kill me if I did. So I just left. All in all, never going back there again... what a load of crap.

loftust

Ensure you have the same tyres left/right on the car, different brands/age/uneven wear patterns (due to a car not having had alignment carried out) will affect the handling. Also check tyre pressures all round.

You may also have a sticky caliper, see my advice in this thread:

https://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=663376

There's loads of info regarding wobbly steering/pulling so a search of the site may help.

HTH