got my new tires put on and an alignment today(uk spec) and i notice my steering wheel is off,........take it back tell them the H is about an inch of center. They tell me "well we put it to the specs you wanted".......i say "well that doesnt mean the steering wheel should be crooked!!!"
They bring it back in and basically redo the entire thing,.....correct me if i am wrong, but do you have to redo the alignment to set the steering wheel straight???????? He made some adjustment on the right caster and said that it should be straight now. Well, I took it out and its not straight,..its better, but not straight.
Does this tech just not know what the hell he is doing????????? And if he adjusted the caster it is probably not to my specs anymore right??????
I didnt think new tires was cause for an alignment but i read in another thread if the alignment was done with bad tires and the new ones put on it could throw it off. I know they did my alignment first then put the new tires on.

 

Caster usually won't effect the steering wheel being straight.

With most alignment equipment, you lock the steering wheel straight ahead, then adjust toe to center the wheel.

If the steering wheel slips when you are adjusting toe the wheel wont be centered. If it wasn't level when it was locked, the wheel won't be centered.

 

correct. When you let go the steering wheel, and it snaps back into place, thats caster playing its role.

Tell the tech, to straighten out the steering wheel before doing his thing if he's not already doing it.

 

Yeah, he is a complete idiot. Talk to his superior. Tell them he needs additional training.

And shame on you for taking your car to a place of such low quality.

 

It's hard sometimes to get the steering wheel exactly centered when doing an alignment.....especially is you are sloppy.

 

wheel should be straight. i just got uk alignment yesterday

 

Like Artric says: The tech needs some additional training.
He should measure first, then lock the steering wheel how it should be and then align the thing.