Guest Suprafly Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 (edited) I have today took off my 19's and fitted the stock 16's for the winter (eventually), thing is now that the 16's are on the steering wheel is now off centre to the right, it still goes in a straight line and doesn't pull to the left or right, so does this mean that the geometry may have been set up previously with the 19's on? when the 19's are on it's perfectly centralised. I have checked tyre pressure's and all are spot on, this was my first suspicion that one of the tyres were low. What else would cause this? Edited December 31, 2009 by Suprafly (see edit history) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themodifiedkid Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 Im 99% sure its the alignment of the wheels mate. Ive recently had a wheel alignment done (laser alignment) and it really centralised the steering wheel. It was fine before when i had the stock 16 " wheels on, then when i changed to 18" had same trouble. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abz Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 Im 99% sure its the alignment of the wheels mate. Ive recently had a wheel alignment done (laser alignment) and it really centralised the steering wheel. It was fine before when i had the stock 16 " wheels on, then when i changed to 18" had same trouble. I would say the same. Anyhow if your going from 19's to stock 16's surely it would be a good idea to get the wheel alignment done,(proper Geo setup) or otherwise you will have bad handling & uneven tyre due to the setup of the toe/camber (if they had been setup with the 19's on). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Suprafly Posted December 27, 2009 Share Posted December 27, 2009 Just been having a look at my 19's while off the car, and as it happens the front drivers side tyre has more wear on the inside, so defo looks like somethings out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supracars Posted December 28, 2009 Share Posted December 28, 2009 mate the tracking will need to be looked at if you have uneven wear, lex autocentre down here are doing a good deal at the mo, maybe worth trying them if you have one nearby Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted December 28, 2009 Share Posted December 28, 2009 I have exactly the same issue. Went from 19's to 17's and mine is now off. Strange eh lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Posted December 28, 2009 Share Posted December 28, 2009 I can't get my head round this. Why would changing the wheels/tyres make any difference to the tracking or wheel alignment? As long as the overall tyre dimensions are the same/similar and the wheel offsets aren't miles different I can't see how it would make any odds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted December 28, 2009 Share Posted December 28, 2009 I can't get my head round this. Why would changing the wheels/tyres make any difference to the tracking or wheel alignment? As long as the overall tyre dimensions are the same/similar and the wheel offsets aren't miles different I can't see how it would make any odds. I can't fathom it myself lol. It has maybe turned around 10 degrees to the left for me. It isn't miles off, but easily noticeable. When the weather is better I'm going to take the front's off and put them back on again to see if that makes a difference. Thinking it might be something to do with the tophat nuts or something dodgy like that. Hopefully nothing serious though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Suprafly Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 I'm going to have the alignment and tracking looked at this week with the 16's on as I don't really want to refit my 19's until at least march, so it should be straight when I get my 19's back on i'd have thought, and if it isn't then I guess it'll have to be re aligned etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 I'm going to have the alignment and tracking looked at this week with the 16's on as I don't really want to refit my 19's until at least march, so it should be straight when I get my 19's back on i'd have thought, and if it isn't then I guess it'll have to be re aligned etc. Post back your findings mate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyT Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 Post back your findings mate Just about to ask that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Suprafly Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 Will do. It's in the garage tomorrow for a suspension change anyway so we're doing the alignment etc while it's in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Suprafly Posted December 31, 2009 Share Posted December 31, 2009 Right, had the tracking done today and still the wheel is off centre, not as much as before but still it's not straight. They're going to do it again this saturday to be sure because it's got them baffled, they were even testing the tyre pressures to make sure it wasn't that. When I got it back home I reversed it onto the drive, I've got to reverse with either right or left hand down because my street is pretty narrow, In this case I reversed it on right hand down and I could feel the front wheels 'skip' as I reversed it into the driveway, later as I pulled it out I drove it off with left hand down and the same happened again, a 'skip' as I drove it out. Also In driving on a straight road it does want to pull to the right ever so slightly if I let it. So I'm defo starting to think it's had a full geo setup with the 19's in the past. So I think I'll have a full geo setup done again but I'll wait until my 19's go back on, I'm not shelling out £150 to set it up now just to do it again in 2 months. I'll post what happens on Saturday when they redo the tracking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Suprafly Posted January 2, 2010 Share Posted January 2, 2010 Tracking done again today, and still the steering wheel is off centre to the right, they did it twice to be sure, they even put the wheels on a balancer to test for buckles which would show a false reading on the lazer aligner. The wheels are free from buckles. The car drives straight and true with no pulling to the left or right with my hands off the wheel. So this is now 4 times it's been aligned and checked, and has left us baffled. So I'm now thinking I'm just going to put up with it for the rest of the winter until my 19's go back on, the wheel will be straight with them back on, then as I said before I'll take it for a full geo setup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted January 2, 2010 Share Posted January 2, 2010 Tracking done again today, and still the steering wheel is off centre to the right, they did it twice to be sure, they even put the wheels on a balancer to test for buckles which would show a false reading on the lazer aligner. The wheels are free from buckles. The car drives straight and true with no pulling to the left or right with my hands off the wheel. So this is now 4 times it's been aligned and checked which has left us baffled. So I'm now thinking I'm just going to put up with it for the rest of the winter until my 19's go back on, the wheel will be straight with them back on, then as I said before I'll take it for a full geo setup. Wait a minute, are they doing it right? With tracking I was always led to believe that you centralise the steering wheel & pin it in place before starting the tracking. From there you adjust the track rods to align the wheels. Or is that something else? Thanks for keeping us updated Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Suprafly Posted January 2, 2010 Share Posted January 2, 2010 No you're right Scott, they jam a clamp between the drivers seat and the steering wheel, I checked the wheel was straight myself when it was clamped. It was done right, this is why we're baffled? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Branners Posted January 2, 2010 Share Posted January 2, 2010 Are the front tyres perhaps worn in a strange way? If the inner or outer edge is shot on one it could align up okay but be slightly odd when driving? I had my UK spec aligned a number of times and they never managed to get the steering wheel straight. Never fixed the problem as it didnt worry me that much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted January 2, 2010 Share Posted January 2, 2010 No you're right Scott, they jam a clamp between the drivers seat and the steering wheel, I checked the wheel was straight myself when it was clamped. It was done right, this is why we're baffled? Wow that is very strange. I think the only thing we are left with is what Branners suggested then lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chewie Posted January 2, 2010 Share Posted January 2, 2010 Avoid motorways and dual carriageways and stick to twisty country lanes. If you do end up on a straight stretch, swerve side to side like an F1 car on the warm up lap. You won't notice the steering wheel misalignment one jot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Suprafly Posted January 2, 2010 Share Posted January 2, 2010 Wow that is very strange. I think the only thing we are left with is what Branners suggested then lol. Like I said earlier, I'm just going to put up with it until the winter is over when my 19's go back on. I think until then I'll whip off my steering wheel and move it one spline to the left to see what happens, I'll have to remember to move it back when the 19's go back on though lol. Actually having said that, it could be that when the 19's went on in Japan it threw the steering wheel off centre so they simply took the steering wheel off and moved it a spline, this might be why now I've fitted the stock 16's the steering wheel is showing off centre, it's that daft it's probably right! I'll try that in the morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Suprafly Posted January 4, 2010 Share Posted January 4, 2010 No I tried that and it was off centre to the left so I've moved it back to it's original position. It's really doing my head in now, I just cant get my head around this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Suprafly Posted April 3, 2010 Share Posted April 3, 2010 Well it's now april and just fitted my 19's again and sure enough the steering wheel is true and centralised. I should be happy but since I've had my 16's on for so long they've grown on me (yeah I know!) so I want to refit my 16's again now and beef them out with a set of 25mm rear and 20mm front hubcentric spacers, I know it'll throw my steering wheel out again, so once I've refitted them I'm going to book it into Revolution in Newcastle for a full geo setup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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