front alignment issue

[dave feola]

hey folks got an 02 st with 85,000 on it,jsut has front brakes done, asked them to check my alignment ,said it was fine, steering wheel seems slightly offcenter to left when driving down straight road. took it back and tech drove me to mall parking lot, truck and steering wheel tracked straight , could this off center be caused by road ?

 

[EddieS'04]

If the road crown has an lot of drop to the right. The wheel will be left. the deeper the drop to the right the more the wheel will be off center. Now if the tech is good at his job. He will know how to adjust for road crown. That wat your wheel will always be centered for normal roads.

 

[dave feola]

what i'm trying to say should I not wory about it considering in the flat mall parking lot everything seems fine ?

 

[Matthew Runals]

man I have had this problem for a long time. had the front alignment checked and all the test came back ok but the steering wheel is still off center and leaning left. Not an expert on alignment issues but my wheels seem to track fine, its just that the steering wheel is off. I don't think its something to worry about.

 

[Kevin Palmer]

If you want to see if it is the crown of the road, simple drive on the other side of the road.



Find a place where it is nice and safe, move to the wrong side of the road and make a note of the wheel...

 

[Jerry Abson 3]

do you mean your steering wheel, when driving down a straight road, is not 'centered', where the spokes are either turned more to the left or right? If so, you need a thrust alignment, Straightens the steering wheel to match the wheel alignment.



But if you mean the steering wheen is closer to the dash on the left, thats been a 'problem' with both my tracs. I don't consider it a problem, just a little thing with the tracs.

 

[Art G]

Based on the standard roadway design, roads are crown with 2% slopes and some have 3%. Alignment shops are familiar with this slopes unless the mechanic did not take into account of the % slopes deduction and set it at a 0% flat road, then the steering wheel will be off center to the left.

 

[Matthew Runals]

haha then either the dude that did my alignment either did not take into account the slope % or I need the thrust alignment done.