Steering wheel not straight

[Mewcenary]

Hi,

I'm really happy with the 2002 Leon Cupra I picked up, but there is one niggling problem.

The steering wheel is not straight. In other words, it has to be held at a slight angle in order to maintain the car in a straight line at speed. Tracking seems okay, as the car does not drift if the steering wheel is not being held.

It went back to the stealers for a While You Wait appointment for this to be fixed. It's come out, and after a bit of a drive it still doesn't seem straight - albeit in the opposite direction now, and not as bad.

Am I just being _really_ picky here, or should I send it back again?
Or perhaps get an expert (e.g. tyre servicing place!) to sort this? (Tyres appear to be in good condition).

This was an Approved Seat car, so I have a year's warranty on it.

 

[Snoopcousins]

That definately sounds like the alignment.
Take it to a proper 4-wheel alignment place, should only be around £20.

On my Ibiza FR, I always had a problem of the steering wheel pulling to the left when I let go, alignment never helped that and the dealer just changed the wheels around and didnt really want to know.

 

[Mewcenary]

That definately sounds like the alignment.
Take it to a proper 4-wheel alignment place, should only be around £20.

On my Ibiza FR, I always had a problem of the steering wheel pulling to the left when I let go, alignment never helped that and the dealer just changed the wheels around and didnt really want to know.

I'm also guessing that a specialist tyre-fitting place is more likely to have the proper tools, racks and experience to get this right...

 

[Snoopcousins]

Defiantely get it sorted though, it can really be annoying, never mind any un-even tyre wear....

 

[Pagnobito]

This could be an indication of a previous minor shunt or subframe misalignment. It sounds like the dealer took the wheel off and moved it one notch, which would carry with what you say about it being the other way. Mine has had a slight off centre position since I damaged the subframe on a rock, and after repairs, new alloy, subframe items the wheel has been like it. The alignment is ok, I just have an offcentre wheel.

 

[Mewcenary]

We'll see what happens when I get it looked at again.

The car had two new front tyres, so hopefully it is just down to an error being made when those were fitted.

EDIT: Quote from local tyre specialist is £23.97 for fixing alignment, but rising to £43.00 if the "camber adjustment" needs looking at. Does this seem reasonable?

 

[andih98uk]

That would annoy the hell out of me, definitely get it back and get them to sort it... This might just be my OCD coming out though!!! ha ha

 

[Mewcenary]

I think it's only off by even less than "5 minutes" anticlockwise. I'm not sure this is worth sending back again for... just how straight can it be?

 

[Spanky]

I think it's only off by even less than "5 minutes" anticlockwise. I'm not sure this is worth sending back again for... just how straight can it be?

Simple answer.... perfectly straight.... I am a bugger for stuff like that, I hate it when my steering wheel isn't straight... mine currently is perfectly straight.

Recently had it tracked too, after replacing a bottom ball joint.

 

[Mewcenary]

Progress! I spoke to the SEAT Dealer today (Kings Seat in Portsmouth, for reference) and said how I wasn't particularly happy that the steering wheel was still "off" after one Return To Base.

I suggested that they pay for a local tyre specialist to do a full four-wheel balance and so on.

They've agreed. I guess it's handy that the one I suggested is the same one that does all their contract work anyway.

My concern here of course was, "Well, if this company fitted the tyres, maybe it was their fault the alignment was out?". So I spoke to the tyre place. They said that when it came to mobile fitting for dealers, they simply put the balanced tyres on, and it is down to the dealer to check alignment and so on. But they have the facilities to do all that checking on their own site.

So sounds good to me... fingers crossed...

Anyway, as much as I am not happy of the problem existing, the dealer hasn't been sucking teeth or going, "Oooh they ALL do that, Sir" so credit for them there.

 

[Spanky]

Hope it gets sorted mate, should do.

 

[Mewcenary]

Unfortunately, backward progress has been made: The steering wheel alignment is now as bad as it was originally!

The four wheel laser alignment was performed by the specialists. It was done twice, in case the first time was an error. As a result, it is showing tracking has being "dead on".

However, on this particular Cupra, tracking being "dead on" means the steering wheel must be held at approx 20 degrees clockwise to keep the car in a straight line. This is noticable at low speeds of 30 mph.

I'm really upset about this. Especially as it would appear that perhaps the dealer originally "fixed" the problem by deliberately knocking the tracking off to fudge it. Now, that's my un-expert opinion, so I hope I'm proved wrong.

Specialist said "Well, we could fudge the tracking so the wheel is straight, but then you'll get the usual alignment problems such as uneven tyre wear etc. And then it would just reset again once you changed tyres.". At least they were honest!

I've opted to take this info back to the dealer, and get them to take the car off my hands for a day, and comprehensively look at the problem. There must be something else wrong here, and I'm not liking it so far.

At all.

 

[Mewcenary]

To reply to my own post...

Cupra now booked in for full steering stripdown (or whatever they are going to do...) for a day on Monday 24th April. Ho hum. As long as they include taking it out for a test drive in this and getting it properly sorted, I'm happier....

 

[Spanky]

I dont understand.... you can position the steering wheel where-ever you want, then adjust the track-rod ends etc to align your wheels.... unless something is really worn, you can't not get your steering wheel in the middle, especially as your has gone from being slightly out clockwise and anti-clockwise.

 

[Mewcenary]

Well, the tyre specialist said that this wasn't something they could do. Hmm. Not happy.

I suspect they just aren't familiar with the extent of how the Leon can be adjusted, and just did the typical adjustments of the wheels. Which then meant the steering wheel was then non-centre.

Oh, I don't know. Grrrr.

 

[Spanky]

Well, the tyre specialist said that this wasn't something they could do. Hmm. Not happy.

I suspect they just aren't familiar with the extent of how the Leon can be adjusted, and just did the typical adjustments of the wheels. Which then meant the steering wheel was then non-centre.

Oh, I don't know. Grrrr.

It does take a bit of effort to do, as they do centre the steering wheel before they start the alignment, but when adjusting near the wheels it moves slightly, they need to adjust it while making sure the steering wheel doesn't move.... some places use the steering lock, but you never really lock it smack in the middle... offer to hold it for them

 

[Mewcenary]

Well, I have had the car less than 30 days, so within the right to a full refund... so I'm giving them until the end of the week to have it 100% fixed before I hand it back and walk away.

I like the car, but MAJORLY bad vibes about it considering the steering was meant to be fixed prior to pickup, and still isn't sorted! (Waiting two weeks a time for a servicing appointment is not acceptable...)

 

[Mewcenary]

I escalated this to the Service Manager last night, who gave me a call this morning.

He's spoken to the specialist and is basically of the opinion of something being out of alignment (okay, he was more precise than this, but I can't remember now). And he wants the car in to strip the steering system down to investigate properly.

I reiterated that my problem here was having to wait two weeks approx for this to happen, as having the wheel at such an angle is, well, quite distressing. It feels uncomfortable, due to the balances involved.

He offered for me to take the car in this afternoon for a While You Wait appointment, where they can at least rack it up and track it up and adjust the steering wheel as best they can. I said this would be fine as a temporary measure - if the steering wheel is just slightly off (like it was after the first attempt), then I could live with that until the "proper" strip down occured.

So that's where we are now! Fingers crossed. Much that I am p!ssed at this problem existing, at least the dealer isn't pulling a "ooh, they all do that sir" trick.

To be honest, my main annoyance is the fact that it got made WORSE by the specialist. Hmph.

 

[Fidge]

Have they checked the tract rod ends and tie rod ends? My guess would be that the offside track rod end is bent slightly, sometimes these bends can be hard to notice! I guess offside because you say the wheel is off centre to the right, but it could be either side!

 

[Mewcenary]

Okay, here's an update, and as always, advice is welcome!

The car went to the dealer who had another go at centering it.

It is much better now, but not the steering wheel is still not COMPLETELY straight when the car is in a dead straight line. The car isn't pulling or anything like that - the wheel is just off centre.

It is probably only off by a couple of degrees on the clock (i.e less than "5 past" on the clock).

With road camber and everything, this is possibly the best they can get it?

I'm still very disappointed with how the specialist did this (as above, it was off by a LOT). Ditto their claim that it "wasn't possible" to get the alignment right and the steering wheel central. Looking back, I didn't have much faith in the technician doing the work at all - I asked a few simple questions, and he just had a total blank look on his face. A case of a monkey following the prompts on the alignment computer screen, I think (I'd probably have done an equally good job or better, and I know nothing about this stuff!).

I suspect he was doing what some people have thougth - namely only adjusting one side, so the tracking ended up central, but the steering wheel did not.