Wheel alignment and resulting steering wheel off centre

[Gazbo]

My front left tyre was wearing badly in the inside, so took the car to the local tyre shop (I know....) for an alignment. Tyres are 205/50/15.

I was told by the guy that the castor and camber adjustments were not independent of each other, and my final compromise was:

Left: 2deg caster, +0.5deg camber
Right: 4deg caster, -1deg camber

The rear alignment wasn't touched (\"back wheels not wearing unevenly\"), but the tyres were rotated (front<->rear)

After all that, my steering wheel doesn't sit straight any more, it's about 5 degrees offset clockwise.

The guy told me it was the tyres causing this, but when I later put a set of new-ish 185/60/14 wheels on the car the steering wheel is still offset.

Is all this bull, and why can't can't I have correctly aligned steering wheel?

Any recommended alignment shops in the South-Western Sydney / Southern Highlands areas? Canberra even ?

[AJ]

chalk that one up to experience & put it into a decent wheel aligner instead of that hack

[Steampunk]

sh#t happens.
My wheel has been sitting bout the same 5deg as yours for years.
I've had 2 alignments done by 2 different shops/people I trust and it just works out that way, it's definitely not a fault of crappy alignment.

You can try to take the boss off and realigning the teeth in hopes that it will come closer to centre. It'll probably work, but I couldnt be bothered as Im used to it now.
But I remember it was annoying the absolute piss out of me for the first few months.

[tbro]

Oh dear,
I really can't understand some so called aligners attitudes.
These reading are what I would expect before a wheel alignment after either a major rebuild or a nasty accident.
Sure, the camber and Castor are adjusted with the two camber pins, but being unequal length lower arms makes the MX5 one of the easier cars to adjust. I would love to see this clown do a old lowered Valiant.
Take the car to a suspension specialist or wheel aligner, obviously one recommended by your forum buddies. These people have to do the job properly to earn a living, tyre shops see alignments as cream and rely on the old adage, \"you must have hit a bump\".
I way I always roadtested my alignments, a test drive for 5 kms and if the steering wheel wasn't dead straight put it back on the machine and reset and recheck.
A off centre wheel tells me that the aligner hasn't done their job properly and doesn't give a f**k.
BTW my experience in alignments was with TyreTech, doing race cars, upmarket cars eg RR and Mercs etc.
Terry

[Okibi]

Just take it back and get them to adjust it (for free).

Im sure it happens at most places now and then, just put a bit of masking tape on the top of the wheel when you're driving in a line on a flat non cambered bit of road. That way they can tell how much it needs to be adjusted.

[Uncle Arthur]

sh#t happens.
My wheel has been sitting bout the same 5deg as yours for years.
I've had 2 alignments done by 2 different shops/people I trust and it just works out that way, it's definitely not a fault of crappy alignment.

You can try to take the boss off and realigning the teeth in hopes that it will come closer to centre. It'll probably work, but I couldnt be bothered as Im used to it now.
But I remember it was annoying the absolute piss out of me for the first few months.

You don't go to the club sponsors do you.....

Go elsewhere, and you get what you pay for only if you accept it.

[Steampunk]

Well after reading tbro's and your post Mr Arthur I have to say that even though you both make great points, I still think it's not entirely the fault of crappy alignment and lacklustre service.

The first alignment I ever did was done by my mechanic at his workshop at Zupps using the latest dobewack aligner.
We had the whole saturday morning to ourselves and when we test drove it, found the wheel out of kilter, we put it back on the aligner, test drove it again, and it was still out. So we left it at that.

Second alignment was 6 months ago at Fulcrum. Wheel still sits in the same place.

That is why I said \"sh#t happens\".

My car tracks fine everywhere, so I'm not gonna do another one soon just for the sake of having a perfectly level steering wheel.

But having said all that, Terry, I'm gonna become your shadow and go to all the places you go from now on

[Gazbo]

when we test drove it, found the wheel out of kilter, we put it back on the aligner, test drove it again, and it was still out. So we left it at that.

My car tracks fine everywhere, so I'm not gonna do another one soon just for the sake of having a perfectly level steering wheel.

In my case, I think you're probably right... after a test drive, the car was checked on the machine again when I was told it was fine, despite the offset wheel.

My car doesn't pull to one side, seems to drive fine, it's just the steering wheel offset drives me mad... and the steering wheel used to be straight before the alignment.

[Gazbo]

OK, might be a dumb question, but couldn't the steering arms be equally adjust one way or another to centre up the steering wheel?

[Okibi]

If they have proper electronic alignment tools they use a bar to \"lock\" the wheel in the central position than start to set the alignment.

Even then it's tricky to get the wheel in the exact top dead centre and every now and then it's bound to be a little off.

That's why I said to mark where the top dead centre is now so they have a far better idea just how out of whack it is and it will help them set the wheel in place.

[Charlie Brown]

OK, might be a dumb question, but couldn't the steering arms be equally adjust one way or another to centre up the steering wheel?

Not a dumb question at all.

The person who did your alignment is slack. He just doesn't want to spend the time to get it right. The position of the wheel is dependant on the adjustments on the steering rack. He needs to loosen one end and take up the other.

Also the alignment figures you have are crap. If you go to the archive section you will find what figures should be dialled in. The MX-5 is supersensitive to changes in the alignment and the handling and stability of the car are affected by poor adjustments. Get the car done properly, front and rear, by someone who cares. It will cost you about $88 to have the front and rears done.

I have just been to Heasman’s for an alignment prior to the Super Sprint series. I’m going to test a slightly modified version of my old alignment in an attempt to reduce some of the understeer that typical of the MX-5. If it works I’ll post the figures for those with lowered NC’s to try. If it doesn’t then it will be back in to have the rears changed, possibly at our Club Tech night. One interesting fact is that I could have had 2.75 negative on the front. Fine for the track but a little extreme for the road.

[Garry]

You should get the rears aligned when you do the front as well to make sure that the rear toe is correct. Your car could be \"crabbing\".

[Mokesta]

I had this issue with my wife's car. The lock bar the guy put on the steering wheel to hold it in the straight ahead position during the alignment didn't fit well with the steering wheel and allowed it to rotate. I took the car back and he just did a dodgy 1 turn each side and hoped it was still right. It wasn't and I talked to the boss. He got the guy to start all over again. Now the wheel is dead straight.

It wasn't like he did it wrong or didn't care, the clamp just slipped. Doing the whole alignment all over again was another 20 mins.

Your guy just doesn't want to spend the time.

[Gazbo]

The person who did your alignment is slack. He just doesn't want to spend the time to get it right. The position of the wheel is dependant on the adjustments on the steering rack. He needs to loosen one end and take up the other.

Also the alignment figures you have are crap. If you go to the archive section you will find what figures should be dialled in. The MX-5 is supersensitive to changes in the alignment and the handling and stability of the car are affected by poor adjustments. Get the car done properly, front and rear, by someone who cares. It will cost you about $88 to have the front and rears done.

Think you're definitely right here...

I did give him the figures from the tech section here for general road use, seemed to think he knew better and that if the car was set up to those figures, I would have uneven tyre wear and pulling to one side....

Thanks for all your replies, just wish I could find someone decent even remotely near me (Sthn Highlands NSW) to do the alignment.

[Slugoid]

I had a similar alignment story.

Friend told me about this one Beaurepaire store where they offer good price for their alignment. Went there and told them exactly what settings I wanted. Then when they did the alignment and gave me the printout, the toe settings were wrong so they redid it (I asked for no toe on the front, 1mm at the back, and they put 1mm front and back...). As I drove out, the noticed steering was off centre. So I took it back there and they redid it, but problem was still there. They then told be because of the high camber setting I wanted, it was too hard for them to get the steering straight . I requested -1.5deg all round....which isn't too much. Then they proceeded to blame my camber bolts, which I later found were absolutely perfect when I did my bushes.

The next time I did my alignment, I went to a proper alignment place where they do alignment for a lot of track cars. Gave them my settings and 45 mins later, they did everything I wanted and guess what? Steering was perfect and dead straight.

Moral of the story, go to a proper place for alignment, even it it cost more, and don't trust dodgy aligners who make up weak excuses for their incompetence.