Now ive had this Fabia VRS for a few weeks and the off centre steering wheel drives me mad so went to my usual alignment place in Nottm to get it sorted.

Ive used them loads before and they have a hunter machine and they did it all properly clamped the wheel centre and I checked, and they did their adjustments.

On driving out the wheel is still not centered when going straight, its at about 11 o clock, put it straight and car drives to the right, quite a bit.

I took it back and had it redone, still the same, ive got a printout which looks fine but its driving me mad not having a straight wheel.

by the way the car does not pull to either side when i let go of the wheel, its just the wheel is not centered.

Ive checked the pressures are fine, there was no sign of damage when it was up on the ramps so im stumped.

The front tyres are not the same make but it pulls so much even going slow that I cant think that is responsible.

I was thinking of getting 4 new tyres anyway as they are some auful brand and quite noisy, but is there any other obvious fault, is this gonna get expensive.

It may seem small but an off centre wheel is something i cannot live with.

I had the same problem after some work that was done by a garage on the dash which required the steering wheel to come off - they had not put it back on straight. I think if it isn't pulling to the side then the wheels and tracking are ok and you have to take the steering wheel off itself and adjust the position of that.

lol really something as simple as that?

lol really something as simple as that?

I think if I were you I'd go back to the garage that did the alignment and get them to do it, which I'd expect to be done free of charge. If you do it yourself be careful with the airbag.

Now ive had this Fabia VRS for a few weeks and the off centre steering wheel drives me mad so went to my usual alignment place in Nottm to get it sorted.

Ive used them loads before and they have a hunter machine and they did it all properly clamped the wheel centre and I checked, and they did their adjustments.

On driving out the wheel is still not centered when going straight, its at about 11 o clock, put it straight and car drives to the right, quite a bit.

I took it back and had it redone, still the same, ive got a printout which looks fine but its driving me mad not having a straight wheel.

by the way the car does not pull to either side when i let go of the wheel, its just the wheel is not centered.

Ive checked the pressures are fine, there was no sign of damage when it was up on the ramps so im stumped.

The front tyres are not the same make but it pulls so much even going slow that I cant think that is responsible.

I was thinking of getting 4 new tyres anyway as they are some auful brand and quite noisy, but is there any other obvious fault, is this gonna get expensive.

It may seem small but an off centre wheel is something i cannot live with.

Does the print out show the drift angle from straight ?

If alignment is done properly it should take account of the rear axle drift angle and be set so that the steering wheel is straight when the car goes straight.

All the adjustments in the world on the front end are not going to have the steering wheel straight unless the rear end is accounted for.

Do not move the steering wheel round on it's splines - you will confuse the steering angle sensor.

I tried 4 different places until i found one that knew how to use their equipment properly.

Edited 27 April, 201016 yr by DEAN0

they usually align the car to the steering wheel, they should fix the wheel in place (straight) then align the car to this!

take it somewhere else!

ok had new tyres, alloys refurbed, cambelt and service on my newly aquired fabia, the stearing could be out due towork wishbone bushed according to my (trusted) mechanic, you can move the front wheels about, theres a fair bit of play in them, he showed me the new uprated bush for them

Is this likely to sort the issue and theres nothing else he could say with certainly that it was.

My steering wheel is off centre since I had my console bushes done, it was perfectly straight beforehand, I've lived with it for ages now so I'm not really that bothered !

Duff bushes will cause all kinds of geometry issues which may only become apparent when driving. The alignment should always be redone after any suspension work and preferably a 4WA.

Duff bushes will cause all kinds of geometry issues which may only become apparent when driving. The alignment should always be redone after any suspension work and preferably a 4WA.

I agree fully, strangely it was when my VW dealer changed the ARB (also involves dropping the cross member), that my wife's Polo ended up with the steering wheel "not straight" - she lived with it for 6 months until I got Cupra bushes fitted and the indie re-aligned it (4WA) correctly.

They do the alignment of the wheels while the steering wheel is dead centre.If it isnt dead centre it will be out after adjustment!!