Steering wheel offcenter

[cortina63]

It sounds to me that the car's tracking has been set up with the steering not in the neutral straight ahead position,my mk2vrs had this when I picked it up,had the steering geometry redone with the steering wheel in the correct position

[LiamONeill]

My wheel was a small bit off when I got my car - my car was 15 moths old at the time - so I took it to the Wheel Alignment Center in Southampton and they were able to recenter it easily and quickly. 

Mine was only a small bit out though, that picture is way off. It's hard to imagine it left the factory like that!

[andyvee]

No, the steering wheel has been put on a few splines out.

 

The car isn't pulling to one side and the steering lock engages with the wheel at the '5 to 11' position, so this is the straight ahead position. From the earlier posts, there were unequal turns lock to lock from the steering wheel being centered, which means that the rack is centred when the wheel is at the '5 to 11' position as well.

 

Either the steering wheel has been removed and refitted by a muppet (column stalk recall maybe???) or it was fitted incorrectly at the factory.

 

Don't have the tracking adjusted with the wheel as it is as the rack won't be centered. If you have access to VCDS you can see the steering angle in a measuring block somewhere or other to confirm.

[Timpel]

Dont have the VCDS access unfortunetly. And lock to lock is different when i center the steeringwheel It  it stays as its bit to left lock to lock is equal to each side.

[Web Ferret]

My steering wheel was off too. Not as much as yours but my dealer fixed it. They took it to the one place in their Group that had a proper alignment rig.

[andyvee]

Dont have the VCDS access unfortunetly. And lock to lock is different when i center the steeringwheel It it stays as its bit to left lock to lock is equal to each side.

Which means your tracking is correct and an idiot fitted the steering wheel

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[blahde2]

No, the steering wheel has been put on a few splines out.

Either the steering wheel has been removed and refitted by a muppet (column stalk recall maybe???) or it was fitted incorrectly at the factory.

Don't have the tracking adjusted with the wheel as it is as the rack won't be centered. If you have access to VCDS you can see the steering angle in a measuring block somewhere or other to confirm.

Andy is correct, do not have the dealer mess with yor tracking as that'll be fine.

I had same prob with my 3rd Mk5 Golf by about the same degree as the op. I took it to my local German dealer, he came out in my car, did a lock to lock and a short drive round their complex and rolled us into the workshop round the back. He and one of the mechanics then got two screwdrivers, turned the wheel to 90* left of centre and popped the airbag off. They then reversed the car and set they front wheels dead ahead. Then they undid the big nut holding the wheel on, removed it and re-centred it correctly. Put it all back together and hey presto all good. Lock to lock after that was the same and all in took aprox 5mins and was done under warranty.

When they had the wheel off they looked at the back of it and noticed that it looked as if it had been removed before. They reckoned that the UK dealer who had supplied the car had possible swapped the wheel or airbag onto another car. When the new one for the other car arrived they put it on mine wonky!

A second fault were my headlights which illuminated the underside of the front of my car only. I had a 270mile journey to do and ended up crawling along at 30mph with the main beam on just to see ahead. I reckon they swapped them out as well. It got so bad that I stopped at the first VW dealer I found just as he was locking the building up. I pleaded my case, he was kind and went in, got some Allen keys and sorted them out. Thank you again to the VW dealer in Farnham, you saved the day when you could have told me to come back the next day.

They dealer had my car for 3weeks before I could collect it and had put 52mile on the clock already. I bought through a broker who on my complaining turned a deaf ear and said lump it, "You left the car there for 3 weeks, what did you expect them to do?" I never bought a car from them again, w**kers.

So, again, there is absolutely nothing wrong with your cars tracking. As an automotive engineer myself, if the car drives straight ahead (when there are no hands on the wheel) with the steering wheel in the same position as the photo, get the dealer to take it off and re-centre. It's quicker to do and will not muck up your tracking.

If in doubt, ask the dealer to check the steering rack position in case they were about to start adjusting the tracking as once they start down that road, it's a world of difficulty when the wheel is out of alighpnment as much as yours is. VCDS is a better bet if you can find someone with it local to you.

[Matt Pez]

Mine was also delivered with steering slightly off centre to the right, I made the mistake of not reporting it until about 6 weeks later, by which time had covered 3000 miles so dealer refused to operate without me footing the bill. It drives straight and is only slightly off so I left it alone, have since covered over 33k miles and no sign of uneven tyre wear, still on original front tyres, so my conclusion is poor fitting at the factory, reckon this is more common than dealers would have you believe!

Edited 24 October, 2014 by Matt Pez

[Timpel]

Car is booked for a check next thursday. Salesman who sold me car was worried, becose im not saticfied with my brand new car. But i quess it happens. Mass production ay ? 

[Timpel]

So Thursday. Dealer booked me at 4pm today. Went there. Handed over keys. Take two cups of coffee and voilaa. Steeringhweel is straight center. They told me that they did alignment wrong in the factory and it was bit off. Now runs good. And for my pain and agony what i had to suffer for a week they give me free Octavia door still (Is that what they are called ?) covers, and they installed them. Looks nice Well was worth waiting. And cost of all this. 0 Euros

 

 

I quess topic can be closed now ? Topic about the car will come in weekend  

[Mence]

Glad to read it's sorted and that the dealer owned up that it was their problem.

Free sill protectors, sounds like a good result to me!

Enjoy your motor...

[andyvee]

Just for clarity, did they remove and refit the steering wheel or did they adjust the tracking?

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[Timpel]

They didn't tell actually and i wasnt asking either. Runs good thats important now