Wheel Alignment

[rover3l]

Had my wheels aligned at a Firestone franchise and now the steering wheel is slightly off center when the road wheels are straight position. Any thoughts?

David

[Q451990]

Get another alignment under the warranty... they'll get it right eventually. I have one specific tech. that I use for all of my alignments just for that reason. For some reason it seems to be hard to get the mid-line right on the Q. Instead of getting the wheel centered and using one of those metal braces that holds it straight in the seat, he rocks the wheel left and right while it's running to get it naturally centered with the spring loading of the rack - not sure if that makes a difference or not.

Make sure (tip if necessary) that they get the total thrust angle exactly right... (0.00000)

Also make sure that it's not the crown of the road fooling you. The car should pull slightly to the right on a rightward leaning road (angled for drainage) and a little to the left on a leftward leaning road. Our interstates are crowned between the right and middle lane lines. The third lane to the left was added later. It makes it easy to test. The wheel is tilted slightly left in right lane, and slightly right in the middle and left lanes.

Heath