Do unofficial alloys cause weird steering angles?

[SonicAaron]

If the chassis is anything like a mk4 golf ( and I think they're pretty similar). There is no adjustment in the rear, it's all fixed so they should only be charging you for a front wheel alignment. If something was out enough in the rear for you to have to compensate with the steering there'd be some pretty crazy wear on the tires and you'd definitely feel vibrations.

My concern is that I got them aligned. . .and the steering was off.

so I took it to another place and they said the alignment was fine. After telling him that my steering wheel needed to be a bit anti clock wise. . He then fine tuned the alignment more.

its still a bit anti clockwise. . .how far can it go? I mean if it was aligned (by two garages) and I've still made them fix it more. . .and then need to go back and have more done. . .am I not getting into territory where it isn't aligned? If they say it's aligned then surely if I align it more so that my steering is straight. . Then I'll have made it un-aligned by more considering it was meant to already be aligned the first time?


if that makes sense haha

[amazeer]

The 2 front wheels will be aligned to each other no problem, the position of the steering wheel doesnt affect that. Its just cosmetic. To straighten it they just need to lengthen one tie rod and shorten the other by the same amount.

[nomadx38]

Actually it's even easier than that, they just unscrew a bolt on the bottom of the steering wheel column and align it with centre once the wheels are aligned.

[brad]

Actually it's even easier than that, they just unscrew a bolt on the bottom of the steering wheel column and align it with centre once the wheels are aligned.

WTF?
I find that really hard to believe. Never have I seen a steering wheel straightened in that manner

I've never worked on a Polo but most steering columns have a master spline & only assemble one way. Maybe Polos are different but i doubt it.

Pre-Airbag we used to pop the steering wheel & move that a spline or 2 but you would bother now due to the risk of popping an airbag.

It's easier to get underneath & move one tie rod in half a turn & the other out half a turn (or whatever is needed). You don't even have to throw the alignment heads back on - just double check with a tape measure to make sure you haven't had a brain fart.

[nomadx38]

Well after a wheel alignment the steering wheel was off, so I went back to the tyre place asked them to adjust it, they took it for a spin said yeah it's off and centred it without even driving it into the garage.

Even I was surprised thinking they had to adjust the rods again but nope did it in the car park, and yes it was straight afterwords.

God knows how they did it if they didn't get out of the car...

[wai]

When you align the steering, the first thing you do is centre the rack. Then you adjust each track rod to get the correct toe in. The steering wheel should be centred. If it is not, then you need to take it off and centre it.

If you do not centre the rack before you start, you will get bump steer because the length of each track rod will be different.

[SonicAaron]

Thanks for this guys.

It's not that far off so I'm reasonably happy.

It does seem to pull to the left ever so slightly... Like if I was to left go of the wheel then it would go ever so slightly left but perhaps that's just the new springs VW put on

[passat123]

Just a thought, could hub rings sort it out?

[SonicAaron]

I'm not really sure what those are lol. I initially thought it would only go straight if I held my wheel left..... But I think that it just WANTS to go left (ie if I hold the wheel straight then I will go straight). Have been looking at friends cars and they do all appear to have weird steering. Perhaps it's a lowering thing.

Doesn't feel unsafe any more so I'm not as scared lol

[Guest001]

All cars should pull slightly left on a normal road due to the camber of the road.

To try it to see if it is set straight you need a perfectly flat area like a car park or similar. Otherwise get on a quiet straight road and sit on the centerline and see what it does..