Steering Not Straight

[MattDRX]

Right so,

Took my slickened tyres off on Tuesday, and had new Yoko Paradas fitted.

Now the steering wheel isn't straight when driving straight, it's veering off to the left.

It's nothing to do with the steering angles / bodge job as it was perfectly fine the day before, and I took the wheels off the car and took them to the garage for the tyres to be changed.

it's not wobbly in anyway and still as smooth so not a balancing issue and it makes no difference on what speed you are going at.

Any thoughts on why this is happening?

It was immediate also as soon as I drove out the driveway. never had this before ( and it was before I kerbed the !Removed! out it a few hours later and that hasn't changed anything remarkably.

[alexp999]

Maybe the new tyres are being affected more by the camber of the road?

[MattDRX]

I have thought about that, but even on a flat surface it's slightly off, and went the road banks to the right the wheel is perfectly centred then and goes straight, where in theory it should be off to the left to keep it straight as it currently does this with a camber to the left ( most roads )

Hunter Alignment checks are free, might just take it in and see what they say, lose a few hours of my life.

[SandyCat]

If you are sure you have not put the geometry out then it's possible a tyre isn't true. You always assume a tyre is perfectly moulded but not always and modern fatter tyres show up defects more than the older ones did. Swap the fronts with the rears and if the wheel is straight again that will tell you.

[Loz Cheung]

i had this with mine too - my steering when 'straight' was offset to the right a few degrees.

it did annoy me but it got fixed when i got my front right tyre changed from a puncture - the only thing i noticed wheni got it back were the wheel weights had moved, so i cant be definite if that was what fixed it - or if it was just something else (like an alignment check) which they did for me!

[MattDRX]

Good point Sandy, Think on the way home ESC is going off and I'm going to perform an EPIC burn out and sand them down a little bit, problem is they are very very grippy tyres and might not do it.

Immense pain the !Removed!, I hate it when a steering wheel isn't straight.

[SandyCat]

So do I it really bugs the hell out of me. Some people just live with it but I can't. I had 2 new tyres last week and it was a relief to get in and see everything straight and true.

[BigRog]

I still say weight is a major factor in some cases like this. I've mentioned this before in a post, had mine balanced on an old car and all was well, having said that Matt... I had this problem once with michilin's and had some new tyres put on the front and the problem was no more.

[MattDRX]

Seems to have settled a bit after wearing them in. Perhaps when the tyres wore down so much it pulled on the track rods and voila this is the result. Going to take them off tomorrow and give them one turn and see what happens.

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[SandyCat]

Incorrect balancing causes wheel wobble and vibration not a constant off centre. The weights are a few ounces and not nearly enough to pull the wheel off centre. In this particular case I am convinced it's a tyre out of true and like I said a swap from front to rear would confirm it.

[MattDRX]

Sorry I did that and the rears are mint still and it made no difference, forgot to mention earlier. Have to imagine it was like lowering the car 10mm+ over 12k miles. Must have some effect.

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[SandyCat]

Something is up with the suspension then as 2 different wheels and tyres having the same affect isn't the wheel or the tyre. I recommend you get a geometry check.