Alignment Question

[Reimann]

I had an alignment job done on my car since I had to hold the wheel turned to the left a bit to get it to go straight. After the alignment job I couldn't tell anything had changed and I still have to hold it turned. Is there something else that could cause that or should I take back and have them redo it?

 

[XTONKAX]

I had an alignment job done on my car since I had to hold the wheel turned to the left a bit to get it to go straight. After the alignment job I couldn't tell anything had changed and I still have to hold it turned. Is there something else that could cause that or should I take back and have them redo it?

I'm no mechanic, but it may be your steering wheel is off. In any case, this'll bump it up for you.

 

[2002BLGT]

stock alignment on all cars is set to slightly , slightly , i repeat slightly pull to the right , reason being people falling asleep or getting destracted driving will go off the right side of the road instead of the oncoming lane hitting innocent people coming the other way , plus you have to take into account that most roads are crowned in the center for water to run off which makes any car pull to the right slightly , but if its a question on how bad its pulling , check the tires first to see if you have previous wear on one side of the front tires or not , even if you dont see any and you are still not happy , get the tires rotated just incase and then take it back and get them to realign it , dont trust people to do things right the first time , some mechanics are SLACKERS you gotta find one you can trust

 

[matt92lx]

Drive on the left side of the road where its legal and see if the car runs up the slope or down. You may also want to swap the front tires.Did you lose a wheel weight?And /or is a brake calipper binding?My stang got smaked and twisted the strut tower causing one wheel to be a little farther forward giving it a right hand pull.Had it at the dealer a million times until i went to this crappy backyard looking shop that had it fixed for $100.This was ten yrs ago and i still have it today.

 

[KJ Hoppus]

if your steering wheel is not streight take it back. when you do alignments your suppost to center the steering wheel, then do the adjustments.

 

[Reimann]

Thanks for all the help guys. Since there seems to be multiple causes for this I think I just might take it to nearby Ford dealership and have them look at it since it is still under warrenty. Of course, knowing Ford they are likely to take one look at my painted interior and say that has ruined all of the car's warrenty

 

[Modular2v]

just because your steering wheel is a little crooked doesnt mean your car is out of alignment

 

[stang9300]

I used to do alignments and this may be because whoever aligned it did not make sure the steering wheel was straight when they set the toe. Does the car pull to one side or the other, or does the wheel just stay turned while the car is going straight?

 

[Reimann]

just because your steering wheel is a little crooked doesnt mean your car is out of alignment

That was my original question. If it does not mean it is out of alignment then what does it mean? Though I would say it is more then just "a little crooked." Check the picture below for a reference. That is roughly the angle it has to be at for the car to go straight. It looks a little funny because I just found it online and moved the wheel in Photoshop.

<img src="http://images.cardomain.com/member_images/6/web/426000-426999/426980_43_full.jpg">

 

[Reimann]

I used to do alignments and this may be because whoever aligned it did not make sure the steering wheel was straight when they set the toe. Does the car pull to one side or the other, or does the wheel just stay turned while the car is going straight?

The only time it seems pull is when I am braking.

 

[stangman]

are you running a larger tire up front????? cause if you are the car will want to track a little. if not, take it back to the place you had it done. i just had mine done at sears & they told me that they had a 6,000 mi waranty on their alignment jobs. they told me cause i was re-lowering my car in the next week & i didn't want to align it then & have to do it again next week. so go back & see if they have a similar warranty

 

[Marine One]

Don't forget to make sure that your tire pressures are the same for both of your front tires. If one is considerably lower than the other, the car will pull toward the side with the lower tire.

Based on the pic of your steering wheel alone, if it were my car, I'd be back at the shop that did the alignment insisting that they make it right or refund my $$. Whatever shop you used obviously doesn't give a flip about quality control. Either they didn't test drive the car after it was aligned, or they did and just ignored the off center wheel.

I hate it when the auto repair industry requires otherwise decent people to turn into @$$holes to get things done right! Seems like it happens all too often, and that yours is yet another example.

 

[stang9300]

If this is where the steering wheel stays while the car in going straight and there is no pull until you brake, then someone has set your toe-in on the front end and did not look to see if they had the steering wheel straight. Go talk to the guy who lined it up for you.

 

[Reimann]

Thanks again for the sugestions. It was done at a Sears so I will probably just take it back to them this coming Saturday and bitch at them and get them to do it right. As for the questions asked, the tires are stock, whatever Ford puts on them when they are new and the air pressure in them is fine.