Steering wheel off centre

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JPK

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Have had this since installing a load of suspension parts. It sits at around 12-15 degrees to the left.
The steering wheel has not been removed at any point and the alignment is perfect. It drives great and doesn't pull to the
left.

Its driving me mad and I'm guessing its either the steering angle sensor has an issue and needs a reset through vcds.
Or, there is an issue with the whiteline bump steer correction kit I have (aftermarket tie rod ends).

Has anyone had this before and can shed any light?
 
Tracking needs re-setting with the steering wheel wedged in the straight ahead position.
 
fangio is right put you can cheat and take the wheel off and move it to a central position. although the width of the cogs may not make it 100% straight
 
No, places that do Digital allignment usually have a piece of kit that clamps the wheel in place while they adjust the tracking underneath.
The lazy way of doing tracking is to just adjust one side, which pulls the other into line but knocks the steering wheel off centre. Sometimes this gets done if one side is siezed or both and they just couldn't be bothered to free off both. Best to get it done right then you shouldn't have any issues.
 
I'm a little confused as the place I used does loads of performance and race cars on their hunter digital alignment machine .
They swore black and blue the alignment was perfect and I showed my mechanic the alignment report and he agreed.
The car doesn't track to the left excessively. The physical position of the steering wheel is off centre all of the time.
It doesn't pull to the left when driving, it permanently sits to the left. If I straighten the wheel the car veers to the right at a 12-15 degree angle .
 
having a steering wheel that doesn't sit central is not an indication that the tracking is out, in fact eveytime i have had tracking done the steering wheel is slightly off centre, one way or another.
 
Do you mean that VCDS is reporting that the steering is off centre or does your steering actually look off centre??

Also, is your car lowered??

I had the same issue with my old car and it was due to the alignment being done using the standard height A3 settings rather than the lowered Sport settings.
 
SL4VE said:
having a steering wheel that doesn't sit central is not an indication that the tracking is out, in fact eveytime i have had tracking done the steering wheel is slightly off centre, one way or another.
Click to expand...

If the wheel was straight before the work, then a bum job has been done on the tracking. It doesn't necessarily mean that the tracking is not correct!

And if your wheel has been put off-centre, then that was a bum job, too. (This all depends if the wheel was straight in the first place, of course....:yes:)
 
Ads said:
Do you mean that VCDS is reporting that the steering is off centre or does your steering actually look off centre??

Also, is your car lowered??

I had the same issue with my old car and it was due to the alignment being done using the standard height A3 settings rather than the lowered Sport settings.
Click to expand...

yes it is lowered. The steering wheel looks off centre
 
wont a steering wheel re calibration sort it out? i had to do this when i fitted my MFSW. something about vcds and turning the steering wheel full left and then full right lock.

maybe this would sort it for you?
 
audi upgrades
WALTO TDI said:
wont a steering wheel re calibration sort it out? i had to do this when i fitted my MFSW. something about vcds and turning the steering wheel full left and then full right lock.

maybe this would sort it for you?
Click to expand...

already posted the link on how to do this... waiting to see if the OP does it and if it fixes the issue
 
Surely, as the link between wheel and rack is mechanical, no amount of electrickery will alter it? :uhm:
 
thats what i thought when the idiots at ATS messed up my steering.
After i had the car lowered and 19s put on the car i went to get the tracking done as you do, left it with ATS in Camden (north London)... these monkeys had it for 3 hours and gave it back to me after work saying they cant do it and blamed the mechanic for not fitting on the springs properly, they didnt charge me but asked me to come back once i sorted out the suspension. i didnt realise it at first but as i drove up the road the car kept pulling to the right so to compensate i had to hold the wheel about 45degrees to the left.

the next day i took it to the mechanic to check it over and they just laughed saying that the idiots dont know what they are doing and the 'gap' at the top of the springs that ATS where complaining about was just some left over residue of grease.
Needless to say i didnt take it back to the monkeys, instead took it to Elite in Essex who sorted out the tracking on the machines and gave me a print out but on the test run they said that the wheel needs to be held to the left for the car to go straight... for some reason the 3 days that i drove the car with the wheel tilted was being remembered by the steering angle sensor. Luckily for me i carry my VCDS with me in the car so i just reset it there and then and it started to work perfectly again.
 
fangio said:
Surely, as the link between wheel and rack is mechanical, no amount of electrickery will alter it? :uhm:
Click to expand...

Im quite sure that this can be sorted via VCDS as in Ash187 post. has something to do with the slip ring i think.
 
The steering is on the right as your car is a right hand drive haha - Pee take sorry lol,
get tracking 4 wheels alignment done it will sort it out
 
Scan in your Hunter Alignment Printout (before and after) and post it up on here please.
We can go from there.
 
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