# Is your steering wheel perfectly straight?



## OEMplusCC (Jan 27, 2013)

My wife(her car) does not care but I noticed that steering wheel is not perfectly straight.
In order to keep the car to go straight the steering has to be approximately -3 degrees. 

Here is a picture of the steering wheel position to keep the car going straight, been like this since day one(brand new).
Notice the left and right stalks relative to the wheel. Also the small gap relative to the top of the airbag.

Curious to see if anyone else notice this, or perhaps dont have this "problem"

Thanks

*My conclusion to this thread is documented here: https://forums.vwvortex.com/showthr...rear-12v&p=113753845&viewfull=1#post113753845*


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## Rtdave87 (May 14, 2019)

I'm curious now,I'll check it next time I get in my car.

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## Rtdave87 (May 14, 2019)

OEMplusCC said:


> My wife(her car) does not care but I noticed that steering wheel is not perfectly straight.
> In order to keep the car to go straight the steering has to be approximately -3 degrees.
> 
> Here is a picture of the steering wheel position to keep the car going straight, been like this since day one(brand new).
> ...


It looks pretty straight to me









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## IowaTig (Jan 7, 2019)

I would definitely take it in for service as soon as possible, if it's an alignment issue you could be causing additional wear to your tires.


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## vw_service_advisor (Aug 10, 2017)

Some minor adjustment left is gonna happen on a lot of roads due to how they’re constructed to drain water. 

So make sure you look at the steering wheel when you’re on an actually flat surface, but that does look like it’s off too much just from the pic.


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## GTINC (Jan 28, 2005)

OEMplusCC said:


> My wife(her car) does not care but I noticed that steering wheel is not perfectly straight.
> In order to keep the car to go straight the steering has to be approximately -3 degrees.
> 
> Here is a picture of the steering wheel position to keep the car going straight, been like this since day one(brand new).
> ...


So, it changed from the delivery day when you inspected, approved and signed-off on the vehicle?


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## rocketjay1 (Jan 25, 2018)

that's what alignments are for


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## VDoubleUVR6 (Aug 21, 2001)

That's exactly how my wife's 2019 Premium RLine is now though I could have sworn it was level before we brought it in for the engine/turbo replacement....yes full engine/turbo replacement within 3 weeks of ownership!!! 

I thought that maybe the subframe was removed for the repair and not placed exactly into it's original location but it's whatever right now...it drives straight. Maybe that's how it was originally and we never really noticed but then being without the Tig for almost 6 weeks and getting it back, we were maybe "looking for problems"?? I'm not a fan of when people touch my junk...haha.

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## Athlon64BIT (Oct 3, 2018)

Personally for myself. 
I buy a new car every 5 years, I have never had one yet with a perfectly centered wheel.
Tho I must add this R-Line is almost perfect.
As long as the tire wear is great and it drive straight I don't care if its perfect in the middle or not.

Athlon


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## n0thing (Mar 30, 2014)

Ours wasn't. The rear alignment was out of whack. They fixed it free of charge.


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## rkfast (Jun 28, 2018)

Took three alignments to get mine right.


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## Smokeybeetleman (Aug 13, 2018)

My Passat was like this. Alignment check showed it was normal. They had to straighten the steering wheel. My Tiguan is ok.


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## jwvetere (May 12, 2019)

Athlon64BIT said:


> Personally for myself.
> I buy a new car every 5 years, I have never had one yet with a perfectly centered wheel.
> Tho I must add this R-Line is almost perfect.
> As long as the tire wear is great and it drive straight I don't care if its perfect in the middle or not.
> ...


What?! I've never had a car w/o a perfectly straight/center steering wheel! And my current '19 SEL-P Tig seems to be just fine. And I'm pretty neurotic - I'd def notice (and take it in) if it wasn't straight.


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## GTINC (Jan 28, 2005)

rkfast said:


> Took three alignments to get mine right.


You don't straighten the SW by doing a suspension alignment. If you do, you end up with a steering gear off center. Fix it by moving the SW on the spline.


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## dragonpalm (May 9, 2016)

OEMplusCC said:


> Curious to see if anyone else notice this, or perhaps dont have this "problem"


I noticed that our new 2019 wasn’t straight after about a month. We took it in to the dealer thinking it needed alignment but they just adjusted left rear toe and said sometimes the cars from the factory need slight adjustment.


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## Athlon64BIT (Oct 3, 2018)

jwvetere said:


> What?! I've never had a car w/o a perfectly straight/center steering wheel! And my current '19 SEL-P Tig seems to be just fine. And I'm pretty neurotic - I'd def notice (and take it in) if it wasn't straight.


You been lucky, the only one I had that was extremely close was my 1980 AMC SPIRIT.
But back then there was no master spline so I took my own steering wheel off and moved it over a few teeth to correct it.

=)
If your in southern Ontario, stay frosty its damn HOT!

Athlon


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## PZ (May 9, 2002)

Mine is straight. Our 05 Golf was a bit off from the dealer but I waited a few weeks until after the GTI suspension install was finished to get it aligned.


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## rkfast (Jun 28, 2018)

rkfast said:


> Took three alignments to get mine right.


Turns out mine is still not "right." Got another alignment done and its still off but only about 1-2 degrees. I spoke to the dealer service manager about it and he said he sees this a lot and as long as the car stracks straight and the report from the alignment machine shows everything within spec Im good. Is he BSing me? Maybe. All I do know is that Ive had this car on 4 different alignment racks...at 2 different dealers and 2 different highly reputable independent shops...ALL with top of the line brand new alignment equipment and none of them have been able to get the steering wheel 1,000% dead balls "straight."


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## GTINC (Jan 28, 2005)

rkfast said:


> .....only about 1-2 degrees....


That would not even be detectable by the human eye.


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## noka648 (Sep 3, 2001)

I checked mine a couple of times and it appears to be straight. Could it be off a degree or less? Maybe but I don't notice.


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## OEMplusCC (Jan 27, 2013)

Here is an update on my original post.
I made an appointment to VW service with this complain. VW mechanic test drove our vehicle and confirmed that steering wheel is not straight. Alignment machined showed that everything is within spec. Luckily, the mechanic was able to make minor toe adjustment to make the steering wheel straight and still be within alignment specs. So all is good now.


Interesting note:
This adjustment was not free for me, according to service advisor "VW does not cover this service under any warranty" and I had to pay for it.
Since I did not find any mention of it in the warranty agreement I decided to call VW to see if this is true and provide legal evidence(i.e. a paragraph in the warranty agreement or something similar). VW customer service is currently looking into it.... I'll post back on that result.
At end of the day I'm happy that the steering wheel is finally straight even if I had to pay for it, but I also don't want to be taken advantages off either.


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## Athlon64BIT (Oct 3, 2018)

I believe that if its under the 1 year 20km or the American equivalent, this should be covered by the factory warranty.

But I could be wrong.

Athlon


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## GTINC (Jan 28, 2005)

OEMplusCC said:


> Here is an update on my original post.
> I made an appointment to VW service with this complain. VW mechanic test drove our vehicle and confirmed that steering wheel is not straight. Alignment machined showed that everything is within spec. Luckily, the mechanic was able to make minor toe adjustment to make the steering wheel straight and still be within alignment specs. So all is good now.....


You don't straighten the SW by modifying the suspension alignment. That would just make the steering rack operate off-center.


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## rkfast (Jun 28, 2018)

OEMplusCC said:


> Here is an update on my original post.
> I made an appointment to VW service with this complain. VW mechanic test drove our vehicle and confirmed that steering wheel is not straight. Alignment machined showed that everything is within spec. Luckily, the mechanic was able to make minor toe adjustment to make the steering wheel straight and still be within alignment specs. So all is good now.


And herein lies the problem (I think). Techs put the car on the rack, its "within spec" and then they call it a day and dont spend the time on the steering wheel. Like anything else that requires a tech working on a time-based compensation/billing setup, the tech will only go as far as making it "good enough" or "within spec" because any additional time spent is time (and money) "wasted." 

Im on my SIXTH alignment now. I went to a shop with a brand new Hunter Hawkeye Elite rack with a very experienced tech and I even pointed out the wheel issue and showed it to him before handing him the keys. Just like my VW service advisor told me when I showed this to him, this tech said "yeah, thats hard to fix" and sure enough, he couldnt (or didnt). 

This is so frustrating...I dont understand why this cant be fixed. 

Interest post script...Ive driven two other brand new cars the last few weeks...a chrysler and a honda. BOTH had crooked steering wheels.


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## Nitr01 (Jan 5, 2019)

I also have been annoyed with a semi off to the left wheel since day 1. I've taken it to the dealer and they said the alignment is not off and fixing the steering wheel is not covered. It doesn't bother my wife so I'm not gonna pay for an alignment just to adjust the steering wheel. 

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## Athlon64BIT (Oct 3, 2018)

rkfast said:


> And herein lies the problem (I think). Techs put the car on the rack, its "within spec" and then they call it a day and dont spend the time on the steering wheel. Like anything else that requires a tech working on a time-based compensation/billing setup, the tech will only go as far as making it "good enough" or "within spec" because any additional time spent is time (and money) "wasted."
> 
> Im on my SIXTH alignment now. I went to a shop with a brand new Hunter Hawkeye Elite rack with a very experienced tech and I even pointed out the wheel issue and showed it to him before handing him the keys. Just like my VW service advisor told me when I showed this to him, this tech said "yeah, thats hard to fix" and sure enough, he couldnt (or didnt).
> 
> ...



That's what I said in a earlier post, I have never had a new car with a straight wheel.
Maybe one day this might happen.

Athlon


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## noka648 (Sep 3, 2001)

I have had about 10 new cars in the last 20 years (BMW, Mercedes and VW). None of them had crooked steering wheels.


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## DanSan (Oct 3, 2007)

i picked up a Tiguan last Friday, the wheel is slightly to the left just like the OP's photo. Might bring it back in a few days to get them to look at it.


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## qwikxr (Feb 9, 2003)

It's really not a hard fix, at all, for the tech. It's about 5 minutes more time, and they're too effin' lazy to do a job right, anymore.
It's as simple as adjusting one tie rod in and one out. All they're effectively doing is scooting the rack (inside the steering R&P) a tad, one way or the other.

Shame the "techs" have lazied themselves into parts swappers, nowadays.


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## GTINC (Jan 28, 2005)

qwikxr said:


> It's really not a hard fix, at all, for the tech. It's about 5 minutes more time, and they're too effin' lazy to do a job right, anymore.
> It's as simple as adjusting one tie rod in and one out. All they're effectively doing is scooting the rack (inside the steering R&P) a tad, one way or the other.
> 
> Shame the "techs" have lazied themselves into parts swappers, nowadays.


So, you would accept the steering rack to be operating off center? The only proper way to correct this is to move the steering wheel on the shaft spline.


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## DanSan (Oct 3, 2007)

At the dealer right now for this very exact thing. My wheel is leaning to the left from day one, bought the car at the end of August. 

Alignment was out, toe on the left side front and back were out of spec. They questioned me on why I didn't bring it in sooner but being so new they are doing a Goodwill alignment on it. He said a slight adjustment on the tie rods will fix it.


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## GTINC (Jan 28, 2005)

DanSan said:


> At the dealer right now for this very exact thing. My wheel is leaning to the left from day one, bought the car at the end of August.
> 
> Alignment was out, toe on the left side front and back were out of spec. They questioned me on why I didn't bring it in sooner but being so new they are doing a Goodwill alignment on it. He said a slight adjustment on the tie rods will fix it.


The real question is why did you approve and sign-off on the vehicle if you didn't like it? :screwy:


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## CSFMA (Nov 9, 2020)

My 2020 is the same way.. If I adjust the wheel height all the way down my wheel is off to the left when going straight and it makes me crazy... If I adjust the wheel all the way up its perfectly straight when going straight.. It must have something to do with the steering column or something.. No matter what the car tracks perfect... just the wheel is off... I had it looked at and they adjusted it, but it is still the same..


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## 1054521247 (Jun 17, 2018)

so my steering wheel is off center about as much as the picture showing like (OEMplusCC) i went to dealership to do 4th alignment and they told me eveything is with in spec!!! if i want to straight out the steering wheel my toe will need to be out of spec! but when i bought the car brand new the steering wheel is perfectly straight! 

so that makes me think when the car is shipped out the toe is already out of spec????


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## DCC (Oct 12, 2000)

GTINC said:


> So, you would accept the steering rack to be operating off center? The only proper way to correct this is to move the steering wheel on the shaft spline.


I am not familiar with the workings of the steering rack. Can you expand a little on how a steering rack is “centered” so that the steering wheel can be inserted into the splines properly?


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## GregRob (Dec 16, 2020)

The wheel can be locked in the straight position with a clamp rod and then the toe can be set. In the case of the angle changing when the wheel is adjusted up or down, the movment is probably due to U-joints being used in the steering column. They will deflect slightly as they are moved out of the straight line position.


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