New steering wheel slightly off center
 

Put on a new steering wheel two days ago and it went pretty smoothly, but when I went to drive the car, I noticed the wheel is about an inch to the left. Took it off, recentered, put it back on and it was worse! Tried a third time last night and it's better but still not straight.

What could the issue be? Might it be an alignment thing?

So many variables, lol
How are you making sure the wheels are straight?
How are you making the current position against where you want to move the steering wheel to?
Are your brakes pulling the wheels off center when you stop?

The easiest way to get it perfect would be to get it as close as you can, the get a wheel alignment. A good shop will center the steering wheel and then align everything to that.


Kirk B.

If it's a modified oem steering wheel it has an alignment mark on it and the steering column has a mark on it too. You just line up both mark's and you have correct alignment. Unfortunately, some model oem steering wheels were a little different and don't line up properly on other models. If that's your case, then yes, you need to have an alignment done.

Is that not something JC could DIY with a piece of string?

Move the steering wheel over 1 spline. If it is still off-center after correcting its position, get an alignment and get the steering angle reset with a scan tool.

:icon18: :iagree:

It'san aftermarket wheel that's supposed to be a direct OEM replacement. So after taking it on and off a few different times, it seems the splines just do not line up properly with the column. The wheel will only go on in one of three positions, none of them leading to a straight wheel.
I'm taking it to my mechanic in the AM for an alignement.

Thanks all

Splines on the wheel and steering stem are cut to match. If its a different year wheel or even from a different tooling plant, the splines will not match.