[Mk2] [NA] steering wheel not centred and more juddery

[asdrewq]

Hi all,

I have a problem with my mr2. the steering wheel does not sit level anymore when ging in a straight line, it sits about 5 degrees to the left. am I right in thinking this means the wheel alignment needs doing?
The car was used by my brother recently and he says he hit a curb when going round a bend at speed. The alloy is a bit scuffed around the edge.

Also when driving over speedhumps, over bumps in the road etc there is alot of movement feedback in the steering wheel, i'm sure it is more than it used to be. It just feels less tight.

Can anyone give any insight as to what might be damaged and how much all this will cost to repair? i have not owned the car long and have never had a wheel alignment done - does it take long and can it be done at any standard garage with correct equiptment?

Car is unmodified.

thanks.

[KrisMoyse]

Best get your wheels balanced again by a garage matey, coud get worse over time and even be dangerous.

For the time being though, you can re-align the steering wheel yourself. Use this guide (below) that's for fitting an aftermarket wheel to get your's off then re-align it. Just simply a matter of taking it off then putting it back on straight.



Like I said though, get your car to a garage ASAP to get them to check the steering over etc

[chum_2000_uk]

Couldn't the track rod end actually be damaged? I had been noticing bumps in the road more and more so decided to jack the car up and check for play in the wheels - when I checked the driver side there was a fair bit of horizontal play.

Had the track rod end replaced but then the steering wheel was not sitting straight when I was on a straight road, so had the tracking done and the steering wheel re-aligned at the same time - this was done by adjusting the track rod ends slightly then taking it onto a straight road to see where the steering wheel was sitting after adjustment. The process was repeated until steering wheel was straight.

I would definitely check for play in the wheels

[asdrewq]

Update:
I took it to get alignment done today, the mechanic did the best job he could but said that the steering arm (i think!) had rusted and siezed. He said to take it in when he can get it on the ramps and re-tap the screw threads in this part thats siezed.

He used what looked like a protractor with a mirror on it to do the alignment, I thought a big machine was used? The alighment was not far out anyway and it feels no different to drive.

I have new front tyres coming in a couple of days, so will get wheels balanced then. Balanced wheels should help in isolating the problem.

[chum_2000_uk]

Yeah thats laser alignment/tracking. Did he straighten the steering wheel for you as well? I'm guessing he will probably have to go ahead and re-tap the threads for you before he can straighten the steering wheel as the steering arms/track rod ends will have to be adjusted.

If you are still having issues I would say get your new tyres fitted and balanced. Then once you have bedded the tyres in for a few miles get the mechanic to sort out the threads so he can properly adjust the alignment. Also have him to straighten the steering wheel at the same time if you wish. If after all that you are still having problems and the steering still doesn't feel quite right/how it used to then there are probably many things it could be - lots of posts on here about this kind of thing. For example it could be topmounts, steering rack etc etc.