I'm having troubles getting a place to do a wheel alignment that has my steering wheel PERFECTLY center. They do the alignment right, but when I'm on a straight flat road the steering wheel will be 1/8th-1/16 out in the outer diameter. My car is new and has had no accidents. Am I being to picky or should I persue this?

 

I have found it a little odd. I've had my protege for a couple of years now. I've noticed that no matter what the alignment shop does, the steering wheel would always be off to the right. Ive also noticed, that due to the weird alignment settings, the car would slightly veer to the right also. I think that this is commonplace with the 3rd gen protege's.

 

odd, mines a weeee bit off to the left...

 

mine has always been a little off to the right

 

Mine WAS off to the right, and it drove me completely crazy. The last alignment I had I requested they center the steering wheel and it's been fine since...

 

TELL the shop that is aligning the car that the wheel needs to be centered...and they can easily do it...but they have to know you want that done...or they won't even bother checking.

 

Anytime an alignment is performed, the steering wheel should be centered as part of the job. If the steering wheel is off center, you should bring it to the attention of the shop immediately. Also you should find out what type of alignment machine is being used. We use Hunter alignment equipment. When properly cleaned and maintained, centering the steering wheel shouldn't be a problem at all.

 

THIS IS NOT A PROTEGE PROBLEM but a front wheel drive car problem. I was car new car salesman and drove many cars that are front wheel drive that pull to the right. Nissan did this more then any other car I drove. Some manufactures are better then others. It's not an alignment problem.

 

^^we're not talking about the call pulling to the right under acceleration, my little FWD cars have always done this in varying degrees. We're talking about the steering wheel being centered - or not - different problem!

 

My car always had the steering wheel off to the right, even when the alignment was done at the dealer...almost to 1:00 the last time, but the car never pulled to the right or the left, even on acceleration. Recently, I had a reputable, independent alignment shop do my alignment and my steering wheel is straight up and down and the car also is pointing straight and does not pull either direction....

Don't we guys almost always hang to the left anyway?

 

Uh, mine goes right!

 

The steering wheel being centered is on the alignment technician. Alot of people come in and request a "front end alignment". What the vehicle requires is a "4 wheel alignment". The only thing that gets adjusted during a front end alignment is the front tires toe setting, which is how the tires are pointing. This is known in the industry as a "toe and go". A 4 wheel alignment corrects all 3 adjustment, camber, caster, and toe. The rear is aligned (all 3 setting corrected) and then the front (all 3 settings corrected) is aligned to the rear so all 4 tires are hitting the ground flat and straight. A front end alignment is useless and it's a waste of time and money.

 

So, bwhite...how often do you get a 4 wheel alignment? We're talking about an expensive ordeal compared to a 2 wheel alignment. I disagree with you in that I wore my last set of tires out because the front was out of alignment. Once corrected and new tires placed on the car, I've had absolutely no problems with steering and the tires are wearing great.

 

actually no car should pull anywhere but straight, if you are accelerating hard and it pulls that is different, thats just torque steer and IS only related to FWD cars, but just regular driving around town your car should not pull to the right or the left if it has been aligned properly...

and yes, part of doing the alignment is making sure the steering wheel is lined up correctly as well, it is taught as basic curriculum (sp?) in all automotive classes, if its done incorrectly, have them fix it, and make sure they dont do it again, it is my opinion that most of todays mechanics are terrible at their job and horribly incompitent because they can do it half-assed, and only 30% of the people will ever come back and say anything about it, so in the rare chance that i come accross something i cant fix on my own, i make sure the shop does it right, and if they dont, they will most definitly know about it when i'm done verbally assaulting them ...

 

i also disagree, i have done a number of "front end" alignments, and during all of them we had each wheel hooked to the machine, but only adjusted the front wheels, and made sure they were aligned, and tracking straight, AND that the steering wheel was in a centered position... a front end alignment is just that, the front end of the car getting aligned, as opposed to all 4 wheels, it doesn't mean that it is any less of a job on the front wheels than if the rear where getting aligned as well...