Alignment issue

[blackelantra]

Happy Friday!

So I went to the dealership last night to get my steering wheel replaced, oil change and get my tires rotated. They mentioned I needed an alignment done because they asked me I rode a lot in the city with potholes. While I don't drive much in DC, I did run across a few potholes/manholes here and there but my alignment has always been fine so I declined to get it. On the ride home, I felt when I was going straight on the roads, my steering wheel was tilted a few degrees to the left so I am a bit concerned. How much are alignments usually? the dealer wanted to charge me 100 bucks. I feel they may have messed it a bit for me to come back and get it done because I swear it was fine before I got there but I don't want to point fingers when I don't have legitimate proof.

[pare_john]

Alignment issues are not always noted by the driver. Even if it is slightly off it could cause premature tire wear.


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[new2013]

I bought my E in June it was a 2013 so brand new and no previous test drivers as it had 2km on it, so I took it for my test drive and decided I wanted it at the end and since it was the only stick they had it was the car I ended up with! So about a month or so ago I noticed my steering wheel was aimed to the left enough that if it was straight the car should be turning at that point but it went straight, took it in and they did an alignment they said said it was off a bit. To this day it's still turned a little to the left its almost like they need to remove the wheel and aim it straight and remount it then tighten?!. My car drives straight so the alignment seems fine the only thing I notice now is when I drive over a swing bridge that's metal grating in town here the front tires just start to wonder on they're own(no idea why but it does), so i figured I'd wait until my second oil change at 12,000 kms I'll be hitting close to 6,000kms by Monday when they do my first service so I figured I'd drive it more and see what happens!?

[someguy]

I think the steering wheel slightly left is an optical illusion for some people. The dash is all curvy and swoops down to the left and sometimes mine seems off when its really not. I am not saying your case is the same, just sharing mine.

[new2013]

That is true though, if you sit back and get the full view it does sit slightly to the left to follow the curves of the dash etc.

[blackelantra]

Luckily, my uncle is owns a mechanic/body shop so I gave him my car to fix for tomorrow, he doesn't think its an alignment issue. It is fairly a new car with only 13k miles and it didnt go through any collision of any sort. He just thinks its the service department at the dealer trying to rip me off by installing the steering wheel slightly off so they can charge me 100 bucks by re-fixing the wheel placement. We'll see what he says tomorrow.

[Em-squared]

I hope that is not true, but if it is, that's awfully slimy.

[jepank]

go to some shop with free alignment check.
and in canada, they will fix the alignment under 20k kms/1 year under warranty.

[Spiffyguitar]

When a car is aligned, the steering wheel needs to be pointing perfectly straight. If it's not... the car will be aligned with the wheel tilted however it was when the alignment was completed. If the car was aligned properly it will still track straight, but will be annoying to look at the wheel. Haha