Hello guys, I bought another set of wheels ( carrera sport) to get my other wheels out I had tu pull and move hard, because the fronts got really stuck. Can this cause steering off center? using the new wheels I am having thia situation

 

So you are asking if you can change your alignment by pulling on your wheel to remove it?

No.

 

thanks Bbywu, I was on my iphone, That's Exactly What I Meant

 

weird...the only way those wheels could have been even slightly difficult to remove would be if they had corroded to the point they were bonded to the hats on the rotors...if you are talking about a situation like that then you could have pulled hard enough to change the steering center if one or both of your tie rods were loose to begin with...this also determines the toe adjustment for the front wheels and you should be having some very weird handling issues as well

 

I thought from the title of his post his question was about the steering wheel being off center not alignment. Maybe he can clarify.

 

Yes, his question was about the steering being off center but only after changing wheels where he had to pull hard on the original wheels to get them off

 

that's exactly what happened, it was both wheels and I was moving side to side and pulling hard, because it was so difficult to get them off, I noticed my steering wheel is off center, but I wasn't sure if thats what caused it, I don't have handling problems..
do I need a full Wheel Alignment? or just have the steering wheel centered

 

Chuck, maybe alignment was off before wheels came off, new tires and wheels caused the deviation to be more prominent?

bob

 

If his toe was whack he would definitely know it so if he doesn't have any handling issues it is unlikely he changed the alignment getting the wheels off...Bob you are probably right...Solrac, I hope you cleaned the corrosion off the hats before putting the new wheels on....btw, steering wheel can be off center without an alignment problem...last step of alignment is to center the steering wheel while maintaining the proper toe adjustment...a lot of shops don't take the time necessary to test drive the car and see if the steering wheel is centered...props to Tony at TCI Design who takes my car out as many times as necessary to center the steering wheel

 

Yes I did, glad you guys help me

 

How does one center the steering wheel? Is there an "adjustment" or do you need to take the steering wheel off and reset?

 

I think I had lower psi on one tire, don't know if this was the cause, but after correcting the psi, I think my steering wheel is now almost centered

 

If you coat the inside face of each wheel where the wheel makes contact with the rotor hats with as aluminum anti-seize compound it will eliminate the reoccurance of the wheels adhearing to the rotor hats. You just need to lightly coat the each of the five surfaces where the bolt goes through the inside of the wheel. A little goes a long way.

 

the steering rack has tie rod adjustments at each wheel...generally this is done with the steering wheel centered...each tie rod is adjusted for 1/2 of desired total front toe...then you end up aligned with the steering wheel centered...however, this ideal situation seldom fits the real world and some slight side to side adjustments are usually necessary to retain the desired toe and perfectly center the steering wheel....all of this assumes that the steering wheel was centered on the hub with the steering rack centered to begin with

 

And one notch on the steering wheel "teeth" is quite a bit of offset - changing the wheel posistion, unless installed incorrectly, usually won't work.