Does anybody have a problem with their steering wheel? Mine seems to be little off to the left. I took it to the dealer and they did an alignment and it seems to have improved a little. Now it just seems a couple of degrees off center when your going straight. I can't figure it out. Then again I don't really have a truly flat or straight road around here to try it out. I better find one.

Haven't had that problem...sorry to hear that...best of luck...

Thanks, I did a search and found a lot of topics on this, should of tried that first. Thought I did yesterday but I think I was little to specific. It seems to be a common issue with XBs. Oh well it really isn't that bad. I just wanted to make sure it was fixed before I added springs or wheels.

Mine is a bit of to the left also, but when I added them 20'z it didn't make it any :D better!

Mine too!


Doc

Mine pulls to the right. I'm going to have them realign it w/ my first oil change which is coming up.

i think its a normal issue...most people have the same problem...

mines a lil to the left as well..

to the left as well <<<=== :?

Same here, and i thought it was only me. I noticed when i was driving it home for the first time. When i took it back to the dealer for the cracked paint on the strut bar, the wife said just leave well enough alone, so i did. Maybe the Japaneese lean a little to the left? :lol:

I guess I'm the oddball here, mine was cocked to the right. Had the service guys straighten it out for me pronto though. :)

good here

wow... this forum is great! I've been wondering about that... mine is to the left too... go figure. ;)

This was discussed earlier. I'll bet that you guys will find that the right rear tire is not straight causing the XB to go to the right and then one has to compensate by turning the steering wheel to the left to have the vehicle go straight down the road. If this is your deal then the right rear wheel needs to be aligned or the tire will experience rear strange wear. It sounds like no big deal except there isn't any rear wheel adjustment on that vehicle.

Right rear tire is not straight? Bull I better go check my car. That's dumb if it's like that on cars. Sounds like a need for recall to me.

my car pulls to the right. i had the problem when i first got the car and after many attempts it was finally fixed. now at 6xxx miles the car is pulling to the right again. BLEH the dealer is going to blame me because i curbed the rims but this was happening before i curbed the rims. oh well...

To be clear, do you mean that the steering wheel inside is not centered on your body when sitting in the car, or that the wheel must be turned slightly to have the vehicle drive straight on the road?

Most all roads have a slight crown to them, usually from the left side of the road to the right to allow for rain to runoff faster than if they were perfectly flat. Right to left is done in metropolitan areas where drains are placed near the center wall. In either case, a slight steering correction will be normal to compensate for the slope. Lower profile tires may make it better or worse. There really is no set rule to it, and one manufacturer of tire may be different than the other.

The alignment issue may be there also. Its very hard to tell this early in my personal experience with these cars. I do know that there is a mechanical system in the rear end to correct some common problems with beam type rear axles, but its more to correct rear axle deflection under hard cornering than anything to do with alignment.

If its the wheel centered on the driver, there are I believe 4 bolts that secure the steering column to the dash. The holes are larger than the bolts that pass through to allow some adjustment left to right and forward and back. Not a lot, we're talking maybe 3/8ths of an inch or so, but it may be something that your dealer would do if you mentioned it to them at your free oil change times.

Anyway, I'll be keeping an eye out to see what our experience is here as cars become delivered. Remember though that your dealer for these cars particularly are going to be more likely to try to correct any nusiance problems that you have with your car. At least we are at my dealership.

Mike

Well it appears that the steering wheel is off center when the car is going straight. It is slightly to the left. I do not have to compensate for the car pulling to one side. It just appears that the steering wheel is misaligned. At least that's what I am seeing.

your dealer should be able to do what's called a slip adjust alignment that just corrects the steering wheel position relative to the wheels. Its not really even necessary to put it on the alignment rack to do it, its basicly screwing the tie rod end out on one side and in on the other.

I know exactly what you mean on that, its annoying. So call your dealer and tell them the deal, should be pretty quick.

Mike

Mine does it but it works for me. With my elbow on the armrest, my hand is at the perfect spot at the cross piece of the wheel. If it were straight, It would put the cross piece a little too high. Maybe they designed it that way!?! 8)

your dealer should be able to do what's called a slip adjust alignment that just corrects the steering wheel position relative to the wheels. Its not really even necessary to put it on the alignment rack to do it, its basicly screwing the tie rod end out on one side and in on the other.

I know exactly what you mean on that, its annoying. So call your dealer and tell them the deal, should be pretty quick.

Mike

Thanks. When I get my first oil change I'll try to explain it to them.

My xB has pulled to the left slightly ever since I got it. I think it's just a question of the steering wheel being off about 5 degrees or so - it's more annoying than anything else but it's just not right. I finally had my dealer take a look at it when I had it in for service. They agree that it's off-center but that there's nothing they can do about it because it's "within tolerance" and they would just end up putting it out-of-whack in the opposite direction.

When driving perfectly straight, my steering wheel is a bit off center and centering it causes the car to go right slightly. I got almost 4,000 miles on it. In my case I am pretty sure the steering wheel is just mounted slighty off center, something I personally can live with.