dchan8

i just got my xb and noticed that the steering wheel is not aligned with steering. meaning that i have to hold the steering wheel a little to the left (counter clock wise about 5 degrees) to keep the car driving straight. does anyone else have this problem?
any help/comments is appreciated.
thanks,
dchan8

scionara

I had the same problem. I was going to take it back to the dealer to have it aligned but I decided not to since I ended up lowering my xB then I had it aligned.

babys_lunchbox

my steering wheel leans a lil to the left... i noticed that too. i checked the air, its okie... might take it to the dealer later on.

George

Mine is slightly off too, and it's easily fixed with a couple twist of the adjusters.

However, I'm not going to worry about it. I could take it to the dealer but it's likely that they would make it worse or even screw up the alignment. Not worth the hassle.

George

bBted

i had it aligned at the dealership, at that time everything was stock...

last time the factory rep from scion told me it's normal...almost every other scion has this issue, he said dont have to worry about it

scion-bb

same here. the car drives straight, but the steering wheel is off center to the left. i think i'll get it corrected myself instead of taking to dealer. can someone share the how-tos?

George

Here's how I think it can be fixed:

(I don't have my car handy, so I'm going on general mechanics here)

find the tie rod that turns each wheel. They probably have adjusters on them to change their length. These adjusters are locked, probably with a clamp bolt. Loosen the clamp bolt on each side, and turn the adjuster on one side a small amount. Turn the adjuster on the other side the same amount in the other direction. Tighten clamp bolt. Drive car. Is problem worse? turn adjusters the other way. Better but not good enough? Turn adjusters the same way a bit more.

If you apply a little thought, you can figure out which way to turn the adjusters without resorting to trial and error, of course.

The trick is to turn the adjusters the same amount on both sides. If you don't, you screw up the toe-in.

The best solution is a good alignment shop. The guy there will probably have an intuitive feel for exactly how far to turn the adjuster. That's what you pay for, his experience!

George

eric_m

i wouldn't mess with the toe settings if you don't have to. take your car to the dealer and have them fix it. otherwise you might make it worse. or, i heard that you can get just the toe adjusted for like $20 at an alignment shop.

it's kind of hard to get the ball joint thing off the other piece. you can hit it with a hammer until it pops off, but it's not easy, and there isn't a lot of room in there to swing a hammer. there is a special tool to do the job and a professional can do it pretty easily. plus, if you mess with those settings, it probably won't be perfect anyway. i adjusted my toe settings this weekend and it straightened my wheel out, but i think i got lucky. it's not that easy of a task if you haven't done it before.

George

You have to pop the ball joint to adjust the toe? Most cars have two-ended adjusters with left-hand threads on one end so that the balljoints can stay attached.

George

N600

whoa!
if you guys are talking about adjusting the front toe without even mentioning anything about using a good set of toe plates, or at least taking measurements & going off those,
DO NOT mess with the toe!
you can really screw up your alignmet easily...
even 1/16" of an inch can throw things out of whack....
creating a "pull" in the steering or creating uneven tire wear.

alignments are so simple...if you think it's not the way it should have been from the start...
take it back to the dealership...they have the proper equiptment to fix any problems.

sorta like doing a valve adjustment w/o a feeler guage.

new cars should behave like new cars...if not,
take it back until you get what you paid for.

George

No,we're not talking about adjusting the toe, we're talking about centering the steering wheel. If you adjust both tie rods the same, it won't affect the toe at all.

I'm not as confident as you that the dealership would fix the problem. They probably would not see a 5 degree tilt in the steering wheel as a problem. I'd have more confidence in a good alignment shop than in the random shop guy at a dealership.

George

aznr1c3bo1

hey this happened to mee!!!! actually both my steering wheel and alignment was off. take it to the dealer. my car would always pull to the right. i dont think its the tires/wheels because the dealer changed mine. i bought the car with 18" rims and had to go back 5 different times to get it resolved. they checked alignment, changed to new tires, had their top mechanic fix the alignment, check the steering wheel and now its finally fixed.

take it to the dealer and tell them to check it out.

BlueBox

I had the very same problem with the steering wheel. My car came with dealer installed aftermarket 17inch rims. The car drove straight as an arrow, however I noticed that the steering wheel was off center leaning left about 5 degrees.

I made a simple appointment with the local dealer (near my work in Marina Del Rey). they adjusted the steering wheel for free even though i didn't purchase my vehicle at that dealer.

The only drawback was the 3 hour wait due to backlog. but they provided courtesy shuttle to my work...which was like 10 miles away.

The steering wheel adjustment is a warranty issue. Don't spend money on adjusting it and especially don't do anything to it if u're not an expert with alignment.

Have a scion dealer check it out...it's free. Nothing beats free.

My car drives straight and i don't have the problem anymore.

dchan8

brought my car to the dealership and they re-aligned the car - it's a normal thing that can happen as the cars are strapped down by the front wheels when they are shipped. no problems now. it's pefect. :)

JDMxB

Do you guys think the stealership will do the steering wheel alignment if my xB is lowered and has a set of aftermarket wheels on it?

yanges

my xB has it too....

i thought the wheel guy must have done it, but i feel better now.....

it steers as straight as i can drive it......

heh he

BlueBox

honestly, that's an iffy question. It doesn't hurt to ask...just don't mention that u dropped ur car. Just say that ur car is misaligned...the worse that can happen is that they'll say no and that it's not covered by warranty.

Most shop can do front wheel alignment for less than $40. It doesn't hurt to ask.

andergtr

another one here with that "wheel looking slightly left while the car is going straight" syndrome.

when i bring the car in for the 5,000 mi. oil change, i'll have that fixed.


john

McG_XB

I took my Xb in this week to the dealership to get the steering wheel alignment fixed... they fixed it without hesitation and even washed my car for me.... no hassle at all.

sammyphsyco

if your car isn't right go to your dealer , if they say it's normal go away , be an ___ hole if necessary , be a loud ___ hole. they hate controversy in front of prespective buyers.......