Steering wheel and alignment

[Danny wood]

My Z3 came with a really nice custom aftermarket steering wheel fitted by the guy who owned it not a mechanic. when i test drove it i thought that you had to have the steering wheel at a couple of minutes past twelve o clock to drive in a straight line.

I have now replaced the tie rods (amongst other things) being really mindful to check all the measurements ie both tie rods are the same length I am waiting for some new coil overs to arrive to replace the shot ones before i go and get an alignment done

To drive in a straight line at the moment you need to hold the wheel as pictured.

My question is if the steering will has been put on wonky (is that even possible) will that blow the mind of the guy doing the alignment or will it get aligned to the steering wheel if that makes sense

any advice welcome

cheers dan

 

[t-tony]

My Z3 came with a really nice custom aftermarket steering wheel fitted by the guy who owned it not a mechanic. when i test drove it i thought that you had to have the steering wheel at a couple of minutes past twelve o clock to drive in a straight line.

I have now replaced the tie rods (amongst other things) being really mindful to check all the measurements ie both tie rods are the same length I am waiting for some new coil overs to arrive to replace the shot ones before i go and get an alignment done

To drive in a straight line at the moment you need to hold the wheel as pictured.

My question is if the steering will has been put on wonky (is that even possible) will that blow the mind of the guy doing the alignment or will it get aligned to the steering wheel if that makes sense

any advice welcome

cheers dan

You can make adjustments on a car where there is a "fine" spline on the steering column where the steering wheel is fitted on, final adjustment made by the alignment. You have to be careful the steering angle sensor is within it's limits too.

Tony.

 

[Danny wood]

Hi tony so are you saying adjust before or after alignment (just had look in the bentlys it dont look that hard to remove) cant finf the steering angle sensor tho

 

[t-tony]

In all honesty I'm not sure if the Z3 has a steering angle sensor or not ( but having an airbag I think it will). But Yes, you are best to loosen the column nut and ease the wheel to slip off. Then drive up and down on some level groin so that the car goes in a straight line regardless of the wheel position. Then stop, remove the nut/bolt and lift the wheel off and replace it in the straight ahead position and refit and tighten the nut/bolt.

Tony.

 

[Steve Medlock]

Just to add to that, the first thing they should do when you take it for the alignment is to centre the steering wheel and then lock it off in that position. Then, after the TR adjustments have been made, you should find your steering wheel is centred when driving in a straight line.

 

[Sean d]

Make sure you get a laser align, I hit a pothole whilst on Skye and knocked mine out, the steering wheel was off centre for the 700 miles I did on the rest of the cruise and the trip home, it wrecked both my front tyres,