relayagent

Got an 07 GT, and the steering wheel is slightly off to the left of center for the car to go straight. its very slight and doesnt bother me but is it something I should take it to the dealer for? have you guys noticed this at all on your cars?

I'm planning bigger wheels and lowering the car and dont want the dealer to blame anything i've done.

SteelTownStang

Ummm, I have an 07 and hadn't noticed anything like "that". Are you saying it's out-of-alignment or something else?

kepfordj

That should have been caught when they preped it. I'd take it back and get it fixed, it's possible the toe could be out to.

Galaxie

Sounds like the alignment might be out... sometimes they don't align them right in the factory.

I believe that could be covered by warranty as long as a long time hasn't passed since you picked it up

If its not... you'll need an alignment once the car is dropped anyways

mustangkid18

You should absolutely get that checked out. This happened to my family's van and we brought it in and found out the sidewall of one of our tires was destroyed. The dealer said he was amazed we hadn't had a blowout yet.

StangNut

Take it in. The first alignment is covered under warranty.

Phorty

I had the same problem and they re-aligned it for me- said the toe was off. Still seems to be slightly off, however. It's been 2 months since then so I may be out of luck now. I also have roush rear springs so they'll probably have a problem with that, too.

Bennyandthejets

I remember when I bought my 05 this was common. Turns out Ford did this on purpose. It's not the alignment, it was how the wheel was attached to the column. Can't remember the reason. Don't know if it's still like that on the 07's?

Stoenr

We find alot of cars out of alignment from the factory.
They wrench them down pretty hard on the car haulers, thats where I think most the blame should come from.

Phorty, the rear springs should not effect the the front toe/caster/or camber.

Mine was off from the factory
Aligned it myself
And after the rear springs all was good, not purchasing the panhard bar for now.

metroplex

Oh man, If I had that equipment I could align my wheels in under 20 minutes versus crawling around using home-made gauges.

Stoenr

haha, yeah. Does come in handy

lodom

Centering the steering wheel is part of the alignment process. The car can be perfectly aligned with the wheel centered or not. The last alignment tech I talked to said cars are not usually perfectly aligned from the factory.

relayagent

thats what i was thinking.. the car tracks straight, doesn't pull to a side or anything. thanks for all the input...

StangNut

I hate to hi-jack a thread, but Stoenr, it looks like you know a thing or two about alignments. Ever since I had my aftermarket wheels & tires put on (18" FR500's with 255/45/18 BFGoodrich KDW-2's) my car has pulled to the left. I had the alignment checked and it was fine. I've also tried rotating the tires front to back, side to side, & even cross-ways, but it still pulls. With all those rotations, I've had every wheel in every corner and it still pulls to the left. Is there something the tire shop could have screwed up when they installed the wheels & tires? What should I check?

Stoenr

Strange. If the alignment is good, usually crossing tires and swapping around would make the tire pull change or go away. Air pressures should all be even obviously.
Only thing they tire installers could have screwed up would be mounting them in the correct direction.
Also you cant rotate those side to side, they are directional tires.
Make sure the arrows point in the direction of rotation.

If anything I would expect the car to track to the right with road crown.

StangNut

Oh well. Thanks for trying to help, Stoenr.

I know all about directional tires since I've had 5 Mustangs.

I can't wait for these tires to wear out and I put some new ones on. Hopefully it'll go away.

Stoenr

How sure are you alignment is good? Did they give you the spec printout before/after ?

metroplex

If the wheel is canted while driving on a flat road but the car tracks straight when you turn the wheel straight, then it could be an offset caster problem. The solution is to even out the caster on both sides.

Now, if the vehicle tracks straight on a flat road with the steering wheel canted, you have to adjust the tie rod ends to straighten the wheel (increase the length of the arm on one side, decrease it the same amount on the other side). This should not affect toe if you adjusted the arms the same amount each side.

I've never done this on rack and pinion yet, but I do my own wheel alignment on the 2000 Vic (recirc ball steering with tie rods and adjuster sleeves).

Giddyup

Sorry to hear you've got a off center steering wheel. Checked mine, and right on the money.

StangNut

Didn't get a printout. It was done by a Ford tech that has done all the other warranty work on the car. If it still does it after I get new tires, I'm going to take to an actual alignment shop and I'll be sure to ask for a printout.