Up&Down

All,

This is a weird one for me.

My steering wheel was off center. No big deal. The alignment guys always hook up all four wheel readers even though you can't do anything to the rear ones for alignment adjustment. Almost all rear solid axles are a bit off so when they use that as the mark the front wheels follow. Then the steering wheel is off center. Steering is still lined up. So no big deal. Sorry for the tangent.

Anyway, after a recent tire rotation, my steering wheel is now straight. So how can an off-center steering wheel be centered by rotating tires front to back?

I'm dying to know the geometry that causes this.

Thanks.

aowRS

Are your tire pressure equal all around?



Andreas

Up&Down

aowRS,

Totally. The mechanic checked it and they were fine. I even checked it again when I got home that afternoon.

Any other thoughts?

Where is the geometry change here?

ThorInc

All tires are evenly worn?

Jomoka

Damage of some sort to one of the tires that makes it drag more (internal belt damage even?), it could affect the steering when on the front but not noticeably in the back.

Turtlehead

Are they doing a crisscross back to front and fronts straight back or are they doing a straight back to front, front to back. The steel belts adapt to primary direction of rotation, thus a tire on the right rear when moved to the front left changes the direction of rotation and with some tire brands belt memory or tire wear will change the handling of the vehicle. Sometimes it is not the tire manufacturer as much as it is just one tire developed different memory.

If it runs straight right now and they have been doing the crisscross rotation then I suggest the next time they rotate them just have them do the back to front, front to back method and see if it still runs straight. If not then flip flop the fronts and see if that fixes it. IMO this is a more common issue then it should be in the ideal world.

Up&Down

Tires are evenly worn. They are pretty new as this is the first rotation. Double checked with a tread gauge this morning just to actually quantify it. All good.

I'm thinking belt damage to a tire would be pretty obvious. Am I wrong? What should I look for here?

The tire rotation is always just front to back, no criss-cross. Though this time I did not actually watch the tires move.

Thanks for thoughts. This is a real stumper for me.

Turtlehead

It is not that there is damage to the belts, it is just that they can develop memory. For example you park a vechicle for a few weeks the tire will develop a flat spot and cause a tire to feel out of balance, when if rebalanced they are still in balance per the computer. Some vehicles prefer a crisscross style rotation, but if not done regularly then the straight back to front vise versa is usually best because the tire(s) have had sufficient time to develop their memory. I recommend playing with the rotation style and find what works best with your vehicle and tires. Note that when you get new tires the rotation style may change.

Up&Down

Turtlehead,
Thanks for the words of advice. I'll move the tires around and see what the result is.