Steering Wheel Off-Center

wzrd8kd

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Please can someone help me. As someone with a little OCD I am ready to put the car up for a lease takeover as this issue is driving me nuts!

2020 Civic Si Coupe. All stock, just rolled over on 20,000 kms.

When driving down a straight road on the highway, I have to hold the steering wheel to the left to go straight. If I bring the wheel back to center so that it’s straight the car will be going right into the ditch. Have only had the car for a year now and already had probably 5 wheel alignments but it hasn’t fixed anything. Two different Honda dealerships telling me it’s dead on. Service manager went for a drive and said its normal to be a little to the left due to the tapering of the roads and none are dead center. Well the stupid Honda Fit vehicle they gave me when my vehicle when in for service; it couldn’t fit a full size mug in the cup holder, but guess what, the wheel was straight!!!! Awww.

Have had it to local alignment shops as well saying they re-learned the steering sensor and checked the caster and everything is fine, next thing would be to swap the wheels. Well it’s the same issue with my new winter tires and rims so that can’t be it?

Have to get a MVI tomorrow and they are going to check alignment again but how many times does it take?

Could the steering wheel be an issue? How big of a job is it to change the wheel? I’m considering swapping it with the Type-R wheel for one it’s a nicer wheel and I’m really curious to know if changing the wheel will have any effect on the steering wheel being straight.

If anyone has any advice I’m more than happy to hear it, even if you tell me to get a grip and there’s bigger things to worry about than a steering wheel.

Thx all!

Honda Civic 10th gen Steering Wheel Off-Center 1184E1B6-93CD-4301-8A97-B74FBB3B7D62


Honda Civic 10th gen Steering Wheel Off-Center 9FA777D2-15C1-4054-B4B3-294C888650B6


Honda Civic 10th gen Steering Wheel Off-Center F4680815-7566-4DE9-9507-7F49ADF17164
 

Rustlinjimmies

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Could possibly try taking the steering wheel off and moving it slightly? but do this with extreme caution and disconnect the battery if you end up doing this yourself, you dont want the airbag to go off in your face
 

calonzo

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The steering wheel being off-center doesn't mean the car won't drive straight when you let go of the wheel. Your problem seems to be that the car drifts to the right when you let go of the wheel. Changing the steering wheel, or removing it and turning it to the left aren't going to correct the drift.

If you car drifts to the left in the left lane, and to the right in the right lane, that is normal due to the crown of the road. But if drifts to the right even when the left lane is angled to the left, then it is a problem.

The only other issue I can think of that can cause this is brake drag on the right side.
 

austin21

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Please can someone help me. As someone with a little OCD I am ready to put the car up for a lease takeover as this issue is driving me nuts!

2020 Civic Si Coupe. All stock, just rolled over on 20,000 kms.

When driving down a straight road on the highway, I have to hold the steering wheel to the left to go straight. If I bring the wheel back to center so that it’s straight the car will be going right into the ditch. Have only had the car for a year now and already had probably 5 wheel alignments but it hasn’t fixed anything. Two different Honda dealerships telling me it’s dead on. Service manager went for a drive and said its normal to be a little to the left due to the tapering of the roads and none are dead center. Well the stupid Honda Fit vehicle they gave me when my vehicle when in for service; it couldn’t fit a full size mug in the cup holder, but guess what, the wheel was straight!!!! Awww.

Have had it to local alignment shops as well saying they re-learned the steering sensor and checked the caster and everything is fine, next thing would be to swap the wheels. Well it’s the same issue with my new winter tires and rims so that can’t be it?

Have to get a MVI tomorrow and they are going to check alignment again but how many times does it take?

Could the steering wheel be an issue? How big of a job is it to change the wheel? I’m considering swapping it with the Type-R wheel for one it’s a nicer wheel and I’m really curious to know if changing the wheel will have any effect on the steering wheel being straight.

If anyone has any advice I’m more than happy to hear it, even if you tell me to get a grip and there’s bigger things to worry about than a steering wheel.

Thx all!

1184E1B6-93CD-4301-8A97-B74FBB3B7D62.jpeg


9FA777D2-15C1-4054-B4B3-294C888650B6.jpeg


F4680815-7566-4DE9-9507-7F49ADF17164.jpeg
I have had alignments before where the tech didnt center the steering wheel. I would try to find the smoothest and flattest road and drive without your hand on the wheel and see if it drifts.

If you car is aligned, and your tires are not worn unevenly, it should drive straight. Im sure there's other factors but it could also just be the roads you are driving on.
 

DRUSA

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Depending on where you are, road crown is a real issue that most customers don't comprehend. On a road with 2 lanes on your side of the traffic, the left most lane (closest to road center) should have very little pull to the right, the lane on the right (closest to the curb) should have the most amount of pull to the right. That's just basic road crown pulls, you shouldn't feel this on EVERY road, but some roads worse than others. Roads have this lean to them or crown in order to allow for water drainage. This will always be a pull to the right, a pull to the left will not be road crown.

This sounds like a tire pull issue. When new tires are driven on a car with a bad alignment, they can develop wear characteristics in them that cause them to pull in a certain direction. The alignment will be dead on, but the tires will cause the car to drift still. Picture a worn pair of shoes caused by dragging your foot, if you fix your stride without replacing the shoes you can still drift to the direction of your previous limp. You can usually fix this by swapping the wheels from the passenger side to driver side to cancel out the pull effect OR by getting a new set of tires.

Based on your alignment printouts, it's not the alignment. I'm very surprised no shop has done a wheel swap side to side to see if it's a tire pull.
 


TheCanadian

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The instrument cluster is actually tilted a few degrees off center. It was driving me insane when I noticed it as I assumed my steering wheel was off center too, until I realized it was just the cluster fooling me.

since the cluster is off center, it makes it look like the steering isn’t straight. Hope this helps
 
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jlamb30

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The instrument cluster is actually tilted a few degrees off center. It was driving me insane when I noticed it as I assumed my steering wheel was off center too, until I realized it was just the cluster footing me.

since the cluster is off center, it makes it look like the steering isn’t straight. Hope this helps
This is the most likely scenario that you probably didn’t realize. But, I assume these dealerships and shops locked the steering wheel centered during the alignments?
 

Layrinn

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The instrument cluster is actually tilted a few degrees off center. It was driving me insane when I noticed it as I assumed my steering wheel was off center too, until I realized it was just the cluster footing me.

since the cluster is off center, it makes it look like the steering isn’t straight. Hope this helps
I just got out of a similar issue last month with a similar solution if this helps. It won't alight on custer or the area between the wheel and the rest perfectly also check your tie rods and tires just to be safe afterwards.
In my case it was 5degrees off after repairs and alignments from sliding straight into a rock on the tail of the dragon. Not too bad but noticably steering left when wheel was visually centered.
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