SkiingInABlueDream

Like the subject line says... My steering wheel is almost always tilted a few degrees left when driving straight. If I position the wheel so it's visually level, the car drifts right. The severity varies with road surface obviously but after almost 9k miles I can say the wheel, on average, is tilted left. The car tracks straight, no L/R pull. The wheel is just tilted. It's been this way since day 1.

Has anyone else had this issue? And got it fixed? If yes, how?

Back in January I had the car in for service. This was one thing I complained about. Dealer said there's no way to micro-adjust the steering wheel position. It's a splined connection to the steering rack so they could move it to the next detent but then the wheel would be off by like 20 degrees. I countered that the loaner A4 they gave me did not have a crooked wheel, so something's gotta be adjustable. They said they'd take a look at the alignment and see if there's anything they could tweak (which I nervously accepted, hoping that they wouldn't introduce pulling trying to get my steering wheel level.) When I got my car back, they said they fixed the alignment which fixed the pulling (that never existed, but whatever) and made the wheel a bit less tilted and that's the best they can do.

The wheel is slightly less tilted now, but the story still sounds like BS to me. I cannot believe these cars come from the factory with an un-fixable +/- 5-degrees variation in steering wheel position.
Does anyone have any advice here?

numerobis

This is a classic alignment case. Most dealers don't have a lot of experience in performing alignments. I would take it to a competent alignment shop.

The short story: before performing the alignment, the tech needs to straighten the wheel in the car, and block it (so that it doesn't move during the adjustments). Most of the time, they do this while not sitting in the car, from the driver's window. If they's not very detail-oriented, they will never set the wheel exactly straight... So while the car will be going straight with the proper adjustments, the wheel will remain off-center.

Depending on the car, there is also sometimes the need to re-learn the steering wheel angle sensor after this, and in some cases, it could be one of the parameters measured by the alignment machine. (car and machine dependent)

I have taken a car 3 times at the dealer with this complaint, and they could not properly fix it. An alignment shop took care of it for me.

PghRich

Yes, it's an alignment issue. Unfortunately, while the steering wheel should be locked straight ahead and then aligned around it, many shops aren't very diligent about this. I also had one car in 3 times for them to get it right. (Admittedly, I'm more sensitive to this than most).

Eli McCraig

This would drive me nuts. Easy fix...bring it back to the dealer or whoever did the alignment.

JDA_yeg

LOL my current beater car is like this. tilted left by like 5 degrees, it's very noticeable but I havent bothered fixing it. That's why I just bought a new car; the A4 haha

SkiingInABlueDream

This is encouraging. Thanks everyone for the replies! I'll be going in for an oil change in ~1000 miles; I'll complain about it then.

Followup question. Would this fall under warranty? I'm thinking of switching to a different dealer for service - one that is closer to both home and work, but not where I bought the car from and not where the first alignment was done. If I go back to the first place I can argue they need to redo it because it was bad the first time, but my opinion of their competence is falling.

StKnowhere

Unlikely to be under warranty.

This isn't rocket science for someone with appropriate training/experience. Sounds like the set the toe and let her go...

If a new shop, look for someone with Hunter Alignment equipment. I look for places that will do track alignments since they are more detail oriented and will put everything close to the center of the spec.

numerobis

Normally, alignment is never under warranty - too many variables in play. But... depending on your relationship with the dealer, and the length of time between the initial alignment and the "complaint", they could cover it. OTOH, it's about 100 bucks at an alignment shop, so not that big of a deal (considering your time / energy spent on properly addressing the issue).

silver03gt

My wheel is off very slightly to the left. It doesn't pull or do anything silly going down the road. I'm always concerned about taking it somewhere and having to clean up after the mechanic or risk other damage so I'll probably leave it alone. We have a 2016 VW Jetta Sport that had the same issue only much worse. The purchasing dealer gave me every excuse in the book why they couldn't fix it even though they had it on the alignment rack THREE times. I happen to have alignment experience so I knew everything they were telling me was BS. I took the car to another dealer and they aligned it under warranty no questions asked. The wheel is now perfectly straight. I'd agree that an independent alignment shop would probably be your best bet if a dealer can't/won't align it properly because the issue can definitely can be fixed. Besides if they're talking about moving the steering wheel on the splines as a fix they are absolutely clueless.



2018 A4 Premium Plus, Florett Silver/Black, Sport Package, Ventilated Seats

SkiingInABlueDream

Thanks again for the advice. My plan at this point is, when it comes time for my next oil change (in ~1k miles), Ill call the dealer that supposedly attempted to fix the wheel the first time and ask if they'll take another look at it under warranty. They didnt charge me the first time (which maybe is because they didnt actually do squat and were just trying to placebo me, who knows) so this time I'll be posing it as a request to fix the work they didnt do right the first time. And I'll make a point of pointing out that I had zero run-ins with anything rough on the road since they last saw the car. If they decline then I'll find an indep. shop for the alignment, another default dealer for the oil change and general service, and dealer #1 will never see me again.