Off center steering fix?

[FlyPenFly]

Recently had all control arms, shocks, and new tires done. Had a laser alignment done immediately after. However now my steering on the highway is off a few degrees and it’s driving my OCD a little bit crazy. Is there any way to reset the steering angle or is this better done at a dealer? Car is fwd cvt sports package.

[old guy]

To be clear, you are stating that the car drives fine but you just want to center your steering wheel?

[Smac770]

I'd first check the steering wheel alignment to the marker on the steering rack. See if the steering wheel is straight when the rack is centered.
https://www.ebay.com/p/605545124?iid=264701020806
Third pic, you can see the arrow on the rack and the notch on the shaft that moves with the steering wheel. That's what you'll see if you remove the belly pan and look up at the rack from the ground.

As for the option to loosen the bolt and tilt the wheel a little, the coil spring has two plastic pins that fit into holes on the steering wheel. So I don't think you really have any adjustment option there.

It seems straight at side street speed but off at highway speed? Or you only care that it's off at highway speed?

I wonder if they didn't make sure the rack was centered and it was off some and they did the alignment to an off center position (I don't do alignments; maybe that's not a reasonable hypothesis).

[FlyPenFly]

To be clear, you are stating that the car drives fine but you just want to center your steering wheel?

Yup

[FlyPenFly]

It seems straight at side street speed but off at highway speed? Or you only care that it's off at highway speed?

I wonder if they didn't make sure the rack was centered and it was off some and they did the alignment to an off center position (I don't do alignments; maybe that's not a reasonable hypothesis).

Off at any speed

[old guy]

Yes you can center the wheel yourself assuming the offset is slight.

What you need to do is to mark both of your tie rod ends/lock nuts/steering arms with a paint marker. What you are then going to do is make equal but opposite adjustments to the steering arm lengths.

Determine which arm to lengthen and which am to shorten. If the wheel is offset to the left you want to shorten the left arm and lengthen the right arm and vice versa if the offset is to the right.

To shorten the arm loosen the lock nut and turn it two flats from the marked tie rod. Keep the steering arm in the same relationship to the tie rod. Then turn the steering arm clockwise along with the lock nut to where the nut is back to the tie rod. Snug it back up.

To lengthen the arm break the lock nut loose. Turn the steering arm with the lock nut, keeping the lock nut in the same relationship to the steering arm until the lock nut is out by two flats. Then tighten up the lock nut to the tie rod without turning the steering arm.

Check the wheel centering and go from there. You may want to start with only one flat of adjustment. I have found the one flat is barely noticeable. If one flat is not enough then just repeat the adjustment. Or you can start with three flats if you want to move it a fair amount. It really doesn’t matter as long as you make equal but opposite adjustments your toe setting will remain the same.

I just took a quick pic under my car so you can get an idea as to my reference points.

[FlyPenFly]

Brilliant, thanks for the pic, I'll check this out.