Tracking (Streering Wheel Central)

[CorollaTS05]

Theres something i cant understand about tracking on cars, out of 6 cars ive owned two of them when purchased have had tracking problems, and when i say problems as in, even when they have been laser tracked (4 wheel alignment - by toyota) they can never get the tracking 'perfect', the steering wheel is always slightly off center when going straight, and also when the tyres or wheels are changed this throws the center of the steering wheel off again. i dont know what the hell the previous owners have done with them to knock it off center as i have never done it myself... I will never buy another car where the steering wheel is of center. My 1994 corolla liftback when through sets of tires and i even put 16" alloy wheels on it and the tracking never went wrong, so my question is, why once it has been knocked off can it not be reset perfectly liek when the car was new?

At the moment I have one of the cars mensioned above (with the trackin problem) my cts, had it done and centered when i bought the car and it was pretty good only a few degrees out, and i have just had my front two tyres replaced. Yes the steering wheel has bee thrown out its now considerably too the left when going straight. so i swapped the front wheels around with the rear and this had the opposite effect, the steering wheel was out by the same amount only to the right? btw i have new maragonis on the front (pretty crap) and bridgestones on the back with about 4-5mm on). i decided to put it back to how it was with the new tyres on the front and as i did one side and went to turn the car around to do the other side i noticed that the tracking and steering wheel is 'perfect' (unbelievable), so i dont know what to do now, ive got one Bridgestone with 4mm and a new maragoni tyre on the front, but it drives perfect now, so ive left it how it is. The problem i have got is that the Bridgestone grips considerabley more than the maragoni so theres a bit of a fight going on between harsh acceleration in 1st, what would you guys reccoment/ would you do?leave it as it is or put the poo maragonis back on front and spend £80 getting it laser aligned?

bit of a mammoth post but tracking really windes me up i had the same problem with my yaris ts.

p.s. i thought bridgestones were crap but maragonis are considerabley worse DO NOT BUY THEM, i only did as i was considering getting rid of the car and pretty skint atm.....

Thanks!

[LAA69]

When getting tracking done, are they clamping the steering wheel central? If they are then there should be no issues, riding up kerbs and hitting pot holes etc will knock your tracking out.

You should also have the same tyres on an axle set, front L & R same and rear L & R same although front and rear can be different but i would not do this.

[cfc1]

It's very strange how tyres can affect things. We fitted four brand new tyres onto a car (same make of tyre on all four corners) and done the allignment, the guy came back in half an hour later because the steering wheel was out of centre. We re-checked the allignment and it was fine ( our gauges are calibrated every 6 months and had only been done the month before, no other cars came back in with this problem, so we know the gauges were fine) so we swapped the tyres from front to rear, the car was the same, so we swapped the left front with the right front.. again the car was the same, so we swapped them from front to rear again, making sure that the original front tyres were also swapped from left to right, the car was perfect, the guy even came back in two weeks later to let us know it was still good.

I can only assume it could be down to what I refer to as the "run out" on the tyre, the lines you see running round the tread of a new tyre all mean different things, what they are is a bit of a guess as different manufacturers use different coloured lines, the Idea with the run out line when fitting tyres is to fit the tyre with the run outs going in opposite directions... I'll try explain...

If you rolled a tyre in a straight line it will either veer slightly to the left or the right, this is the run out (balancing wheels when fitting helps reduce this to a good extent) the manufacture will do a test to determine which way a tyre will veer and a line is put onto the tyre to indicate left or right, when fitting the fitter shoud try and mount the tyres onto the rim with one side veering to the left and the other veering to the right (it doesn't matter which side of the car, as long as both sides go in opposite directions) if all the tyres were fitted so that they all veer to the right, even with the allignment and balance being spot on, the run out (or natural track) of the tyres can pull the car to to the right. Maybe that is the issue you ae having, it would obviously be better if you had a matching pair of tyres on each axle rather than the mix that you have now, if you can't swap your tyres from side to side because they are directional then get your local fitter to change the rotation of the tyres around and see if it helps.

[LAA69]

Hmmmmm Interesting read.......

[Doug-cts]

I have had the same problem with 03 t sport took car in last year to have 2 new tyres fitted and laser tracking done when i drove it home the steering wheel was off center to the left car drove straight. Took it back steering wheel was locked center and tracking was all correct with print out to prove it. I then took it to toyota who realigned steering wheel at no cost.Have had no problem for last 12 months until last week am in need of 2 new tyres and the steering is again of center to the left tyre pressures are correct and car doesent pull to either side. with all cars i have owned i always have tracking done with new front tyres and have never had issues with steering wheel being of center before.

[Shahin]

I've got a 53 plate t-spirit (had it for 3 months now) and have the same problem with my steering leaning to the right. However, I do have uneven wear on the front and rear nearside tyres on the outside of the tyres.

I took it to the dealership I bought it from and they checked the tracking for me, which they said had no problems whatsoever.

I'm baffled as to what the problem actually is. BTW, I have a mixed set of tyres on my car as well.

My front nearside tyre is down to 3mm now and rear is at 4mm, whereas, my offside front is at 7mm and rear is at 8mm.

So my steering wheel is leaning to the right and left side tyres are wearing on the outside, but tracking is apparently fine?!

can anyone help/advise?

much appreciated :D

[Bos]

I've got a 53 plate t-spirit (had it for 3 months now) and have the same problem with my steering leaning to the right. However, I do have uneven wear on the front and rear nearside tyres on the outside of the tyres.

I took it to the dealership I bought it from and they checked the tracking for me, which they said had no problems whatsoever.

I'm baffled as to what the problem actually is. BTW, I have a mixed set of tyres on my car as well.

My front nearside tyre is down to 3mm now and rear is at 4mm, whereas, my offside front is at 7mm and rear is at 8mm.

So my steering wheel is leaning to the right and left side tyres are wearing on the outside, but tracking is apparently fine?!

can anyone help/advise?

much appreciated :D

I've got the same problem with my Yaris, the tracking has been checked and was told it was OK !

[Shahin]

I've got a 53 plate t-spirit (had it for 3 months now) and have the same problem with my steering leaning to the right. However, I do have uneven wear on the front and rear nearside tyres on the outside of the tyres.

I took it to the dealership I bought it from and they checked the tracking for me, which they said had no problems whatsoever.

I'm baffled as to what the problem actually is. BTW, I have a mixed set of tyres on my car as well.

My front nearside tyre is down to 3mm now and rear is at 4mm, whereas, my offside front is at 7mm and rear is at 8mm.

So my steering wheel is leaning to the right and left side tyres are wearing on the outside, but tracking is apparently fine?!

can anyone help/advise?

much appreciated :D

I've got the same problem with my Yaris, the tracking has been checked and was told it was OK !

I took my car back to toyota last saturday. They told me that the tracking was fine but i would need a full wheel adjustment and that they don't cover it under their warranty and said it would cost me about £60 to get it done somewhere else. I'll give that a try and see what the outcome is.

[CorollaD4D]

there are so many variables when it comes to tracking. also in my personal experience tracking is something that once the factory "tracking" is lost, can rarely be replaced back to factory standard, i.e. there will always be a certain degree of pull, all you can do is minimise this by laser alignment, checking tyre pressures, run outs etc etc.

also i find balancing done incorrectly makes tracking issues worse. i went along to my local kwik fit when he had his front two tyres balanced last week and i was quite impressed with the balancing equipment they have. it tells the weight and where to put on the tyre but also shows how far "in" (depth ways) to put the weight on the alloy which something i hadn't seen before.

try checking everything and try eliminating variables one at a time. pressure, balacning, alignment, run out etc. its a time consuming process but if you want it right i think its something that has to be done. good luck :)

[molveees]

After seeing the worst snowfall this winter in recent history & ping ponging cars against kerbs it is hardly surprising people are noticing tracking/alignment issues.

[T128]

the problem is not your car or the new tyres the problem are toyota dealer's, they set all car's tracking from their serivce book they never bother to check the steering wheel when you guys get your car back some of you could have the steering wheel isn't at center , to avold this problem dont use toyota dealer's take it to any places with "computer print out tracking wheel alignment" they will ask you or you can ask to sit in the car and position the steering wheel where you want it to be.

[T128]

the problem is not your car or the new tyres the problem are toyota dealer's, they set all car's tracking from their serivce book they never bother to check the steering wheel when you guys get your car back some of you could have the steering wheel isn't at center , to avold this problem dont use toyota dealer's take it to any places with "computer print out tracking wheel alignment" they will ask you or you can ask to sit in the car and position the steering wheel where you want it to be.

[trevnhil]

I always assumed that when you went to any good place for tracking / wheel alignment, that they CLAMPED the steering wheel in the central position.

That is certainly been my experience here in Cyprus.

It all seems to be computerised as they have a computer screen that tells them what to do at each stage. The cost here for all four wheels is €35 which is just under UK£30.

Trev..

[CorollaD4D]

+1 on the clamp...kwik fit impressed me with their tyre balancing setup im going to check out their alignment procecdure too...

[dervdave]

I had to call out Jaguar assist because of a parking brake problem on the Jag(software cure)and while we waiting for the laptop doadload the technician mentioned he`d a 58 plate Toyota Verso (says it all really) and we got on talking about his car pulling to the nearside from new even after having the tracking checked and reset.

He put the blame totally on the make of the tyres (which were Dunlop) and had no more bother after dumping them.