Chat A mystery worthy of Miss Marple (I can't spell Poirot)

Birchall

Dick Chown Award 2016
I like solving mysteries but at the moment this one has me stumped.

I swapped wheels for a different set a few weeks ago and as you should with an A2 I had the tracking sorted (by computer)
I drove off and there was a small but annoying problem.
With the car driving straight ahead, the steering wheel was slightly off centre. So I took it back and asked them to check it out again.

They were locking up as I drove off but the problem remained.

I was 100% convinced that it was just that they had adjusted the tracking without locking the steering wheel in the straight ahead position.

But they were sure that they did and so offered me a full refund and a free tracking next time, because they were sure it was OK.


So I took it to another tyre company and asked them to set up the tracking again, I told them what had happened.

He said that he had sorted it but when I drove off it was still the same.

If I was on a straight road I could lighten my grip on the steering wheel and the car would drive perfectly straight ahead but with the steering wheel still off centre.

SO three computerised trackings and all failed to correct this!!!

But that is not the strangest bit of the story.

I had my refurbed 18" alloys fitted and when I drove off the steering wheel was perfectly straight!!!!!!!!!!! I watched them fit the wheels and so I know they didn't retrack it.

SO I am now stumped as to why changing wheels would have caused the problem in the first place and then resolved it after the next change.

There is NO WAY that the wheels are toi blame, there is no possible fault on a wheel that could do this.

The tracking was correct (after three tests) and was not adjusted when it "fixed itself" !!!

The suspension cannot be causing it, the car has always driven in a straight line without wandering, the ONLY fault was the direction of the steering wheel!!!

I can only guess that during the fitting of the wheels something was disturbed (apart from me) perhaps the subframe (front or rear) was shifted in some way, but it would take some force to do that and it would not be likely to be the force used to swap wheels?

I suppose that it being jacked up MIGHT have disturbed something but the chances of jacking it up again fixing the problem is beyond reason !!

I have run out of ideas as to the cause of the error then the fixing of that error.
It is NOT the wheels (Impossible)
It can't be the tracking (3 showed it was ok and it fixed itself without tracking being carried out)
Similarly the suspension would not have developed a fault and the corrected itself (and the fact that it drives perfectly straight also backs this up)

Ideas anyone? A "Sherlock Holmes of the year award to anyone that can come up with a totally logical reason.

Steve B
 
May be down to tyre 'bias'
Most new tyres have markings on the tread, often a yellow line shows the theoretical centreline and another the true 'running' centre. The more the offset and the more the tyre tries to wander when rolling. (maybe like a crown green bowling ball)
When fitting the wheels it's possible to cancel out the effect, or if you're unlucky, to compound the problem.
As the tyres wear I suspect the effect reduces so if you started with new tyres then randomly changed the position when the wheels were swapped, or just got a few miles on them, that could be the reason the steering has 'centred'.

Here's a bit of evidence to back up the theory - http://www.wheels-inmotion.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=165

Cheers Spike
 
I had this once before with my Mk1 Golf. had standard 6x14" wheels, swapped them for 6x14 but off a BMW with quite a different offset. The steering wheel was well out of alignment, but being an old non airbag car easy to fix. I put the original wheels back on and had to adjust the steering wheel again.

I then fitted some 6x15 BBS with the correct Offset fitment as the original wheels and the steering wheel remained perfect.

I had the identical issue with a Mk2 Golf when fitting some 7x15 alloys, again with an offset suitable for BMW's. Can't quite remember the offset differences each time, but something like et37 standard and et25 on the wheels throwing the steering out.
 
May be down to tyre 'bias'
Most new tyres have markings on the tread, often a yellow line shows the theoretical centreline and another the true 'running' centre. The more the offset and the more the tyre tries to wander when rolling. (maybe like a crown green bowling ball)
When fitting the wheels it's possible to cancel out the effect, or if you're unlucky, to compound the problem.
As the tyres wear I suspect the effect reduces so if you started with new tyres then randomly changed the position when the wheels were swapped, or just got a few miles on them, that could be the reason the steering has 'centred'.

Here's a bit of evidence to back up the theory - http://www.wheels-inmotion.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=165

Cheers Spike
Possibly but the car never wandered or pulled to one side, it drove as straight as an arrow.

If it was pulling to one side I would have had to keep my hands on the wheel to correct it, but no, it didn't wander.

It went straight with the wheel pointing slightly left, now it goers straight with the wheel dead centre!!!

But I can see the logic in what you are saying but the symptoms don't match this issue.

Cheers
Steve B
 
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I had this once before with my Mk1 Golf. had standard 6x14" wheels, swapped them for 6x14 but off a BMW with quite a different offset. The steering wheel was well out of alignment, but being an old non airbag car easy to fix. I put the original wheels back on and had to adjust the steering wheel again.

I then fitted some 6x15 BBS with the correct Offset fitment as the original wheels and the steering wheel remained perfect.

I had the identical issue with a Mk2 Golf when fitting some 7x15 alloys, again with an offset suitable for BMW's. Can't quite remember the offset differences each time, but something like et37 standard and et25 on the wheels throwing the steering out.

Not impossible, the wheels that were on the car before the change were further out towards the arches (slightly) the wheels I changed to when the problem started were slightly less offset and sat slightly further into the arches. These have the same offset as the first set, but are an inch wider.

So it is possible that this could affect things, but I am not sure.

Steve B
 
Could it be tyre pressures steve?

If it didn't drive arrow straight then it might have been tyre pressure, but unfortunately the first thing I checked was the pressures (because I thought the same as you) but both fronts were identical pressures and both rears were identical pressures.

Steve B
 
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