Steering off centre

[AndoMac]

Hi all, long term lurker, first time poster, looking for some advice

I've had my mk7.5GTI pp for a little over a year now, and generally think it's a brilliant car, however I've never been happy with the steering tracking, which has always felt a bit off to the right when going in a straight line. I've had the wheel alignment done twice, both using hunter alignment, first time was at a VW dealership and second at a local indy which I trust. Both times alignment was showing to be spot on.

The wheel is still off center, not massively so but enough to frustrate. I'm a bit at a loss now as what to do, both garages said everything with suspension etc looks fine. Any suggestions or known issues I should look for?

Thanks all

[Finglonga]

. You need to let them know the wheel is off centre and they will have to adjust the tracking on both sides to centre the wheel properly.  It only needs the front tracking to be adjusted to straighten it up.

[EB2019]

Only couple of things I can think of

1: do you have same brand tires?
2: do you have same load rating tires?

I assume you do, but both the above could be doing strange things if all else is equal, if that makes sense.

Just curious do you have a printout you could share from the last tracking you had done?  My understanding is that if the rear toe is out one side, compared to the other (I think it shows as thrust angle?) you could be compensating with turning the steering to drive straight even if the wheel is set straight when stationary.



 

[madstaff]

You may be just driving on heavily cambered roads in which case you will be steering right hand down a little to stop your car drifting to the left.

You need to find a quiet stretch of road and ride on the crown of the road, or a really nice flat road, and see what happens then.

[AndoMac]

Thanks all for the replies so far. To answer a few questions:
The tyres are all ps5's purchased at the same time (I was hoping this might have sorted the issue)
I have the printout from one of the alignments somewhere, I'll try to dig it out, however it all looked within tolerance.
I've also tried flat/opposite cambered roads, which does obviously remedy to a point, although it's still off centre even on opposite camber. It's a bit of a mystery!

The only thing I can potentially think of is that when i purchased the car (from a VW dealership) they agreed to recondition the leather on the steering wheel as it was slightly worn. I wonder if to do so they removed the wheel and put it back not centred. Although I'd expect this would have shown up when i took it in for the alignment?

[madstaff]

Could be worth, as Finglonga has already said, asking your local indy just to tweak the steering arms to centre up the steering wheel.

Out ½ turn on the nearside, In ½ turn on the offside for starters, this will keep the tracking correct but move the steering wheel  anti clockwise slightly.

[AndoMac]

Thanks guys, will give this a try and report back