steering wheel not dead centre

[joey]

hopefully some one can explain, why this is a common problem. the car drives perfectly well in a straight line, but both my MK6 and MK7 has the steering slightly to the right. a bit annoying mentally when you need to hold the wheel dead straight on motorways.

[mcmaddy]

It shouldn't be off centre and it's not a common problem. Have you had the alignment checked?

[J400uk]

My mk6 does this and I've had the alignment done twice. Think it could be a common thing as I've read other complain about it too

[mcmaddy]

I've had quite a few vw's and not once had this problem. Maybe just luck 

[monkeyhanger]

Never had this on 7 new VWs, it can happen though. Been like that from new? Warranty issue if that is the case.

[dubber36]

It's most likely an alignment problem. Some 6's suffered with rear misalignment which cased 'saw tooth' tyre wear. The car would crab, so the front would self center to a degree of opposite lock to counteract this.

VW should sort it if the car is less that 6 months old, if not it's £100 for a proper 4 wheel set up, as they say that you could have knocked it out of square.

[joey]

thanks for the reply's, alignment is spot on, and drives perfectly in a straight line, steering wheel is just a fraction to the right.
mixed reviews about this one.

[Sootchucker]

I would suspect when the tracking was done at the factory, the wheel wasn't fully straight ahead in the jig (looking at some Youtube Vids of the assembly plant), and so when the track rod ends were adjusted, they were done with the wheel off centre.

The local dealership should be able to sort this under warranty. Just a case of getting the wheel straight ahead then using the dealership laser tracking to readjust the track rod ends ?

To be fair, this should have been picked up by the supplying dealership during PDI.

[corgi]

thanks for the reply's, alignment is spot on, and drives perfectly in a straight line, steering wheel is just a fraction to the right.
mixed reviews about this one.

How do you know the alignment is spot on? Just because it drives "perfectly in a straight line" doesn't mean the alignment/geo is spot on.

Most likely it is what Sootchucker said, front wheel alignment at factory performed without the wheel set to straight ahead. Easy to sort with the correct equipment. If it was OK when new and has changed the cause is likely hitting a pothole, kerb etc.