Does anyone else have poor steering wheel/tie rod alignment?

[brandonsmash]

2015 GT/PP. 9,600 miles. I've had this issue since 7,700 miles and it's worse now than ever. I've never hit any curbs or potholes (the roads where I live are actually rather decent, and without winter frosts we rarely get heaves/holes).

A while back my steering wheel was offset by about 1.5 degrees to the right; I noticed this when I replaced my rear tires at 7,700 miles. At that point I went to Firestone and purchased a lifetime alignment package, and they did an alignment; my steering wheel went from about 1.5 degrees off-right to perhaps .25-.5 off-left. Since then I've returned a couple times more and they've confirmed that my alignment is good, but the steering wheel is increasingly off-centered to the left and it's driving me nuts.

The car tracks straight but, as you can see, the steering wheel is a fair bit off-center.

I should have new wheels and tires coming in this week and I'll put them on (and have the car re-aligned) this weekend. That being said, I'd like to know if anyone else has experienced this issue. I find it unlikely that the jam nuts on the tie rods would've worked themselves loose, and I similarly don't think I could've bent a tie rod as I've never hit anything sturdier than a floppy traffic cone.

While I don't have any moral objections to adjusting my tie rods myself (and then cashing in on that "lifetime alignment" thing), I don't have ramps. I could put the car up on jack stands and adjust the tie rods that way but it's my understanding that this is suboptimal.

For reference, here's the front of the car (as close to center as I could judge) with the wheel straight:

Am I missing anything here? Any suggestions are appreciated, as I'm still a neophyte when it comes to automotive suspension (which, as it turns out, is way more complex than motorcycle suspension).

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[brandonsmash]

It's a steering wheel alignment issue. Every mustang I've owned had this proplem.

Pull in somewhere straight, which will mean that the wheel will be off center.

• Disconnect the battery
• Pop the horn cover off
• Remove airbag (two plugs)
• Loosen the bolt holding the wheel on a bit
• Adjust the wheel so it is to your liking
• tighten the bolt back up and put everything else back together.

That's easy enough to do, but that doesn't seem to fix the issue but instead just remedy the symptoms. If the steering wheel is increasingly off-center, wouldn't that just continue kicking the can down the road?

 

[wildcatgoal]

So it gets progressively worse? Like the wheel itself isn't locked down and is moving a few MM over time? That is odd because I thought they were splined.

Generally, you get an alignment and the guy has to have the steering wheel dead straight. If he doesn't, it will be off even when you're going straight.

 

[brandonsmash]

The wheel does not feel like it has any play, but over the past 2k miles the wheel is definitely much more off-left than it was before. Last time I took it into Firestone it came out with a clean bill of health and the wheel was still cocked a bit. I figured I'd have them do a thorough inspection when I have my tires mounted on my wheels and installed (while I could obviously swap wheels myself, I don't have access to a tire-mounting machine any longer).

Of the photos above, the first photo is the steering wheel as it sits going straight down the road.

The second photo shows the aim of the tires (a little bit) when the steering wheel is straight.

Apparently this Firestone disagrees that alignments must be done with the steering wheel level. For that reason I think I'll be soliciting another store from here on out.

 

[wildcatgoal]

Someone who has installed a GT350 steering wheel needs to pop in here and let us know if the steering wheel mounts to something where it could "shift" if not tightened down. I don't think it does - I've never seen that before myself (but I've only taken wheels off of old cars that were either splined or had a set screw).

IMHO, I would bite the bullet and take the car to a dealer and ask them to address your concern. You may pay for an alignment but, if I'm honest, you aren't the first person I've heard get shady results from a Firestone shop. Depends on the person, but you also have to calibrate the machine.

 

[PatrickGT]

There is a *very* small amount of play in the steering wheel mounting, and it is aligned with teeth that if you were off alignment you would damn well know it. I don't recommend messing with this as a means to resolve the OP's issue.

 

[PatrickGT]

No, I'm talking about the steering wheel itself. It is pretty clearly a keyed design, with six sides... if we're picking on the semantics of the use of the word "teeth" then that's a ridiculous game I'll pass on, the point remains the same.

 

[HISSMAN]

Wow, what crawled into your spaghetti? I just put it into quotes because I was quoting you. This is the reason why they tell you in the tech manual for installing the wheel on the S550 to make sure that the tires are straight ahead before reinstalling a steering wheel.I see what you are saying about the wheel having the 6 sided spline, but it still has some play to it. Or at least mine did.

 

[PatrickGT]

No spaghetti/additional decline on the intended purpose of those continued comments. Did you not get an OEM wheel? Because every single one of them, excluding yours apparently; looks like this:

 

[HISSMAN]

Jesus man, I'm not trying to argue with you. Yes, it has the 6 headed spline, but mine still has some play to it.

 

[HISSMAN]

I guess what I'm trying to say is, yes there is a spline, but it, at least on mine, is not completely tight. That gave my wheel about a degree or so of play. When I first installed my GT350 wheel, it was off center similar to the picture in the OP, so I loosened the nut and centered the wheel and re-tightened it. It is now centered. This to me is the first thing I would look at since it appears as though his wheel is moving on it's own.

 

[brandonsmash]

I suppose it could be the wheel nut, but given that the wheel seems to be several degrees from true I think that would have to be crazy loose on the fitment.

GIMP tells me that, using the dash as a level reference, I have about a 3.2 degree offset in the wheel.

 

[HISSMAN]

Honestly, mine was not as far off as your's. Close though.

 

[tom_sprecher]

It's not the wheel nut and there is not enough clearance in the hex to allow the offset the OP is showing. The car just needs the TRE's to be adjusted with the steering wheel locked down in the proper position. Does the car have the Enhanced Security Package? If it does you can keep the wheel locked in position with it or have someone sit in the car keeping the wheel straight while the TRE's are adjusted.

 

[PatrickGT]

You can also have the alignment shop actually use the tools they should be and pull the lockout that connects the steering wheel to the brake and floor from wherever the f they have tossed it back in the shop so your steering wheel stays straight during adjustments.

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