Alexkid
New Member
If your steering is crooked and you took to it to one tyre place and then another, and they haven't fixed the problem, you can adjust it yourself. This is what happened to me and I started believing that if you want to get the job done, do it yourself.
I bought my car with RWC and had the car professionally checked but the car came with steering that was about a quarter of a turn off. And nobody pointed it out to me. I only realised it myself, after driving the car for some time. In other words, when I held the steering wheel straight, the car would steer badly to the right side. The car was not old and has not done many kms and I thought I would eventually fix the crooked steering when I change the tyres.
So some time later, I went to the tyre place to change the front tyres and specifically told them about the crooked steering. They changed the tyres but forgot to correct the steering, so I went there again the same day and they corrected it (10 minutes before closing time) but only roughly. So I left it as it was. Then many years later, when I went to change all four tyres again in another shop, I asked them to adjust the steering. I was assured that the guys would see from under the car if the steering was off and would adjust it accordingly. They changed all four tyres but steering was the same as before (about 1/16 of turn off). I took the car, and later thought that maybe that was the best they could do and I just have to get used to it. Some years later I started researching on the internet and watched some videos on how to do it yourself. And one day, I adjusted it myself. Professionally, this method is called front end alignment.
The picture below shows the right side (drivers front) wheel. Make sure the parking brake is on and the car is in Park. You will need to jack the car up and remove that front wheel. Support the car on a suitable stand, not just your car jack. Center your steering wheel inside the cabin.
Hold the rod shown with the purple arrow firmly with a spanner or an adjustable wrench. Loosen and unscrew the nut shown with the blue arrow with another spanner. That nut may be very tight, so you may have to lock the rod in place, and apply a bit of force or hit the spanner with a hammer to loosen the nut. Then rotate the rod shown with the green arrow using a suitable spanner. Screwing the rod into the streering knuckle will rotate the wheel to the right. When finished adjusting the steering, tighten the blue arrow nut while holding the purple arrow rod firmly with the wrench.
Only rotate the rod shown with the green arrow about 1/8 of a turn as even this small rotation changes the steering considerably. Also mark the surfaces in relation to each other before doing the adjustment. The brown marks are visible in the first picture.
The procedure for the passenger wheel (left front) wheel is same but screwing the rod into the steering knuckle will rotate that car wheel to the left. If you rotated the drivers side rod 1/8 of a turn, do the same degree of rotation on the passender side wheel rod. This is to ensure the wheels stay parallel to each other.
Test drive the car after the adjustment to check if the steering is straight. Remember that this is only a rough guide for adjustment. Proper adjustment can only be done by a professional shop (tyre changing place) with proper equipment. You could use strings extending from the back of the car, parallel to the rear wheels to see if your front wheels are facing the right direction. Also remember that front wheels are normally slightly turned towards each other (toed in) as this makes the car drive better in a straight line. Perfectly parallel front wheels will make the car wonder from side to side.
These are my tips for adjustment but you are doing it at your own risk, and need to think about it carefully and do the adjustment in very small careful steps.
PS. I posted this post before in Mitsubishi Forums but later realised that I should be posting it in Auslancer. So I am posting it here as a repeat.
I bought my car with RWC and had the car professionally checked but the car came with steering that was about a quarter of a turn off. And nobody pointed it out to me. I only realised it myself, after driving the car for some time. In other words, when I held the steering wheel straight, the car would steer badly to the right side. The car was not old and has not done many kms and I thought I would eventually fix the crooked steering when I change the tyres.
So some time later, I went to the tyre place to change the front tyres and specifically told them about the crooked steering. They changed the tyres but forgot to correct the steering, so I went there again the same day and they corrected it (10 minutes before closing time) but only roughly. So I left it as it was. Then many years later, when I went to change all four tyres again in another shop, I asked them to adjust the steering. I was assured that the guys would see from under the car if the steering was off and would adjust it accordingly. They changed all four tyres but steering was the same as before (about 1/16 of turn off). I took the car, and later thought that maybe that was the best they could do and I just have to get used to it. Some years later I started researching on the internet and watched some videos on how to do it yourself. And one day, I adjusted it myself. Professionally, this method is called front end alignment.
The picture below shows the right side (drivers front) wheel. Make sure the parking brake is on and the car is in Park. You will need to jack the car up and remove that front wheel. Support the car on a suitable stand, not just your car jack. Center your steering wheel inside the cabin.
Hold the rod shown with the purple arrow firmly with a spanner or an adjustable wrench. Loosen and unscrew the nut shown with the blue arrow with another spanner. That nut may be very tight, so you may have to lock the rod in place, and apply a bit of force or hit the spanner with a hammer to loosen the nut. Then rotate the rod shown with the green arrow using a suitable spanner. Screwing the rod into the streering knuckle will rotate the wheel to the right. When finished adjusting the steering, tighten the blue arrow nut while holding the purple arrow rod firmly with the wrench.
Only rotate the rod shown with the green arrow about 1/8 of a turn as even this small rotation changes the steering considerably. Also mark the surfaces in relation to each other before doing the adjustment. The brown marks are visible in the first picture.
The procedure for the passenger wheel (left front) wheel is same but screwing the rod into the steering knuckle will rotate that car wheel to the left. If you rotated the drivers side rod 1/8 of a turn, do the same degree of rotation on the passender side wheel rod. This is to ensure the wheels stay parallel to each other.
Test drive the car after the adjustment to check if the steering is straight. Remember that this is only a rough guide for adjustment. Proper adjustment can only be done by a professional shop (tyre changing place) with proper equipment. You could use strings extending from the back of the car, parallel to the rear wheels to see if your front wheels are facing the right direction. Also remember that front wheels are normally slightly turned towards each other (toed in) as this makes the car drive better in a straight line. Perfectly parallel front wheels will make the car wonder from side to side.
These are my tips for adjustment but you are doing it at your own risk, and need to think about it carefully and do the adjustment in very small careful steps.
PS. I posted this post before in Mitsubishi Forums but later realised that I should be posting it in Auslancer. So I am posting it here as a repeat.