[Msquared]

Originally Posted by cdb95z28

What do you call it when you hold the steering wheel straight, and the car moves in an unintended direction?

That's called toe being out of spec and/or possibly a thrust angle being far off of zero.

We are arguing over semantics. I agree with your correction to the problem. My point is that we will use a straight, level steering wheel as a static base point. The reaction of the car from there is going to dictate the solution.

This is not semantics! If a car has a pull, then the cause is not improper toe or thrust alignment. Instead, the cause will most likely be a caster problem or a tire problem, or less likely a significant cross camber. That's why I said that if someone tells a shop their car has a pull when it doesn't, they will start looking at the wrong settings. If you tell them the steering wheel isn't straight when the car drives straight ahead, but the car isn't pulling, then they will correctly look at toe and thrust angles. See the difference?

[cdb95z28]

Originally Posted by Msquared

That's called toe being out of spec and/or possibly a thrust angle being far off of zero.


This is not semantics! If a car has a pull, then the cause is not improper toe or thrust alignment. Instead, the cause will most likely be a caster problem or a tire problem, or less likely a significant cross camber. That's why I said that if someone tells a shop their car has a pull when it doesn't, they will start looking at the wrong settings. If you tell them the steering wheel isn't straight when the car drives straight ahead, but the car isn't pulling, then they will correctly look at toe and thrust angles. See the difference?

Thanks

[JCunningham]

what happened with this.
the dealer is full of shit. 500 miles so they can say you hit something. it was settled in on the ride to its parking space at the factory. If you called GM to complain they would have taken care of it. I dont see how anyone would be ok with the wheel not being centered.

[ExJetJock]

So, newbie here. Bought a used 2018 ZL1 back in Jan. The alcantara steering wheel was showing wear. It belonged to a gal and I believe she used hand lotion. It was ugly. So I bought a 2019 ZL1 steering wheel used. Came off a wrecked ZL1 with only 2,500 miles. No damage. Like new. Called Chevy and they said the part would fit my Vin # so I bought it. It is not bent, scuffed, and appears like a new GM steering wheel.

Anyway I had a professional shop put it on. They are known for doing high performance vehicles and such. Anyway as I drove it home I noticed that the steering wheel is tilting to the left about 3 or 4 degrees. Car doesn't pull either way but if I turn the wheel back to level it will change lanes to the right slowly. How can just replacing the steering wheel cause this? I called the shop back and he assured me that the wheel is keyed and can only go on one way. He suggested alignment. PS, I was there and watched them put it on. They never drove it so.......

I'm getting it aligned in the morning. Went to my local NTB Tire store and spoke with their tech. He said he can do a ZL1. So we'll see. But I'm still confused how an alignment can change just by take a steering off and putting another one on..... ��

[KARMAL]

UPDATE: So I took my car in to the dealer when I hit 500 miles, explained the issue and left them the car. After picking it up, guess what? It was EXACTLY the same as before I left it. Still off to the right. Clearly they didn’t have time to adjust it as they were too busy smacking each other in the balls and doing 0-60 runs on a side street as captured by my PDR in valet mode. I took it back only to have the advisor argue with me and tell me that it was impossible to center a steering wheel and it was always going to be off. After pointing out to him that my other car was centered perfectly he reluctantly took it back to the tech to have him adjust it. I get it back and guess what? It was now off to the left. I gave up and eventually found a place that would let me sit in the car while they adjusted the tie rods and now it is bang on center. That dealer is an absolute joke. I will be writing up a review of my whole experience and posting to help avoid anyone else from wasting their time with these clowns.

[arpad_m]

Ouch, this is a very disappointing dealership experience, but at least now the problem is solved. These small things can be a constant annoyance, I'm glad you got it fixed in the end.

Do post the name of the other place as well to give them some positive publicity, that's how it's supposed to be done.

[KARMAL]

The only reason I didn’t post the name of the place that helped me out is the guy was taking a liability risk by letting me sit in the car while it was up on the lift, and since I don’t know if he’s the owner or just works there I don’t want to risk getting him in trouble. However if anyone would like his information just send me a message and I’d be happy to refer him. Very helpful and accommodating. Basically the opposite of the dealer.

[2004YZFR1]

Originally Posted by KARMAL

UPDATE: So I took my car in to the dealer when I hit 500 miles, explained the issue and left them the car. After picking it up, guess what? It was EXACTLY the same as before I left it. Still off to the right. Clearly they didn’t have time to adjust it as they were too busy smacking each other in the balls and doing 0-60 runs on a side street as captured by my PDR in valet mode. I took it back only to have the advisor argue with me and tell me that it was impossible to center a steering wheel and it was always going to be off. After pointing out to him that my other car was centered perfectly he reluctantly took it back to the tech to have him adjust it. I get it back and guess what? It was now off to the left. I gave up and eventually found a place that would let me sit in the car while they adjusted the tie rods and now it is bang on center. That dealer is an absolute joke. I will be writing up a review of my whole experience and posting to help avoid anyone else from wasting their time with these clowns.

Did you tell the service manager that someone was beating on your new car doing 0 to 60 runs in it? I would be super pissed if a tech was doing that.

[KARMAL]

Originally Posted by 2004YZFR1

Did you tell the service manager that someone was beating on your new car doing 0 to 60 runs in it? I would be super pissed if a tech was doing that.

Pissed is an understatement. I was furious. Keep in mind the car barely had 500 miles on it, so I hadn’t even driven it hard yet due to the break in period. I didn’t tell the service manager at the time as I didn’t see the videos until I uploaded them to a computer when I got home that night. To be fair it looked like he only did one 0-60 run (judging from the rubber marks at the stop sign I’ll bet this is a favorite place for the techs to test out customers cars), which was actually more like a 0-80 run, the rest of the time he just drove very aggressively, winding it out to 5K at every shift and more than doubling the speed limit for most of the drive. I did report it on the survey for both the dealer and GM. The service manager called me and left a message the next day. I called him back a couple days later but he was on vacation. I didn’t bother to try again and neither did he. I didn’t see the point. What’s done was done, there was no damage, and everything that could serve to be gained would be on his side. But I got the feeling they didn’t care about improving the customer service experience at this place. I’ll just make sure I never go there again and at the next place I’ll make sure they know they’re being recorded. I’m not interested in catching anyone, I want to dissuade them from this behavior in the first place. It’s one of the main reasons I got the PDR.

[jvandy50]

my car tracks straight, but steering wheel is off center.

we just installed cam/headers/oil pump and had the shaft disconnected, as well as steering box...

PDR shows steering angle off ~7deg when i'm going straight...



oh what to do next lol

[ABM1SSSG3]

To the original poster, KARMAL, I see you're in the area of Orange. Is the dealer of the bad experience Selman? Just asking for a friend. lol

[KARMAL]

Originally Posted by ABM1SSSG3

To the original poster, KARMAL, I see you're in the area of Orange. Is the dealer of the bad experience Selman? Just asking for a friend. lol

That’s the one! I got the impression that they REALLY didn’t want my business, I’m going to respect their wishes and not give it to them. I’d advise others to do the same. Can anyone recommend a good SoCal Chevy dealer?