Car pulling to right after rod bearings

Hello and Happy New Year!

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

I installed Ohlins R&T around beginning of November and changed out my RBs beginning of December. Car's alignment wasn't that off after the coilover install and the steering wheel was centered.

After the RB job, my steering wheel was off-center to the LEFT at 11 o'clock. About a week later I went to West End to get an alignment and corner balance. During the alignment, he told me to center my wheel and hold it. After going under the car he came back and said my guy might've missed aligning the steering rack by 1-2 splines and that he can correct the steering wheel through the alignment.

After he was done aligning I went for a test drive and noticed that the car now turns the wheel to the RIGHT every time it hits a little bump on the road. I mentioned this to him and he said this has nothing to do with the alignment nor can he fix it.

From what I understand, even if the steering rack was missed, this would only affect full lock on each side by just a bit. I tried swapping the 2 front wheels and this is still happening.

Any ideas?

Your subframe is out of whack a little bit.

I don't know the fix but this exact thing happened to me after RB install. Was totally surprised the shop would give my car back with the steering wheel off 25 degrees and not say anything. Came to conclusion it was a bad reinstall of the steering rack. Shop owner said he'd pay for the alignment but stopped responding to me so I'm probably not going back (performance dynamic in Santa Clara)

Took car to get an alignment at reputable shop in east bay (NorCal) and it's better but not perfectly centered like it was before.

Now, I've got what seems to be loose/bad tie rod symptoms. Maybe related, maybe not.

osukf09 wrote

I don't know the fix but this exact thing happened to me after RB install. Was totally surprised the shop would give my car back with the steering wheel off 25 degrees and not say anything. Came to conclusion it was a bad reinstall of the steering rack. Shop owner said he'd pay for the alignment but stopped responding to me so I'm probably not going back (performance dynamic in Santa Clara)

Took car to get an alignment at reputable shop in east bay (NorCal) and it's better but not perfectly centered like it was before.

Now, I've got what seems to be loose/bad tie rod symptoms. Maybe related, maybe not.

Damn that sucks that they ghosted you..

But even if the steering rack was installed incorrectly that should only make one side lockout more than the other and no other negative impacts no?

When you let go of your wheel does it drift to one side?

Shouldn’t try correcting the steering wheel misalignment with tie-rod misalignment.

1. I don’t know if the front subframe has alignment marks or holes, but it should have some kind of marks to make sure it’s bolted in straight
2. The steering wheel and steering rack should be centered when the steering shaft is coupled.
3. Adjusting the outer tie-rods should be the last step for fine tuning the alignment, not covering up other mistakes.

djsilverjohnson wrote

Shouldn’t try correcting the steering wheel misalignment with tie-rod misalignment.

1. I don’t know if the front subframe has alignment marks or holes, but it should have some kind of marks to make sure it’s bolted in straight
2. The steering wheel and steering rack should be centered when the steering shaft is coupled.
3. Adjusting the outer tie-rods should be the last step for fine tuning the alignment, not covering up other mistakes.

I've been looking into some RB DIYs and none have mentioned marking or "aligning" the subframe. I could be totally wrong but it looks like it just bolts right up.

I think #2 and #3 are what need to be checked out..

Hivand_M wrote

osukf09 wrote

I don't know the fix but this exact thing happened to me after RB install. Was totally surprised the shop would give my car back with the steering wheel off 25 degrees and not say anything. Came to conclusion it was a bad reinstall of the steering rack. Shop owner said he'd pay for the alignment but stopped responding to me so I'm probably not going back (performance dynamic in Santa Clara)

Took car to get an alignment at reputable shop in east bay (NorCal) and it's better but not perfectly centered like it was before.

Now, I've got what seems to be loose/bad tie rod symptoms. Maybe related, maybe not.

Damn that sucks that they ghosted you..

But even if the steering rack was installed incorrectly that should only make one side lockout more than the other and no other negative impacts no?

When you let go of your wheel does it drift to one side?

I didn't have much of a pull or drift afterwards, although I'm getting a bit of it now along with some slow speed creaking during turning which seems like tie rod to me.

If the two are connected (bandaid fix with alignment to fix the steering rack offset) then I'm a bit more frustrated since the original shop should have been on the hook to re-install correctly.

djsilverjohnson wrote

Shouldn't try correcting the steering wheel misalignment with tie-rod misalignment.

1. I don't know if the front subframe has alignment marks or holes, but it should have some kind of marks to make sure it's bolted in straight
2. The steering wheel and steering rack should be centered when the steering shaft is coupled.
3. Adjusting the outer tie-rods should be the last step for fine tuning the alignment, not covering up other mistakes.

Interesting and that was my initial thought as well. But, I trusted the 2nd shop so deferred to their judgment.

That said, if going this route led to the possible tie rod issue I'm having now, I'm not exactly happy with the approach taken.

What's the alternative solution? Reinstall the steering rack correctly aligned?

I had the same issue. Wheel was also slightly crooked to the 11 o clock spot.
I literally bought the car and drove it straight to the shop. In the short drive car drove perfectly.
Now it still drives straight but I get a light knocking when pressing hard on the brakes. I think most likely just a worn bussing. I’ll address that soon when I get some lift time and inspect.
What I did to correct the 11 o’clock issue was (almost perfectly but still slightly off. Just waiting to do the bushing so I could go in for alignment)
Was crawl underneath and loosened up the steering rack. Once loose I moved it as much to the right as possible. (Probably could have moved slightly more with a pry bar but I didn’t have one at the time)
Now it still drives straight and wheel is almost perfect sitting roughly at the 58/59 minute mark. Not perfect but much better than before
I’m not sure but I think the subframe can only go in one way. If there’s a way for it to move around most likely it would be extremely difficult for it to bolt up

An alignment is always needed after removing the subframe.

There are dowels to align the subframe, but there is play and even 1mm will throw things off. Also the steering shaft has a notch so it shouldn't be off by much.

A proper alignment should fix it.
If the wheel is not returning to center properly, that's an alignment or suspension issue. Have it checked out.

Some good info going on here, thank you all for chiming in.

Question for the guys that are going through this:

Are you guys on coilovers? Lowered? How low?

Stock zcp edc still here

Considering ohlins r&t soon

My car is stock. I only know about this because after I took my car to a “performance” shop for the rod bearings a had to take it to a good shop to get the steering right. No alignment will be right if your subframe is off

Having done this repair myself I’d say that your steering column connector to the steering rack was possibly not marked and was reattached off a few splines.

If your steering wheel is at 11 o’clock you are off by 30 degrees or so, that’s huge. There is play in the subframe but no way it will change your steering angle that much.

I think someone needs to center the steering wheel to the steering rack so you have exactly the same angle of front wheel from center-to-right and center-to-left. Then redo the alignment. Doing an alignment right off the bat when subframe removal alone doesn’t give you this big a changes was a really bad band-aid. Good independent shop or worst case a dealer can fix this.

Also, your steering angle sensor should be all screwed up too with warning lights on the dash and OBD code for steering angle sensor as your turn signal won’t cancel and ABS doesn’t like it either.

osukf09 wrote

I don't know the fix but this exact thing happened to me after RB install. Was totally surprised the shop would give my car back with the steering wheel off 25 degrees and not say anything. Came to conclusion it was a bad reinstall of the steering rack. Shop owner said he'd pay for the alignment but stopped responding to me so I'm probably not going back (performance dynamic in Santa Clara)

Took car to get an alignment at reputable shop in east bay (NorCal) and it's better but not perfectly centered like it was before.

Now, I've got what seems to be loose/bad tie rod symptoms. Maybe related, maybe not.

So that is it? Just roll around with a less than perfect car as to relates to steering after you put all that money into it with RB's etc...? Have the sub removed and reinstalled. Hate to see people settle because shops will not stand by their work. Maybe you did not settle but that is how I read your comment.

VictorH wrote

If your steering wheel is at 11 o’clock you are off by 30 degrees or so, that’s huge. There is play in the subframe but no way it will change your steering angle that much.

If front toe is off even by a little it will throw the steering wheel off. This is clear to anyone who has ever done an alignment before. Fractions of an inch/mm matter.

The subframe is doweled and the bolts are sleeved. There really isn't any adjustment once the subframe is bolted up correctly but it shifting a few mm forward, backward or to one side will throw the suspension off and that is why it needs an alignment after.

Just like how if you change tie rods/control arms, etc. You'll need an alignment, things will move.

VictorH wrote

Having done this repair myself I’d say that your steering column connector to the steering rack was possibly not marked and was reattached off a few splines.

If your steering wheel is at 11 o’clock you are off by 30 degrees or so, that’s huge. There is play in the subframe but no way it will change your steering angle that much.

I think someone needs to center the steering wheel to the steering rack so you have exactly the same angle of front wheel from center-to-right and center-to-left. Then redo the alignment. Doing an alignment right off the bat when subframe removal alone doesn’t give you this big a changes was a really bad band-aid. Good independent shop or worst case a dealer can fix this.

Also, your steering angle sensor should be all screwed up too with warning lights on the dash and OBD code for steering angle sensor as your turn signal won’t cancel and ABS doesn’t like it either.

So can I just remove my steering wheel and adjust it from up there or do I need to undo the steering rack again and re align it from down there?

I had traction malfunction lights going off a couple days after but it went away after about 4 days. Wondering if the steering angle sensor adjusted itself.

Alignment guy said toe in front was 0, caster was not off and he corrected the steering wheel from the tie rods which shouldn't drift the car right.

Not sure if this helps..

To Tdott- yes agree if toe is off then steering wheel will be off-center too, but when you drop the subframe why would toe change that much? Again, I don’t think you can change it that much by “slop” in the subframe alignment. I might be wrong but seems odd.

To fix the steering wheel you’d have to center the steering rack, dead center (not quite sure how you do that), then remove the splined coupler from the steering column and move it so the steering wheel is back dead-center. This couple is on the driver’s side (obviously) down below the exhaust header. it’s a huge nuisance to reach by hand as it’s very tight, but the bolt to reach the clamp is not hard to reach and loosen. the challenge would be to remove the coupler move it a few splines to center and reattach. That’s my take.

VictorH wrote

To Tdott- yes agree if toe is off then steering wheel will be off-center too, but when you drop the subframe why would toe change that much? Again, I don’t think you can change it that much by “slop” in the subframe alignment. I might be wrong but seems odd.

To fix the steering wheel you’d have to center the steering rack, dead center (not quite sure how you do that), then remove the splined coupler from the steering column and move it so the steering wheel is back dead-center. This couple is on the driver’s side (obviously) down below the exhaust header. it’s a huge nuisance to reach by hand as it’s very tight, but the bolt to reach the clamp is not hard to reach and loosen. the challenge would be to remove the coupler move it a few splines to center and reattach. That’s my take.

I appreciate you a lot! I guess this brings us to the last question and it might be a stupid one but i'm not too familiar with steering racks or alignments.. if alignment guy altered the tie rods to center the steering wheel. How do we know where true center is at this point?

bstone801 wrote

osukf09 wrote

I don't know the fix but this exact thing happened to me after RB install. Was totally surprised the shop would give my car back with the steering wheel off 25 degrees and not say anything. Came to conclusion it was a bad reinstall of the steering rack. Shop owner said he'd pay for the alignment but stopped responding to me so I'm probably not going back (performance dynamic in Santa Clara)

Took car to get an alignment at reputable shop in east bay (NorCal) and it's better but not perfectly centered like it was before.

Now, I've got what seems to be loose/bad tie rod symptoms. Maybe related, maybe not.

So that is it? Just roll around with a less than perfect car as to relates to steering after you put all that money into it with RB's etc...? Have the sub removed and reinstalled. Hate to see people settle because shops will not stand by their work. Maybe you did not settle but that is how I read your comment.

There's some nuance. The steering wheel is maybe 1-3 degrees off center, not perfect but moderately liveable until next alignment. It wasn't pulling or anything affecting driveability.

The shop that did the rb's and was initially responsible was 2+ hr trip for me, which I did several times, but became a hassle. You're right that I probably should have pushed more than just via email/voicemail.