Rentech Posted February 1, 2014 Report Share Posted February 1, 2014 Hi All, Well I should be a very happy owner of a new Fiesta ST but the annoying view of an off centre steering wheel is really bothering me. When travelling straight, with little road camber, the steering wheel is rotated slightly to the left. Not a huge amount but enough to bother me. The car doesn't pull at all, just the steering position off. Noticed the issue a few days after picking the car up and took it back to Ford for a check thinking a quick alignment adjustment would sort. The techs called me into the garage and showed me the display on their equipment with all readings in the green. I asked 'why is the steering off centre then?' to be faced with blank looks. They asked me to show them the position of the steering, when driving straight, and I left them to 'have a go' at bringing it in. Subsequently drove the vehicle away with no perceivable improvement, maybe slightly worse . I'm going to try swapping the front wheels over tomorrow as my thinking is that if the wheel geometry is all OK it maybe something to do with the tyres. If this fails to yield any improvement would my local WIM centre of excellence (Leamington Spa I think) be able to sort it or at least tell me what is wrong/faulty so that Ford can correct under warranty? Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted February 2, 2014 Report Share Posted February 2, 2014 Hi ya and welcome to wim.... A few things come to mind..... I assume they measured the full geometry including the rear wheels? Reason i ask is a rear toe displacement can corrupt the steering position. Tyres is the most likely reason so the intended move is wise.... If this corrects the position then happy days, if the position changes direction then move them to the rear.... Please do not think any change in the steering position is due to a tyre defect, there's nothing wrong with the tyres it's just a radial construction build issue that can evolve in any make of tyre. Next criminal on the block is the steering position censor. Although unlikely on a new car it's possible it needs a plug-in to tell it where dead-ahead is? Failing all of that things start to get very technical so for now address the obvious and we can take it from there Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rentech Posted February 2, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 2, 2014 Hi Tony, thanks for the info. Swapped the front wheels over this morning but unfortunately no change. I'm not sure what kit they had at Ford but it did have some substantial looking attachments on all four wheels. No reflective paddles like in some of your garage photos. Can't remember the display readout but definitely six, maybe eight, parameters all showing fairly central within the green limits. I've only covered 1000 miles but the tyres all looked OK from a wear point of view. To be fair to Ford, they only had the car in for an hour as I had a 'customer waiting' appointment. They did say give it a try and if it's no better they would book it in for the day and have a better look at it with some test drives. As it's been like it from new (only three weeks ago) they're looking at it under warranty so may give them one last chance. If I get no joy I'll be turning to the experts Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted February 3, 2014 Report Share Posted February 3, 2014 That's a shame...... Next step will be the angle censor then..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickT Posted February 3, 2014 Report Share Posted February 3, 2014 Or reject the car. ... They'll soon fix it then Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SMARTLY Posted February 3, 2014 Report Share Posted February 3, 2014 Must admit I'd take it back to them and tell them to keep it until it's fixed ..................... give them 7 days .............. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted February 4, 2014 Report Share Posted February 4, 2014 I have to agree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rentech Posted February 6, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2014 Think I'll at least give them a chance to sort it. Regarding angle sensor, how would this cause steering wheel to not be central? Clearly all I know about this is what I've leaned from the internet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted February 7, 2014 Report Share Posted February 7, 2014 It would tell the EPS where head-ahead is and the geometry would be set to that forward position. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rentech Posted February 19, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2014 Well, car's in tomorrow. Just dropped it off. Mentioned that I'd swapped the fronts over to be told 'tyres wouldn't make a difference' and if the tracking machine says it's in they're not sure what more they can do! A few others on the ST forum have had a similar issue. The workshop guy at Ford also mentioned one of the techs had the same issue with his ST. To be continued..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted February 19, 2014 Report Share Posted February 19, 2014 Link them to this> http://www.wheels-inmotion.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=165 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rentech Posted February 21, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2014 Well knock me over with a feather. Not sure what was done apart from adjusting out some of the settings and then bringing back in to factory limits. They test drove it and said everything was fine...........and it was. Could tell all was good before I got out of the car park. Surprising how such a small issue can be so annoying once you're aware of it. Time to get on and enjoy my car now. Thanks for all the advice though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted February 22, 2014 Report Share Posted February 22, 2014 Really pleased you got there in the end...... Shame it was due to simple toe correction not forgetting all the hassle you had getting it corrected. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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