Hi Guys,

Long time member and lurker but just had to post now to see how many folks may have my issue and perhaps a solution.

I 've had both my Acura dealer and Firestone do 4 wheel alignments on my 2012 Wagon with Tech. Neither has been able to center the steering wheel so that the top of the horn cover lines up with the plastic cover that sits just in front of it. Acura did mine as a courtesy before 12k miles and Firestone did it, twice, just today at about 25k on the odometer. All were done with Hunter's latest and greatest with the laser light on the jig that shoots the beams to readers on the wheels.

The only non-adjustable measure that was a smidge out was my left rear camber which was at -1.6 with -1.5 being the limit. The car tracks STRAIGHT as an arrow but the steering wheel is always about 2-3 degrees off to the RIGHT...after all 3 attempts. The techs all state that the wheel was centered. The Firestone tech re-did it so he was very careful about it. DISCLAIMER: The car has NOT been in any accidents and I have not hit curbs!

Has anyone experienced this? Is this a limitation of the Electric Power Steering or is it a limitation of the tech or his equipment? I paid for the Lifetime Alignment at Firestone so they will do it over and over to my liking. I never had this issue with my old 2004 TL.

Thanks so much in advance!

 

What roads do you drive most often, and/or are you doing your road test on the same road all the time? Often, just the camber in the road (the center is the "crown", they're higher in the center to aid in the water run off) is enough to tweak the wheel to the left or right by a few degrees.

 

I tested the car before and after on the center lane of a 3 lane highway where the car would immediately pull to the left if the wheel is centered. I have to hold the wheel about 3 degrees to the right and it tracks straight.

Also, when I am on a 2 lane crowned road, with traffic in both directions, the car will stay in the lane perfectly with wheel centered. All other cars I've had needed a little steering off to the left, due to the crown. The wheel is off center plain and simple.

 

Perhaps you are looking at it wrong - no -seriously.

The plastic cowling between the instrument panel and the steering wheel isn't straight. I had the same issue and had to have the wheel centered too (same thing as yours. The alignment on wagons may be off because of the way they are tied down during transport.

Mark the center of the top of the steering wheel with painter's tape. That mark should be straight up once aligned.

Thereafter, Simba's comments apply.

 

Thank you! You may be right. I will go do this tomorrow and see. The cowling may indeed be slightly tilted to the left. Do you know if the alignment process uses some kind of a "leveler" to center the wheel or is it just "eyeballed"? Thanks again.

 

It is funny that you bring this up because for the past few weeks I felt like I noticed the same exact thing, steering wheel is more onto one side. I forgot whether it looks like it's leaning left or right, I'd have to double check.

When you took your car to Acura, are they saying it is centered and it's an illusion that makes it seem like it's not? From what I've experimented, the wheel sometimes looks unaligned, but still goes in a straight line.

 

Acura and Firestone both insists their techs centered it. Neither mentioned anything about the cowling being off. But to be honest, it is beginning to make sense that the wheel is straight as it's unlikely that 3 alignments could have produced wheels to be "off" to the same side by the same amount. But I still have to check it in the morning.

I'm so damn visual that I wished I told the tech to align it with the cowling even if it is a bit off to the left just so that I won't think it's off when I glance down at the instrument panel.

 

I have read this is a common problem with this car. Mine is very very slightly off center also. But it's so minor i forgot about it until seeing this.

 

Very interesting. Again, I wonder if it has anything to do with electrical nature of the system but then I realize it's only the assist motor which drives the rack and pinion that is different. Perhaps it has something to do with the wheel centering algorithm, which Acura retuned after poor press reviews, that is causing some of us to have issues.

 

The tech needs to center the wheel before the alignment. They then align the front wheels point straight.

It is always possible that the steering wheel is off center and the car is tracking straight. If the techs align the car with the steering off center then it will track straight.

When straight, the steering wheel will look a bit "off" when you look at the cowling.

 

I've gotten around 8 alignments since my car has been lowered. After a couple of them the wheel has been slightly off center, which annoyed me. Almost all alignments were however centered perfectly.

 

Fucking Acura is trolling us all.