RobD

My car was delivered with the steering wheel offset slightly to the left when traveling on a flat road in a straight line. The car does track straight, however. Actually, another S2000 I drove at the dealership also exibited the same oddity; could it be the way the cars are tied down during transport? I took the car back twice to the dealer I purchased it from and ended up with the wheel off to the right. I called another dealer, who has a new alignment machine, and had them try to fix the problem. Once again, they aligned the car and it goes straight, but they failed to center the steering wheel, I ended up with it back to the left again. So basically my question is, is aligning the steering wheel on this car difficult to do? I mean, there have been three attempts without success. The service writers give me every excuse in the book, "It looks straight to me". My understanding is that the mechanic straightens the steering wheel, locks it down, then does the alignment. What's the big deal? I this just an example of shoddy workmanship? TIA


[Modified by RobD, 1:04 AM 11/26/2002]

jerrypeterson

You can fix the steering wheel alignment by removing two bolts and twisting part of the steering column. You only need one wrench, a floor jack, and some jackstands. The Helm's manual has a diagram of the part in the "Transmission Removal" procedure.

A proper alignment job can take up to an hour. Recentering the steering wheel should take 10 minutes.

Buy the Helms Manual for the S2000 at:
http://www.helmsinc.com

KF_S2000

Wow, I never knew this about the S2000! Bump to the top for some good info.

wantgoback

i am having the same problem, little big slide to left on the straight road .. u may go back dealer to fix that problem ..

redlineb18

I am having the same prob, but i have never tried that before. Thanks.

Sukebei Oni

i do alignments all day at my work.
the steering wheel should be strait. if its not, then someone didn't try hard enough.
takes me less than a min to make the wheel strait if its off.


"A proper alignment job can take up to an hour. Recentering the steering wheel should take 10 minutes".

thats a full alignment that takes an hour. you need to adjust many thing, camber,caster, toe, SAI, thrust anlge. but just to center the wheel only takes a min.


[Modified by Sukebei Oni, 7:46 AM 2/21/2003]

RobD

Sukebei Oni, that's what I thought, most people don't care enough to do a good job. The last dealership I took it to (the third one, now) recently did a toe adjustment and did straighten the wheel. Two weeks later, the wheel is off again, the same amount, to the left. I take the car back to them (they are the only one of the three dealers that had any success) and they make another toe adjustment. The wheel is better, but not as straight as their first attempt. That's how it has stayed for the last couple of weeks. Of course, I now have something making noise from the front of the car when I go over sharp bumps or lightly hit the brake at slow speeds. Coincidence? I took it back to them, AGAIN, they heard the noise, but could not find it; I have to take it back. Actually, now the car pulls slightly to the right, but not real bad. I've asked around and have been refered to a car repair specialist who does alignments and corner balancing for road and race cars, hopefully they can help me. Right now, I just want to pay and have the problem fixed, enough of the dealer and the waranty. Sorry to vent like this, but, it's unbelievable what you sometimes have to go through, getting a simple problem fixed. I'm through, now.


[Modified by RobD, 1:02 AM 2/22/2003]


[Modified by RobD, 1:07 AM 2/22/2003]

Sukebei Oni

just a side note. just cause the wheel is strait, doesn't mean the problem is fixed.
the toe could be out making the tires wear out faster.

i don't know much about what adjustments come stock on an s2k, but if it does have a camber adjustment. they might not have tightened it all the way. which can make a noise and slowly make the steering wheel off.