Steering Wheel not straight (crooked) after wheel allignment at Firestone. twice

so I had the truck alignment done 2 weeks ago. for what ever reason, after the allignment, the steering wheel was turned counter clockwise. not too much but enought to bug me. so I took the truck back to firestone last saturday. now the steering wheel is slightly turned to the right (clockwise). This is just slightly. maybe a degree or 2.
I have a lifetime alignment package with them. should I take it back? should I go to another professional? does anyone know how I can fix this my self. I would appreciate any ideas.

2 weeks ago



after last saturdays allignment.

 

Take it to another Firestone and/or keep going back, I guess.

 

I would take it to another Firestone if you have another in your area since you paid for the lifetime alignment. Really annoying to be spending so much time on that though.

 

Take it back.

 

For some reason Toyotas steering is always sloppy like this. I drove a brand new Land Cruiser with 10 miles on it and the steering wheel was like that.

 

Funny that I have had the same issue... as sad as it is, i just learned to live with it.

 

The power steering rack bushings on our second gens are sloppy and have many voids in them which make the rack susceptible to up to 1/4 of lateral movement and play during steering. Even in mild and easy steering situations such as the turn plates used on alignment machines. That is the reason for your steering wheel being sloppy. The only real solution to keep the wheel straight on and the rack from shifting on the frame is to replace them with polyurethane bushings, but it is not an easy endeavor to take on.

 

As other members mentioned there is some slop in the Tacos. That being said, Take it back, they will fix it. They wont call me unless its straight anymore. The wait does suck though.

 

I had that issue the last alignment I had done. After I got a new frame and steering rack 2 weeks ago, it's no longer an issue. At 80k my rack had started leaking. Nice & tight now.

 

I've owned a lot of toyotas and never had any problems with crooked steering wheels.

I also recently replaced my steering rack bushings with the Energy Suspension set because there was slight movement in the rack with the engine off, moving the steering wheel. Afterwards I had the same slight movement.

 

we do have another 2 firestone in my city. I will take it to another one and see what they say. I am really not happy with their service because each time I have to drop my truck for 2 hours and then come and wait to pick it up.

 

I wouldn't take it to another Firestone. Either find an independent shop with a good reputation, or try the dealership.

 

No, they are not. The only reason for this is sloppy work by the alignment tech.

 

That is sad indeed.

 

Dunno. I sold new Toyotas for a long time, I'd say 1/2 of them were like this brand new from the factory. Noticeably off.

 

The other thing you can try is put some blue painter's tape on the steering wheel at 12 o clock. Try to get it as close to perfect for what YOU think is straight. Then, take it to the alignment shop.

Same effect as this:

 

I had the exact same thing happen to me with the Firestone lifetime, except it was on my '89 Toy pickup. Steering wheel was about 3 degrees off. I didn't notice it right away, thought I could live with it, then decided it bugged the crap out of me so I went back. They re-aligned it and all is good now. As you're experiencing, it is a complete hassle to have to do two fixes for one problem. Drives me nuts.

 

The first thing the mechanic should have done was center the steering wheel, locked in place. Then check and adjust the alignment of the wheels. I've also had problems after a mechanic has worked on my truck. Suggest to go back and tell them that you didn't have a problem when you brought it in. If they can't fix it, give me my money back and I'll go somewhere else that can fix it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6EllJTMrZs

 

+1000.

I once took an aging Nissan truck to Firestone because the windshield wipers had become detached from the mechanism. Instead of just getting under the hood and fixing the problem, the monkey removed the wiper motor for some unnecessary diagnostics, using a crowbar to pry up that little panel in front of the windshield. Ended up taking it to an independent to get the reattachment done right, AND to a body shop to fix the damage they'd done while taking the motor out. I don't know whether Firestone actually has a nationwide policy of letting their least competent mechanics practice on the older vehicles that come into the shop, but I definitely would not take the chance.

 

Their machine could be slightly out of calibration or just a newbie not doing the alingment right. After they swing the caster left and right on the rack then they should start the truck and center the steering wheel and then turn the truck off. Then according on their machine lock the steering wheel in place or if using a newer hunter machine adjust toe using the wintoe feature. Either way the tech should test drive after alignment to check that kinda of stuff. And also I would ask for a before and after print out so you can see the readings.