Hello, I collected my MY 99 last week and is already 1000 miles old, but since the day I collected the car the Momo steering wheel is slightly turned to the left when driving at any speed on a straight line, my dealer told me is almost impossible to center the steering wheel perfectly.
Any help on that one?

I'm having a similar row myself regarding my MY98. As I understand it the steering can indeed be straightened, but through resetting the geometry. Obviously this is timeconsuming and dealers seem unwilling to do it as there is some doubt as to whether they will be reimbursed under warranty. My old dealer promised to do it, but the dealership has since changed hands, and moved to Aylesbury. The new mob only seem to want to do it if they can do it if it's only a case of removing the wheel and moving it round one notch. I don't know about you, but as a result of mine being squint my indicator rarely cancels after left turns, and quite frankly it's begining to piss me off.
Be firm. I have I think they're doing it with the service on Wednesday.

Josh

Josh,

My undertsanding was that the MD (Huxtable I recal from memory) of Deer Leap was staying on at Adams for the first few months to make sure that everything tansfererd smmothly. Let's hope that's the case as I may be using then for servicing my MY 99 5 door.

Your problems sound very much like the tracking, or toein is unequal.It's a 10/15 min' job.I would have thought it should be part of the PDI.I'd certainly insist they do it on the first service.

Mark.

Exact same problem on my MY99 from new, dealer was not happy to rectify.Spoke to another dealer who did it free in 15mins.The tracking was ok, what they did was to shorten one side of the steering rack and lengthen the other side by the same amount.This altered the position of the wheel to "level" on a straight road.Did it first time as well-impressed with helpfulness so much that all servicing will be done with them from now on.

[This message has been edited by Agentm (edited 10-05-99).]

[This message has been edited by Agentm (edited 10-05-99).]

My wheel also pointed left....refer to my comments in Steering Geometry, I think there is a common misconception by ALL dealers that the cars are set up at the factory - there is very strong evidence to suggest that this is not the case and dealers should be responsible for setting the geometry pre-delivery.

My dealer (grey import) paid for it to be done, but only after I requested it.

David

My MY99 drifted left from day 1.

It took a lot of arm-twisting at the dealer to fix it, and I was especially annoyed by the excuses that came out ("all cars drift left on a left camber" etc.)

In the end I had to take the Service Manager for a drive on a flat car park to convince him, and it turned out that both front toe and camber, whilst being within specification, were not equal both sides.

The fixed it, no charge, and the car feels totally different.

Incidentally if you look at the handbook it does state that the geometry should be checked at the PDI; however it seems that the car is particularly sensitive to the geometry being unequal even by a small amount.

Russ

Hello there, I spoken to my dealer today and they agreed very nicely,after I told them that there was a way of sorting the problem with the steering wheel, to book the car in for geometry and tracking check.
They will even come and collect my car so I don´t have to go there.
I will post the results once I get the car back
Juan Marti

Juan,and other guys,
I am surpised from the number of cars that appear the same problem.What is going on here. Subaru does not check the geometry when release the cars from the factory?
Comes on my mind what S.Mechanic here said after a visit to Japan at the production line
of Impreza." they do not check the steering alignment " he said and I was surpised then.

If your s.w. is turned to the left on straight line, then if you turn it to the center the car should turn the the right.Am I correct?
This could be because of the unproper fit of the s.w. to the coloumn (you know a little bit left)and can be fixed quickly.
But also can be an alignment problem that many friends have mentioned here on the BBS.

My problem seems the same or quite different, I dont know cause I have not find a solution yet.
When I picked the car from Subaru Greece all seem ok to me. But after 2000km and first service the s.w. turned to the right side on straight line.Meaning that when I turn it to the center car goes left after few meters.Also I have noticed that on left corners the car is unwilling to turn.Harder pressure on the s.w.that right turns, and a feeling from the whole car that say to me is not easy to turn left.
Subaru Greece said to me that it was ok after checking on 4 wheel alignment machine.They deny the problem and now that I am out of warranty they say to go to an after market alignment to check the problem that is on MY MIND.
I can not let any one change the factory settings of alignment until that is sure and because that job is very important and difficult.
The most crazy is that the same problem appeared for second time on different Imprezas that have.One 97 MY and one 98MY.
First one sold when i managed nothing to solve the problem.The same can happen to the second if I will not find a quick solution.
Plus a strong protest to Subaru Japan.
If any one knows their web site or email please help.

Further to the notes above, I am pleased to say that I have today collected my Turbo after it's service to find that they have centred the steering wheel, apparently using the method described by Agentm. Only problem now is that they have discovered my gearbox requires a new synchro.

Josh

PS. Julian. I can report that first impressions of Deer Leap are fairly favourable.