jase5

Ok got a strange one I can't work out... any input or thoughts, would be greatly appreciated..

here goes...

had the scoob go into the garage to have the calipers and rear drums painted. On driving home I realised when driving in a straight line, the steering wheel wasn't straight as it should be and when I put the wheel straight, the car would steer slightly to the left. upon checking the brakes there was no pulling to any side.. (before the garage trip, when the wheel was straight the car would go straight, as it should)

On the way home I thought I'd check the tyre pressures which were only out by 1 or 2 psi, so sorted these and this had no change on the fact my wheel was not straight when going straight...

Before going into garage my wheel was definitely straight, so took it back to the guy today to ask if for any reason he had had the steering wheel off at all and explained what the difference was now, he said there was no need to have the steering wheel off, (as I had expected), and he couldn't make out why this had happened, he did, however, say that he wasn't sure which wheels were the front ones and which were the rear when he put the wheels back on...

Having got home and inspected the wheels against photos I had before the garage visit, I found he had put the front ones on the back and the back on the front!!

After a quick change round, I NOW know that the front right wheel and front left wheel are NOW in the same places as before the garage trip and the two rear wheels are correctly on the rear of the car, but have no way of knowing if left is on left and right on right as they were before...

Took it out for a quick spin and altered the tyre pressures once again, having changed the wheels round the problem was vvvvnearly fixed, the only thing, if anything, is now when the wheel is straight the car steers very very very slightly in the OPPOSITE direction to what it did when I got the car back???!!

I just don't understand how having the wheels on different corners can have such an affect, to me, it just doesn't make any sense and the strange thing is that before the car went in, I had no issues at all..

The only thing I could do now is, try swapping the rear wheels, left for right and the car may then be back to the state before it went in.. or it could be in that state now, I just don't know..

Anyone got any ideas to any reasons for any of this lol!?

Thankssss!!

MattyB1983

iTrader: (51)

Are the tyres directional ??

jtonkins

iTrader: (1)

funny enough im having the same sort of problem but it was after i had new wheels put on it, so now im thinking they might have stuck mine on the wrong way, i didnt even know there was a wrong way might have to get this checked out know!!

MattyB1983

iTrader: (51)

There isn't a wrong way. Any wheel can go on any corner. It's to do with the tyres and/or balancing weight.
If your tyres are directional then this will make a huge difference. And if the tyres have been on for a while then they could cause this issue due to different wear patterns.
Alloy wheels dont have which corner to put them on stamped into them, a wheel is a wheel.

I once took my van in for a service and that also came back pulling heavily to the left. After alot of investigating it turned out that one of the young mechanics had smashed a kerb on the test drive.

jtonkins

iTrader: (1)

lol thought it didnt mater what wheel goes where!!! think im gonna have to try and get them realined tomorrow see if that will help as for the direction of the tyres i cant remember i know there falkens but did use my old tyres for new wheels so they did put different wieghts on!!

jase5

ok, having read the question about the tyres being directional, I have checked photos again and figured out that if the two rear wheels are swapped over left for right the tyres on these wheels would change direction and would look as though the car should always run in reverse lol (if that makes sense).. so I'm gonna guess that they ARE directional if this is what this means... either way having looked back at the photos with this knowledge I can now confirm that each wheel IS NOW where it was before it went into the garage! and each tyre is on the same wheel- as they havent been changed as far as I know!

And yeah I thought I was sure in thinking that any wheel can go on any corner and thought it must of been something to do with tyres or weights... I just didn't realise how having simply swapped front wheels for rear made such a huuge change!? and in fact still don't know how it did!? as when he put the front wheels on the back and the back wheels on the front, the wheels remained on the same side of the car and therefore the direction remained the same yet made a huuuge difference to the steering which caused the noticeable change in steering wheel position when driving straight.

Either way, the wheels are back to where they were before the garage trip, or more importantly all the tyres are back to where they should be and having put this right the problem is cured, may just get the tracking checked and wheels re-balanced to be safe and then hopefully my steering wheel will be nice and straight again!

Thanks for your replies guys

SinghSuperStud

iTrader: (2)

if they're directional don't they usually have an arrow marked 'rotation' to help put them on in the correct orientation?

BLU

iTrader: (27)

Easy way to check directional tyres, (in most cases) if the tread goes into a point (like an arrow shape) its directional, also the tread must be pointing to the front of the car when viewed from above. Also as mentioned it should have a rotation arrow on the side wall, this should point the way the wheel would turn when going forward.