Hello,
I have a 2005 SC430 with 53K miles. NOT my daily driver. I drive this car on the weekends when is nice outside.
I replaced the front outer tie rods for about 4 months ago and had no issues with alignment or steering.
Car is driving straight on both streets and FWs. However, I recently have noticed the steering wheel is not straight as you see in the picture below. Steering wheel is pointing to the right side for about 10 degrees. See picture below.
Air pressure on all tires are 32PSI. As I mentioned before, the car drives straight.
Trying to avoid taking the car to get alignment done and fix it myself if it's possible and do able in the garage as I like to work on all my cars myself.
Any help or suggestions on how to fix the steering wheel to the right position would be greatly appreciated.

 

That is adjustable and should have been done properly at your last alignment. I assume you did that after you replaced the tie rods. If not, you should have, and it will be adjusted properly when the alignment is done.

 

I second this. This is purely an alignment issue. Easy fix.

Paul

 

Thank you for the feedback

 

This is an easy fix you can do yourself. You simply need to lengthen the driver side tie-rod and shorten the passenger side an equal amount. Don't do one side only as it will put your toe-in out of spec. I would start with 1/2 turn at the adjustable connection on each side and see where you are from there. You may need to try a couple of times to get it right. Before loosening the lock nuts, use a permanent marker to put reference marks on the threaded connection so you can gauge the 1/2 turn. This could come in handy too if you get lost in the process and want to put it back to where it was before you started.

Or, take it back to the place who did your alignment after the tie rod replacement. They should have centered your wheel as part of the service. Since they didn't, they owe you this!

Here's a decent DIY YouTube video on this topic:

 

I had a similar situation on our 2004 SC430 with 130K miles. My wife was coming home from our offices and made her usual left turn from the turn lane. Nothing unusual, but as she allowed to wheel to track back to center coming out of the turn, the car tracked back straight as per normal, but the steering wheel took this CCW/left cant, about 30º left or about the 10 o'clock position. Car drove just fine, no shimmy or weird noises or vibration etc. The weird thing is [according to my wife] this happened just that suddenly in one left turn event. I'm wondering if it has been a gradual process and she just noticed it.

I drove it when she got home. It handled very smoothly and no odd vibrations or shimmy in steering wheel, pretty much perfect but as in the video above, when I brought the steering wheel to "level" it drifted to the right. I also gave both wheels a strong tug in/out then left right and felt no play or looseness. Very tight.

Anybody else have this? Hoping it's the same issue. I will put it up on the jack stands this weekend and check the tie rods as per the video. I am hoping to find that maybe the locking nut on one side has worked loose and backed off or something to that effect. The change may have not been so sudden and creeping over a few days. Dunno. Anyway appreciate any other input. See my photo. ~ Sandy

 

I've never seen that happen before short of a steering rack going bad will be very interested to see what you find. Don't drive the car! One guess is the steering shaft is loose on the splines.

 

I’d bring it back to the alignment shop. They’ll fix this issue for you.

 

How would it get loose? Are you talking about firewall forward or inside cabin?

 

That's the million dollar question! The phenomenon you described, a sudden shift in the steering wheel being off center, is highly unusual. I would be concerned about the safety of driving with this condition. Something had to have come loose in the rack, the suspension, or the mechanicals between the steering wheel and the rack. Too, look at your rack mounting bolts to make sure the entire rack didn't shift from its usual mounting spot.

 

I have chatted with a bunch of local non-professional but highly qualified mechanics, a drag racer friend etc, people who know cars and several have brought up the R&P possibility. Several items that could be loose, slipped, etc there, or just need a new R&P. But it's such and odd thing for this car and it has been babied and garage kept with only two owners.

Next would be one of the splined joints between firewall and R&P unit. Then also within the cabin, remove steering wheel, airbag, then shroud etc and see what I see. I plan to tackle that tomorrow, at least start. I will remember to post here when I do find the issue.
Thanks

 

It may be something simple like loose rack mounting bolts, so if it were me, I wouldn't start in the cabin, tearing things apart. I would start with a thorough inspection of all connections, bolts, nuts starting from inside the cabin all the way to the tie rod ends. If you don't find anything loose, you might try some "enhanced interrogation" of the driver to see if she might be leaving something out of the story, like hitting a curb or pothole. If so, you may simply need an alignment.

 

Thank you so much for this information.
I actually did the tire rods myself. Since aliment was so perfect, I never took it to anyplace till recently I noticed the steering wheel is not center.
I'll follow your recommendations and try fix it myself. Thank you so much.

 

Thank you so much for the info and feedback.
I am going to check out the tire rods this coming weekend as well and see if I can manage fixing this issue on my own.

 

I'll keep you posted
Thank you