On my last car, it was very obvious when I needed an alignment because turning the wheel straight would pretty quickly send you into a Jersey barrier. Obviously, leaving your hands off the wheel would cause some stray too.

Now, as I approach roughly 45,000 miles on my Lancer, I find that the wheel is alwaqys off-center, by probably 3-5 degrees or so and that is very annoying. It's been slowly getting bigger since I first bought the car - not just one day it was off.

Anyway, when I pull my hands off the wheel, the car still goes very straight. So I'm trying to figure out if I need an alignment... or if an alignment would fix the wheel? I always thought they were more directly a cause/effect sort of thing, but with only one symptom, I don't know anymore.

Thanks for any help from the suspension gurus...
-N

 

My friend and I discussed that a while back. We agreed that we didn't care where the wheel pointed, as long as the car drove straight.

If it bothers you that much, get the alignment. But as long as the car drives straight, I would leave well enough alone...

 

Well, the steering wheel is an annoyance, but I just wanted to make sure there wasn't some other oddity that I wasn't noticing... I figure I'm about due for an alignment time-wise and mileage-wise, but my evidence was mixed. I guess I'll see when next I get to an autocross. Darned snow...
-N