New front tyres fitted. Now st.wheel offcentre??? - whoopwhoop
Mazda 6.... 6 months old and under 20,000 miles on the clock.

This morning it drove absolutely fine. 2 new front tyres were needed so called in a national tyre chain's mobile tyre fitting service, who put on 2 Good Year Eagle NCTs.

Driving it immediately afterwards, noticed that the steering wheel is now off centre - i.e. when driving in a straight line the steering wheel points very slightly to the left..... and if you hold the wheel dead centre the car steers very slightly to the right.

Took it back to a branch of the national tyre chain that fitted the new tyres and they laser checked the tracking and confirmed all is OK. They re-balanced the tyres and refitted the wheels.

Problem is still the same.

Have noticed that the one wheel seems to have a lot of weights inside the wheel rim, and when they were trying to balance the wheel they seemed to be having difficulty.

Any thoughts?
New front tyres fitted. Now st.wheel offcentre??? - rtj70
Go back. When I got the front tyres changed on my Mazda6 there was a vibration in the wheel.

When I took it back I asked them to check balance. They cut the weights off before checking... when finished I noticed it then had a different amount of weight because I picked up what was cut off. So they sort of admitted they got it wrong.

There is still a bit of an imbalance but very subtle. But the wheel is not off centre.

Edited by rtj70 on 17/02/2010 at 19:37

New front tyres fitted. Now st.wheel offcentre??? - FotheringtonThomas
Poor balance alone won't make this happen: "when driving in a straight line the steering wheel points very slightly to the left..... and if you hold the wheel dead centre the car steers very slightly to the right". Perhaps the tyre didn't seat properly, although I'm not sure that this even...
New front tyres fitted. Now st.wheel offcentre??? - L'escargot
I had a car (fortunately still under warranty) which pulled one way. I swapped the front wheels side to side and found it then pulled the other way. I deduced that the problem was caused by the tyres. The dealer changed the tyres (from Firestone to Michelin, for what it's worth) and the problem disappeared.

Try swapping the front wheels side to side and see what happens. Were your replacement tyres the same as the originals? I always stick to the original make, type and size, just in case.
New front tyres fitted. Now st.wheel offcentre??? - Chas{P}
Broken spring. I had this happen on a Mondeo.
New front tyres fitted. Now st.wheel offcentre??? - Red Baron
The wheel with lots of weights is causing you the problem.

I have an alloy with lots of weights. An inside rim is slightly buckled. Without the weights there was not a huge amount of vibration as you might expect, but the car did pull to one side. And the steering wheel was 'straight' whereas normally it is slightly off-centre. With loads of weights stuck on the wheel there is no vibration and the car does not pull to the left and the steering wheel is again slightly off centre.
New front tyres fitted. Now st.wheel offcentre??? - Cliff Pope
It's called the "cone effect" I think. A tyre can wear in a certain way so that it has a slight bias to one side (like a cone), and a proper tracking and wheel alignment would take this into account. Then when you put a different, eg new tyre, on, it has a different or probably no cone effect, so reverts to steering the other way.

I think the steering just needs setting up again, after getting the balance right of course.
New front tyres fitted. Now st.wheel offcentre??? - Mapmaker
In any event, the new tyres should be fitted on the rear, not the front.
New front tyres fitted. Now st.wheel offcentre??? - rtj70
Moved to technical...
New front tyres fitted. Now st.wheel offcentre??? - Victorbox
Wonder if they jacked it so poorly on front suspension they've bent something?
New front tyres fitted. Now st.wheel offcentre??? - Peter.N.
I think that they have adjusted the tracking but haven't got both rods the same length.
New front tyres fitted. Now st.wheel offcentre??? - HensTeeth
Might be worth checking the runout stripes on the tyres to see if they're matched: www.wheels-inmotion.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopi...5
New front tyres fitted. Now st.wheel offcentre??? - L'escargot
I wonder how many tyre fitters know about run-out stripes. I certainly didn't.
New front tyres fitted. Now st.wheel offcentre??? - bathtub tom
Is that what the stripes mean?

According to the wheel & tyre bible it doesn't:

www.carbibles.com/tyre_bible_pg2.html (Near the bottom, under 'What about the coloured stripes in the tread?')

A definitive answer would be useful.
New front tyres fitted. Now st.wheel offcentre??? - triplez

I had the same problem when I had Bridgstones put on my Mazda 6 (59) est.. I was told it couldn't be the tyres and put up with it.

Changed tyres again at round 40k (more Bridgstones) and asked for alignment check which was fine, no adjustment required. Anyway the steering wheel was now aligned. (They wouldn't have adjusted it as that would have to be done by Mazda as it's a lease vechicle).

All I can think of it's due to the tyres not being exactly the same size and the Mazda's sensitive and vey precise steering. Also friend has exactly the same problem with his Mazda 6 Saloon so he had his changed from front to back. - all ok

Just had another set changed at 60k (more Bridgstones) and all ok.

I do get vibration around 65mph which goes away around 70, seems to be from the front but not through steering wheel - even on new tyres just fitted. Does anybody else experience this?

New front tyres fitted. Now st.wheel offcentre??? - Collos25

Disregarding all the theories about tyre differences ,broken suspension etc the only way to change the position of the steering wheel (other than physically removing it and replacing in another place or bending the tracking arms) is to alter the adjustment on the tracking arms as suggested by Peter above.

Edited by Andy Bairsto on 19/02/2011 at 13:45

New front tyres fitted. Now st.wheel offcentre??? - dillonmpg

My 08 Mazda 6 2.5 sport developed the same off centre steering wheel problem which seemed to happen overnight. I took it to a national tyre chain to check the tracking. They told me that speed humps and pot holes could cause the problem. They made adjustments and told me that everything was now spot on and to come back in a fortnight for re-checking. Despite this the problem remained. I told them that I had recently had two new tyres put on the front and asked if this could cause the problem. The mechanic (a term I use with reservation) told me that there was absolutely no possibility of a connection between the too. It was now becomming a problem that was difficult to live with. I was desparate to get to the bottom of it, as i was concerned that there maybe a more serious issue. I decided to try another garage to get the car checked out, they suggested that laser and digital steering geometry setup was the answer to my problems. I handed over my 25 quid and hey presto... the problem was still there, if anything a tad worse. In desparation I asked them to swap my new tyres to the rear. Would you Adam and Eve it, the steering wheel was now dead centre once more. So before spending any money try swapping the tyres round first, it may just work for you too.