Steering not self centering

[TedStriker]

For anyone who's not certain what issue I'm referring to, take a look at the video below. Right before he pulls away at the start, he turns the steering wheel left. As he pulls away he releases the wheel and it straightens up,. Mine doesn't do this. If I did the same as him, my car would continue to turn left across the road. My alignment has been checked and it's spot on.

 

[mojo]

If I did the same as him, my car would continue to turn left across the road.

I'm pretty sure that my car would too - but the thing is that I don't notice because I never let the steering wheel move through my hands. That may be why some people really notice the issue and others don't. It's simply down to a slightly different driving style.

I should stress that I'm not saying this because it explains the problem (and the variability from car to car), but it may help to understand why it could be fairly common, but not commonly reported.

 

[Dutchi3]

I'm a bit sea sick after watching the video but yeah it centers after pulling off. I'll try it, too.

 

[Ninja]

I have this problem too.

My 2014 i3 Rex has 95k miles.

This weekend I replaced both front struts and springs with less-used from a 2017 Rex that only had 20k miles.

I bought and installed brand new strut top mounts, rubber boots, top nuts and bump stops.



I was really hoping the strut top mounts would solve it, but so far I can’t tell there’s any change to the non-self-centering.

Since I have lifetime alignment from Firestone, I’ll get it aligned again this weekend - has not been done in a couple of months. But again I’m not expecting a huge change.



The new-er struts definitely feel smoother and more consistent than the old. Highway driving is slightly less harrowing, altho keeping the wheel centered can still be a challenge.



Last month I added 20mm wheel spacers only to the front wheels and that actually made a huge difference - it’s much more stable at high speeds, but no change in self-centering.



I did notice when I had the front end jacked up off both wheels that I couldn’t push the wheels by hand to move them left/right. I think I checked with the car in ‘on mode’ but not totally sure about that bit.



When I had one of the old struts removed (I did just one at a time) it was pretty easy to move the wheel hub around so I didn’t get the sense it was due to a ball joint issue.



None of my tie rod boots, steering rack boots, or ball joints looked damaged or showed signs of leaking grease.



A couple months ago I removed, cleaned, and re-greased the u-joint at the base of the steering column.

There was no resistance in the steering wheel while it was disconnected, tho I did tie a nylon strap between the wheel and side mirror to ensure that I didn’t spin it around and damage the clock spring inside, or get it misaligned with the shaft where the unjoint bolts on.



The non-self-centering issue may have existed for the entire 2.5 years I’ve owned the car…

But I first became aware of it after rebuilding my AC last fall.

When lowering the car off of an undersized floor jack, it fell suddenly off the jack and maybe 4-6 inches to the ground.

I was using multiple, stacked bits of wooden 2x4 as shims to get the car lifted higher up (bad idea), AND the release mechanism to lower that jack is sticky & kind of all-or-nothing… so it was just a bad combination all around.



One thing I noticed that pointed me towards the ujoint, is that when I flushed the AC evaporator in the dash, the output of the cleaning fluid came down the steering column.

I thought perhaps it degreased and/or gummed-up the u-joint in the process.

It was dirty and had some rust.

I cleaned, re-greased with a very thick brake slide grease, cleaned up the rust with a wire brush and spray painted the metal to help protect it.



Steering felt slightly easier after all that, but it was subtle enough that I could be imagining it.



I feel like each change I make offers slight improvements but I’m still missing a smoking gun that would explain it all at once.



I’m very interested in this thread, and really want to find a solution both for myself and others.

EDIT to add: I now own & use a properly sized floor jack, after driving the front wheels up onto ramps that lift the car fairly high to start with.
This makes everything much easier and safer. I wish I had bought a good jack and ramps 10+ years ago.

 

[Ninja]

I'm pretty sure that my car would too - but the thing is that I don't notice because I never let the steering wheel move through my hands. That may be why some people really notice the issue and others don't. It's simply down to a slightly different driving style.

I should stress that I'm not saying this because it explains the problem (and the variability from car to car), but it may help to understand why it could be fairly common, but not commonly reported.

I learned during my drivers license test 20 years ago that i unconsciously let the steering wheel slide thru my hands like that at times, especially after lower-speed turns.
The person scoring me took off points for not death gripping the wheel at every single instant of the test 🙄

Also FWIW, my 2016 Elantra GT with electric power steering has always self-centered like any normal car with hydraulic steering.
It did that when it was brand new and still does at 60k miles. Honestly it’s a much more comfortable vehicle to drive and sit in than my i3. Not as much fun at stop lights… but great for longer distance and higher speed drives.

 

[TedStriker]

Some interesting replies on here recently. I know the i3 is a unique car in many ways but basic functions like steering should not be different from every car made in the past, and there's nothing drastically different about the steering rack design compared to other similar cars. The 'it's an electric steering rack thing' is a red herring as far as I'm concerned. They've been used on cars for the past 20 years and on pretty much all European cars in the last 10 years.

I've had to take a bit of a break from progressing this recently, but a few days back I did take a look at a spare rack I have, which I believe has the same issue. I turned the rack all the way to one end and the rod/rack came loose - it certainly didn't feel as if it was sticking in the bushes. Felt more to me like drag on the pinion/power assist assembly. Hard to tell which of those it could be though.

As mentioned above by @Ninja , I too found that with both wheels jacked up it was way harder to turn the wheels from lock to lock by hand. In fact I do recall now when I got an MOT earlier this year the tester did mention it as that's part of the test but he said as it's a smooth movement and not excessive it wasn't a fail.

I do still have a 11k mile 2021 rack that I haven't had time to test yet but that'll be my next move. Just need to tget the tie rods off it as with them on I can't connect it up to the car's wiring and update to the latest software.

Cheers,
Ted

​

 

[kd7iwp]

Sorry if this ends up not being relevant, but I have heard this guy in the UK describe how his steering sometimes feels gritty or stiff and he lubricates the steering shaft. I know you've mentioned that the rack feels stiff, perhaps even when not connected to the car, so then that might rule this out, but thought I'd share nonetheless.

 

[TedStriker]

Sorry if this ends up not being relevant, but I have heard this guy in the UK describe how his steering sometimes feels gritty or stiff and he lubricates the steering shaft. I know you've mentioned that the rack feels stiff, perhaps even when not connected to the car, so then that might rule this out, but thought I'd share nonetheless.

Thanks for that - I don't think my problem is the column but I'll find out soon when I disconnect the UJ from the rack. Would be nice if that's all it is though!