Steering wheel not centered?

[jsosic]

Hi guys,

I replaced an OEM steering wheel with new steering wheel from S4 (the one with the small airbag).

There is a mark on the column and there is a mark on the steering wheel, and they should match.. Initially I got a feeling that steering wheel is a bit of to the left. Then we disassembled it and moved it by 1 point to the right. But now I've got an impression it's tilted to the right a bit....

Now, I'm wondering, how can I make sure steering wheel is centered on the steering column, before I go and do the optic alignment of the suspension. BTW car is 2017 A6 3.0tdi, 50k miles and air suspension.

With my previous A3 8p when you let go the steering wheel, and drive, it centers itself to the neutral position, but with A6 it doesn't happen... It can stay a bit to the left or to the right, depending on when you take your hands of the wheel. ... So I'm not sure any more if I'm imaging things.... so even if I drop it to stealers, would they be able to verify wheel is properly centered? Or should I again dismantle it and move it one point to the left...

 

[L111 FAD]

Can you re-site the steering wheel when the car has been set up but not moved from the optical alignment equipment?
That would probably be your best bet as the steering column should be bang on the money at that stage.

 

[jsosic]

I sorted this problem out.

So, we took of the steering wheel of, returned it back 1 point left, to exactly match the mark on the steering column, and dropped my car to an optic wheel alignment service.

What I didn't know - since this is my first car with line assist, is that they also align the steering column, so mine was ~2 degrees of, which is why I thought steering wheel was not centered. After the wheel alignment, everything works perfectly!