My front tires were getting chewed up on the inside apparently. I went to the dealer asking if I had a wheel bearing problem because a growl noise was getting really loud. My dealer wanted nothing to do with it and suggested I take it to a tire place.

Alignment was out of whack. Pretty much just the toe, but it was severe enough to cause a nasty wear pattern in the tires.

Now the truck is aligned properly which is good. But WHY is it that every alignment I have ever had done leaves me with a crooked steering wheel? I mean, this is like the 5th car that has resulted with my steering wheel cocked to the left. Different places, different alignment racks.

Also the tire shop would not rotate the tires. They wanted the bad tires back on the front in hopes they will wear properly now and the noise will go away faster. Have to take it back in 3-5k miles and they will rotate.

Anyway. What's up with the crooked steering wheel?

 

We've had a crooked wheel before, depending on the rack, it comes down to YOU TELLING them you want that wheel dead on straight.

If they're a halfway decent shop, they'll do it.

 

Seems like the answer is - because you are going to a crappy shop. Any shop worth a crap is going to center the wheel before the alignment and their alignment jig will guarantee that the wheels are straight. Unless you are going to some monkey who is doing it with a rack and a tape measure

 

Oldjeep is correct... if they dont lock the steering wheel into the straight ahead position before adjusting the tie-rods into spec, you`ll end up with a crooked steering wheel 100% of the time. Keep in mind though, if you have worn tires, the most perfect alignment will not feel right and can ALSO give you a false straight steering wheel position. When the alignment is dead nuts on, the vehicle will still be pulled all over the place by bad tires. It is always good practice to ask your monkey`s for a "BEFORE & AFTER" printout of your alignment. This will give you a heads up on the out come of it. I also believe dodge changed the alignment spec`s in 2010 for "all" the 1500 trucks too... (this happened when they had the 4th gen tie-rod recall) so, has your alignment tech`s updated their info within their alignment equipment lately..??? You should always ask to see info on when they updated their equipment. If they dont have the time to do this for you, you will likely end up with an incorrect alignment. Tires and front parts are NOT cheap today... better to be informed and prepared, it will save you from ALOT of expense`s & cost`s later on down the road.

 

Oh they locked the steering wheel. But having done my own alignments in the past cockeyed steering wheels happen even when they are locked. It just always seems to happen to me -even when I do it myself. And in addition it is always cocked to the left for some reason.

The shop will fix it anytime at my convenience. So I chose to wait until they do the rotation in a few k miles. The truck tracks straight as an arrow so it is aligned. Though I will verify what LU said about the 2k10 change in specs. Can't hurt.

 

I believe you have more going on than we know.
IE; bad alignment tech, possible worn suspension componets, worn tires.

Anyhow, a good alignment tech will bounce the suspension "after" locking the steering wheel,
bouncing settles the suspension before making the tie-rod adjustments.