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Adjusting steering for the camber of the road - maurice28

On the couple of cars that I own/lease (a 13 year old Vauxhall Astra with 75,000 miles and a new Hyundai Tucson with 2,000 miles) I've noticed that when I'm driving along a straight road, I have to hold the steering wheel perhaps a couple of degrees to the right to keep the car straight. It's more pronounced on fast A roads and motorways, although sometimes noticeable on slower roads too.

It's a bit more obvious on the Astra than the Tucson. The wheel alignment has be done at various points on the Astra, and is never really much out, and if I let go off the wheel while driving along, both cars will keep going mostly straight with the wheel tilted slightly to the right, there's not a dramatic pull to the left.

I assume then, that it's just a case of slightly compensating for the camber of the road and the speed meaning this is more necessary. But I wondered, how much do you find this in your car? Is your steering wheel always absolutely central as you are driving along straight, or is this slight compensation for road camber just perfectly normal?

Adjusting steering for the camber of the road - badbusdriver

I have to do this in the VW Caddy I use for work. We also have a Suzuki Ignis, but I can't say I've noticed, so if it does drift to the left, it is much less noticeable than the Caddy. Also, just to point out, I am very rarely on anything other than single carriageway A and B roads.

Adjusting steering for the camber of the road - maurice28

I have to do this in the VW Caddy I use for work. We also have a Suzuki Ignis, but I can't say I've noticed, so if it does drift to the left, it is much less noticeable than the Caddy. Also, just to point out, I am very rarely on anything other than single carriageway A and B roads.

Yeah, I assume it is car dependent so interesting to hear the experience of others. It does seem camber-dependent - driving in the centre of the road, the wheel seems more central and on the other side or on an adverse camber, the wheel tends to need to be held a degree or two to the left instead.

Adjusting steering for the camber of the road - bathtub tom

The camber pulls you to the left, so you have to put a little 'right-hand-down-a-bit'. This wears the LH front tyre more on the outside edge, giving it a truncated cone shape. This shape results in even more pull to the left. It can be compensated for by swapping the front wheels (if the tyres aren't rotational). If the tyres are rotational, the best you can do is swap the wheels front to rear.

Adjusting steering for the camber of the road - maurice28

The camber pulls you to the left, so you have to put a little 'right-hand-down-a-bit'. This wears the LH front tyre more on the outside edge, giving it a truncated cone shape. This shape results in even more pull to the left. It can be compensated for by swapping the front wheels (if the tyres aren't rotational). If the tyres are rotational, the best you can do is swap the wheels front to rear.

Yes, that makes sense. Question is, is the 'camber pulls you to the left' bit entirely normal?

Adjusting steering for the camber of the road - Will deBeast

Yes, that makes sense. Question is, is the 'camber pulls you to the left' bit entirely normal?

That was the subject of a very expensive court case.

vlex.co.uk/vid/egan-v-motor-services-793729737

Adjusting steering for the camber of the road - maurice28

Yes, that makes sense. Question is, is the 'camber pulls you to the left' bit entirely normal?

That was the subject of a very expensive court case.

vlex.co.uk/vid/egan-v-motor-services-793729737

Very interesting, thanks! I couldn't read through to the end without signing up but it seems the experts seem to say following the camber of the road is normal!

Adjusting steering for the camber of the road - Engineer Andy

I have to do this in the VW Caddy I use for work. We also have a Suzuki Ignis, but I can't say I've noticed, so if it does drift to the left, it is much less noticeable than the Caddy. Also, just to point out, I am very rarely on anything other than single carriageway A and B roads.

Yeah, I assume it is car dependent so interesting to hear the experience of others. It does seem camber-dependent - driving in the centre of the road, the wheel seems more central and on the other side or on an adverse camber, the wheel tends to need to be held a degree or two to the left instead.

A good portion of this though is road-dependent - I've driven on dual carriageways that tend to slope in one direction (and that can both to the outside or division between each carriageway) so that water collects only on one side, where the drains are, whereas other ones are more like single one-up-one-down roads with a crown in the middle between the carriageways.

I think they are more pronounced in the countryisde where adequate drainage via road drains isn't so common, just ditches. Perhaps some older dual carraigeways don't have that good built drainage and have to rely on similar methods, and thus may need more pronounced slopes / crowns.

Saving on built drainage and utilising ditches is also likely to be a 'cost-saving' measure, though I would guess it wouldn't be over the long term, given problems (and thus costs) caused by flooding and knock-on effects of undrained pools of water (ice damage to roads, skidding/aquaplaining causing accidents, etc).

Adjusting steering for the camber of the road - Andrew-T

The wheel alignment has be done at various points on the Astra, and is never really much out, and if I let go off the wheel while driving along, both cars will keep going mostly straight with the wheel tilted slightly to the right, there's not a dramatic pull to the left.

If the car drives straight ahead 'unattended', road camber cannot be having much effect on the car. Any 'off-centre' at the wheel must be from the geometry. Tracking adjustment by the garage will not necessarily centre the steering wheel - unless you ask the fitter to do that for you.

Adjusting steering for the camber of the road - Bilboman

There is a history of RHD cars having to undergo steering/suspension tweaks because of the more pronounced camber on British roads, whereas on the Continent roads tend to be flatter with fewer (or different) drainage issues and solutions, such as deeper nearside or central ditches. From memory the early Renault Scenic and Vauxhall Vectra "B" (?) had to be modified.

Adjusting steering for the camber of the road - Big John

I thought I had this issue with my old mkI Octavia from new - with a slight right bias needed on some roads. I even asked the dealer at the time. However when I drove for the first time in France on the other side of the road - yup slight left bias needed on some roads. It was clearly just the suspension geometry following the camber of the road.

It clearly varies car to car. I do not have the same "feature" with my current Skoda Superb II.

Adjusting steering for the camber of the road - maurice28

So for peace of mind I'm going to have the wheel alignment checked. I spoke to the local Kwik Fit, who have always been good, and they said they wouldn't be able to do it because of the ADAS potentially needing calibrating and it would have to go back to the dealer.

There are other places locally that seem to ADAS recalibration but, with this being a new (lease) car, would it have to go back to Hyundai? Or can independent places do the job to manufacturer standard?