Took my car into a JLR dealer for a full alignment today. Car drives so much better now, no squirming around feels planted - the steering is slightly off center now though.

Am going to take it back into them - curious as to what they might have done wrong during the alignment to cause this though?

 

They failed to center and secure the steering wheel. Take it to a real alignment shop.

 

Well I paid $200 for it so they will have to do it over until they get it right.

Does drive really well now though, 3 out of 4 wheels were significantly out of spec - my right rear tire had been completely destroyed compared to the others.

 

I finally got time to take the car back into the dealer to look at the off center steering.

The service advisor drove it and agreed it was cranked to the left a couple of degrees - just enough to be annoying. They put it on the alignment machine twice and took it on 2 test drives (I had the proof from my dashcam).

When I collected it they said everything was within spec and that Jaguar state there is some tolerance for the steering to be slightly off center (which I am sure is BS), however they made a couple of adjustments and it should be better.

It wasn't... there was no difference.

Am going to take it back again, why are they finding it hard to get the alignment perfect combined with having the steering wheel dead center??

Oh.. they also replaced the peeling orange start button under warranty.

 

Bring your situation to the attention of the Service Director/Service Manager and have him or her look at your vehicle. If they cannot get the wheel centred, they should refund your money.

 

I recall someone here with the same complaint - dealer couldn't center the steering wheel. Don't recall how it was resolved.

 

With the electronic steering, can't the wheel simply be "zeroed" without respect to any of the alignment settings?

 

A true alignment shop > a dealer any day.

 

"Insanity Is Doing the Same Thing Over and Over Again and Expecting Different Results" (misattributed to Albert Einstein). I would suggest taking the car to a different Jag dealer or to a real alignment specialist.




You can, but you shouldn't have to. You can pull the steering wheel and twist one spline to the right or left when remounting, but you could then be just as far off in the other direction. The entirety of the alignment may well be in spec, but they have to center the wheel when the car is on the alignment machine.

 

Center the steering wheel first and secure it to the seat or something fixed so it doesn’t move during the alignment. That’s the way it should be done.

 

Thta could be it, it wasn’t centered when they initially did the alignment. It’s jist so fractionally off most people probably wouldn’t care but I have OCD and can tell !

Unhinged - I hear you, take it to a specialist and I may well und up having to, however I paid $200 for the dealer to perform the alignment and would expect that they can perform it satisfactorily. This will be the final time I take it back, if it’s srill the same will request a refund.