2009 Clubman. Had new tires put on and an alignment performed on Friday. All work was done by a certified MINI dealer. Here's the question: The steering wheel is slightly off center. I'm a bit **** when it comes to this stuff, so bear with me. The car tracks straight and the service assoc. tells me the car checked out in terms of camber, toe, etc. Other than the annoyance factor, could this cause long-term issues with tire wear? I could go back and have it re-done, but my dealer is over an hour away, plus my bet is the wheel will be clocked in the opposite direction after the re-re-align. Thanks.

 

The alignment is likely spot-on, but the tech that did it probably didn't have the wheel exactly centered when he adjusted the tie-rods. It will most likely have nothing to do with the tire wear.

I actually have my wheel slightly to the left because it fits where I put my hands better when I rest my elbow on the door edge (which is most of the time).

But its an easy fix -- should take only minutes if you are back that way anyway.

 

I woulda said similar, it's likely everything's fine, just that the wheel's not centered.

Time was, you'd not get your car back like this, the alignment tech / shop wouldn't send them out with the steering wheel not centered. If only to make sure customers wouldn't perceive it as something not right ("geez, I just had this aligned, now the wheel is cockeyed") and they'd have re-work anyway.

I've been couple of places in the last couple of years where "centering" the steering wheel is an additional charge over/above the alignment. Geez.

 

Thanks for the replies. Spoke with MINI and they said pretty much the same thing about the tire wear, and said the "clear view" was off. A fancy term for a straight wheel, I guess.