Steering off center

[AR97Pathfinder]

Hello everyone,

 

On my 97 SE Pathfinder 4x4, the steering wheel settles to the right when I let go of it driving down a straight road. Approximately around the 1 o clock position. Holding the wheel in the center, the vehicle tracks perfectly straight. 

 

I replaced the rack and pinion about 4 years ago using ACDelco brand, and I centered the rack. I’m not sure if it has been like this since, but I only noticed this now. The bushings are Nissan oem, and there is no play along those points or in the rack itself. 
 

I do notice that the front passenger side wheel appears to be toed to the right when the driver side seems to be straight. I’m not sure if that’s part of it, but I would think that would throw the entire alignment off when driving. If I hold the steering wheel straight, the car drives straight.

 

 Any thoughts?

[r50loverPR]

I'm pretty sure just an allignment at a tire shop will fix your issue. My girlfriends sentra did the same so I took it to get alligned and the steering wheel went back to normal.

[Slartibartfast]

If it's possible this started recently, I'd check for anything that might've loosened up. A friend of mine had the camber adjusters on his Blazer loosen up and slip while he was driving. I don't remember whether it pulled, but I'd imagine it did, given how off the camber was. At the tire real quick, too.

 

You can confirm whether it's toed out with a tape measure. Don't trust the tread blocks to be lined up, I did that once and chased my tail for hours because the treads weren't quite straight. I use angle iron up against the sidewalls, propped up on jackstands (to get them away from the bulge at the bottom of the tire), and measure across. You can measure front and back, but there's always something in the way in the back, so I measure in front, and then the diameter of the tire in front of that.

 

An alignment shop should be able to figure it out pretty quick, if you have a competent one in your area.

[AR97Pathfinder]

On 8/22/2025 at 9:37 PM, Slartibartfast said:

If it's possible this started recently, I'd check for anything that might've loosened up. A friend of mine had the camber adjusters on his Blazer loosen up and slip while he was driving. I don't remember whether it pulled, but I'd imagine it did, given how off the camber was. At the tire real quick, too.

 

You can confirm whether it's toed out with a tape measure. Don't trust the tread blocks to be lined up, I did that once and chased my tail for hours because the treads weren't quite straight. I use angle iron up against the sidewalls, propped up on jackstands (to get them away from the bulge at the bottom of the tire), and measure across. You can measure front and back, but there's always something in the way in the back, so I measure in front, and then the diameter of the tire in front of that.

 

An alignment shop should be able to figure it out pretty quick, if you have a competent one in your area.

Thank you! I'll check this out, I did install camber bolts when I lifted the truck an inch 2 years ago. 

[AR97Pathfinder]

On 8/22/2025 at 10:05 AM, r50loverPR said:

I'm pretty sure just an allignment at a tire shop will fix your issue. My girlfriends sentra did the same so I took it to get alligned and the steering wheel went back to normal.

I'm purchasing new tires soon so I'll have it re-aligned. It tracks straight when I hold the steering wheel in the center, but as soon as I let go, the wheel settles to the right and the vehicle goes in that direction.