expl0rer

Long story short, I had an alignment done as part of a collision repair. The collision was low impact but enough to warrant the right rear control arms being replaced. After the alignment, the car drives as I was used to it before that.

The steering wheel is off by 2-3 degrees when the car is tracking straight as an arrow. The way I hold the steering wheel really exaggerates its off-center position. The alignment was performed by a Mazda dealer (the insurance has approved collision centers and this dealer is part of that network). That dealer suggested loosening the wheel and recentering it, rather than performing another alignment with the steering wheel centered. I thought that this might mess with the steering angle sensor, but I was then thinking that the sensor would already be off unless they recalibrated it. I should recalibrate it anyway.

I like how the car drives. Based on the numbers, the right front will need some TLC by the looks of it. For those interested in having a look at the specs, I've attached the before/after. I am tempted not to mess with the alignment setup.

Your thoughts?

eric_in_sd

As I think you observed, the steering angle sensor is a steering column angle sensor and has nothing to do with the wheel itself. The sensor recalibration is straightforward.

Pulling the wheel off and rotating it over one spline is trivial.