XC60 - best way to center steering wheel when travelling straight

Hey thanks for the reply! Doing a bit more searching the pictures I'm finding show that the steering wheel has a hex interface rather than a spline, see picture

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Looking under the car, the amount of available adjustment doesn't look right. The wheels are aligned per manufacturers specs according to the tyre shop which seems right because the car is driving great. There is zero thread showing on one of the rack ends (as you'd expect if the shop said they ran out of adjustment), however on the other side there's only about 10mm of thread showing, see pictures. It does not seem right, I would expect that there should be a lot more travel available that just 10mm.

Is it possible that an incorrect part has been fitted at some point that is a little longer that needed for an xc60??

Thanks

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Hey no worries, Its out very little, maybe 2 or 3 degrees.

Yes there's a joint at the bottom of the column as it disappears through the car into the engine bay. I'll try to loosen it and see if there's any rotation available there.

If anybody with an XC60 might have a moment and could photograph or give me some indication of how much thread is showing on the rack ends in a wheel aligned car that would be appreciated!

Thanks

Yes this is true, in this case the wheel alignment shop was not able to align per manufacturer spec with the steering wheel straight ahead, they run out of rack end thread on the passenger side before the steering wheel is straight ahead.

Thanks!

Solution:

The previous owner fitted a Volvo v60/xc70 front control arm to the LHS of my XC60. These control arms are shorter by about 13mm and move the wheel in towards the centre of the car.

The XC60 steers from the rear of the hub so the 13mm reduction causes the wheel to have a huge amount of toe in. To get the car to go straight ahead, all of the adjustment in the tie rod end is used.

I've just fitted a new pair of genuine Volvo XC60 control arms. Fairly straight forward job. With the old pair and new pair sitting on the floor it was fairly easy to spot the problem.

I have a wheel alignment booked for Monday.