is it normal for steering wheel to be slightly askew?

[100571]

Hi, I swapped my 4 spoke for a 3 spoke off of a boxter. It looks and feels so much better. My question is:

Is it normal for the wheel to be slightly off center when driving straight. I placed the wheel on using the original post markings and it was tilted right. I then adjusted to the left and it now stays slightly to the left. There does not seem to be a clear and defined center point as the teeth on the post are just to the right or left of center.

Comments/advise.

Thanks.

[RayGT3]

Need to get the steering wheel centered up at next alignment.

[100571]

Thanks for the reply, Ray. Let me elaborate a little and then please let me know if your previous advice still holds. When I removed the 4 spoke from my 993 I noticed that it already had markings on it for determining the center position. 1 yellow paint dot on the bottom center of the post. Red marking on the sides of the 24mm nut and a yellow dot on the top center of the nut, as well. Prior to swapping steering wheels, the car ran straight and the wheel (with airbag on) also appeared centered. However; the wheel was positioned slightly left of the yellow dot. When I put the 3 spoke on in the same position the wheel was slightly angled to the right. I then moved the wheel what appeared to be one tooth over to the right to have it match up with the yellow dot that was on there. After a brief spin around the block, I noticed that the 3 spoke was now angled to the left almost the same degree as when it was to the right and the car is running fairly straight. Hope this isn't too confusing. Thanks again.

Need to get the steering wheel centered up at next alignment.

[RayGT3]

I guess what you're saying is in order to get the wheel to sit straight when the car is going straight it would need to be positioned some where in between available spline positions. This is a result of the two wheels being assembled by the factory slightly differently. It doesn't take much of a difference considering the small center diameter and the much larger actual wheel diameter, a small relative change on the spline will result in a big change on the outer portion of the wheel. I experienced this as I changed to the alcantara wheel and also noticed a difference of a couple of degrees off center. I just lived with it till my next alignment, informed the folks doing the work of the issue and all was set straight again at that time. You didn't do anything wrong, just the way it is.