Ochdx

I have a 1995 Civic DX, and I had alignment done a while ago, sometime around August. Everything was perfect, until one night, back around October I hit a huge pothole, and immediately after my steering wheel became off-center. I had to hold it like 5 degrees to the left in order to go straight, although the car didnt pull to any direction, otherwords, if I moved the wheel 5 degrees to the left and let go of it, the car would go in a perfectly straight line, without pulling to any side, given of course that the pavement is smooth.

So I went back to the alignment shop and told them what happened. The guy put my car onto the alignment machine, and to my surprise the wheel alignment was perfect, just the steering wheel was off-center. Due to this fact, the guy didnt even mess with the wheel alignment, he just put the steering wheel on center, and then messed with something in the suspension until his computer said that the steering wheel was centered. The whole operation took a lot less time than a whole alignment as well.

So I hopped back into my car, and went for a ride. To my disappointment I found that after this alignment I had to hold the steering wheel about 5 degrees to the RIGHT for the car to go straight. As before, the car didnt pull to any side, and would go perfectly straight if i let go of the steering wheel while its turned about 5 degrees to the right.

I didn't go back to the alignment shop to complain, because I figured that something in the suspension must be bent and causing this abnormality. I saw the computer reading, which showed that alignment was perfect, and I saw that the steering wheel was perfectly centered during adjustment, so I figured that it must be a mechanical problem, and not alignment.

Since then (october 2003) I drove good 6,000-7,000 miles, with this steering issue. I regularly check tire wear, and the tires are wear is perfectly even, so I'm quite sure the alignment is fine.

However, the car now is showing its age, and I am about to take it to a fairly major repair. Both axles are knocking, passenged side wheel hub is making funny noise, power steering fluid is leaking. So I figure if I am gonna spend a bunch of money on this repair, which is gonna require alignment after it anyway, I might as well try and see what is causing the steering wheel to be off-center and fix it, if its a critical problem, or just inexpensive to fix.

What should I look into? I know basic things about civic suspension, I dont know jack about rack and pinion system, the steering columnt, etc. What do you guys think is causing this problem?

Also, on a side not, whats up with civic's axles? I replaced them on my civic about 4 years ago, when it had about 75,000 on it, and now it had 118,000 and they are shot again. Shouldn't they last a little longer?