"Steering" behavior while stopped?

[Surtr]

I've been having some steering issues (pulling to the left, steering wheel shaking...in case it's relevant...found a bent rim today) that I've been working on lately. Today when my dad was messing around with it he said the steering wasn't acting right while just sitting there and that it could mean a bad steering pump. My brother-in-law agreed and said it could be some spring somewhere (they're both truck mechanics, but know nothing specific about my car). What it's doing is, say if you turn it counter-clockwise, when you let go it'll turn a little bit clockwise or vise versa. I always assumed this was normal, due to the tension put on the tires. Apparently with power steering it should not move at all after you let go. Is this true? If so, what could be causing it to turn back?

[Wh33lhop]

You're good. A little bit of steering return is normal--especially if you've got your foot on the brakes. These guys are just used to heavily assisted truck steering.

[Surtr]

I did notice that his Camry doesn't do it. But the steering on that car seems really, really light. My wife's New Beetle does the same thing as mine, just not as much :-\.

[Wh33lhop]

Like I said, you're fine. Be happy you have communicative steering and not some over-assisted floating box.

[Holland]

Like I said, you're fine. Be happy you have communicative steering and not some over-assisted floating box.

Seriously, Better yet just ditch it, I'll be doing that very soon.

[Burnera]

OP is correct more or less about tension in the tires/etc.

The camry, trucks, audis, and most american cars from the 50's have way overpowered power steering racks. It's what people talk about when they say "feels like the steering wheel isn't connected to anything".