Mudguards

[Radar]

Warning retrobike induced OCD calamitous woes...
My winter road bike has permanent mudguards fitted. The front guard skews to the left at the front, i.e. not square and true to the forks and wheel. Which in the grand scale of things really isn't that important. But it bugs the pants off me. If it is possible to true it i would like to do so.

When really knackered and i look down at my front wheel i momentarily doubletake and wonder which way to steer, front of mudguard goes one way the wheel the other. Not helped by fact guard is fatter and blacker than tyre.

So how to alleviate this trauma and make it true? Slacken brake nut and adjust guard, then tighten? Or is it the stays that hold the back of the guard? (My reasoning being whole guard isn't true, and stay tension is twisting guard into correct position at rear?)

Or is this one of those 'that's just how it is' moments?

 

[mechanical_vandal]

Can be a combination of how it's being held at the crown and the stays. Unlikely that adjusting at just one point will fix it.

Try loosening everything but not so much the guard falls off the bike, tighten at the crown first and work backwards.

All this presumes that guard is actually straight. It could have picked up a twist in packaging/storage and that's mean the preceding instructions will do little to help.