Why is this rear wheel not aligned with the frame?

Question

My LBS sold me a new wheel.  I put on the new wheel.  I'd go back to the LBS, but I'm afraid that I live far away from them.  Alas, I'm now having this problem:

As you can see, the wheel is quite not aligned to the frame.  This is a picture of either side:

and

I had to use cone wrenches to remove a spacer (?) (metal ring of some sort) or there was no possible way the wheel was going on, at least that's what I thought at the time; it's base was too long for the frame.  Is there something wrong or is this just the wrong size of wheel?

Swifty · Answer

One visible issue is the quick release skewer spring on the drive side. See how it is visibly stuck in the drop out, where it shouldn't be. This means it is facing the wrong way round, so you need to remove the wheel, swap the spring(s) round the right way and reinsert the wheel. They are conical, and both 'point' inwards to the centre of the wheel.
Such a little error can cause a noticeable skew of the wheel, so I would think this will solve the problem. Note how the tyre is skewed off from the bike centre line.
As Nathan notes, removing that spacer will have had an effect on the wheel dish. Check the spacing of the frame and the wheel hub width (O.L.D.). I'm not sure if the wheel was too wide originally or if the spring originally caused the problem you were trying to fix. You'll either need to replace the spacer, or re-dish the wheel to get things just right.

Why is this rear wheel not aligned with the frame?

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