Pull to the right/left?

[gATE]

I just had a quick question. I'm going to take it into the dealer anyway but I wanted to know what you guys thought.

When driving in a straight line on flat pavement the steering wheel is turned slightly to the right. Straightening the wheel sends me left. I had the car aligned 2 weeks ago but since then the dealer replaced a tire under warranty. I didn't notice the problem after the alignment but I drive about 6 miles a day on average (work at home). In addition to that when I brake the steering wheel pulls left slightly. It doesn't jerk the wheel but if I take my hands off the wheel I can see it pulling left when I brake. Obviously worse if braking from high speeds. Any ideas?


Thanks,
gATE

[-Ray-]

Anytime an alignment is done, the wheel could be off slightly. The tech should have adjusted it prior to signing off on the job.
There are many reasons why a pull when braking occurs. Don't let go of the wheel. :)

[todds87ss]

If you point out the steering wheel to them during alignment, it shoud be taken care of.

[gATE]

Hmm, it's at the dealer now. I had the car aligned 2 weeks ago and the wheel was straight. This is a new problem.

[igneon]

A week or two after I got my car, I noticed it was pulling left or right, and it seemed to be dependent on speed. The service tech said he didn't notice anything wrong, but the suspension is a lot tighter than what I was used to and it follows the road much better. I figured out that I did much of my low speed driving on two lane highways, where the crown of the road would pull the suspension to the right. I drove fast in the left lane on the highway, so the crown of the road there would pull me left. So it turns out my speed dependent alignment problem was just an effect of the road surface. Now it's possible that your car has the correct alignment now, so you feel the pulling to the right when cruising and the pulling to the left when braking (I notice this a bit when the road surface gets really bumpy near intersections).

[gATE]

A week or two after I got my car, I noticed it was pulling left or right, and it seemed to be dependent on speed. The service tech said he didn't notice anything wrong, but the suspension is a lot tighter than what I was used to and it follows the road much better. I figured out that I did much of my low speed driving on two lane highways, where the crown of the road would pull the suspension to the right. I drove fast in the left lane on the highway, so the crown of the road there would pull me left. So it turns out my speed dependent alignment problem was just an effect of the road surface. Now it's possible that your car has the correct alignment now, so you feel the pulling to the right when cruising and the pulling to the left when braking (I notice this a bit when the road surface gets really bumpy near intersections).

Thanks. I added 19" wheels to the setup (had 18" from factory) and the dealer said they "tramline" more and they're blaming it on the road surface too. We'll see. I'm a little hesitant to trust them because the car has 2000 miles on it and its been in the shop 3 times already for front end work. I've had the car 45 days and driven it about 15. Ugh.


gATE