New tyres and clean alignment but pulling to left
Discussion
Hi,
Recently purchased a used Macan GTS from an 'official' Porsche dealership. Before purchasing, they put four new Michelin tyres on it an alignment, which shows everything within tolerance (green on a hunter machine).
However, the car seems to have a pull to the left. On roads that slope left, it seems to drift left (not massively unexpected). On roads that slope right, it seems to drift right. On roads that are (or at least appear to be) flat, it tends to drift left. In case it's relevant, the front tyres are 265/45 R20s with 295/40 R20s at the rear.
Presumably on a perfectly flat, straight road, I should be able to let go of the steering wheel for a few seconds, with the car continuing in a straight line?
The OPC has offered to pay for an investigation but I do not want to 'waste' the goodwill if it's all in my head and/or this is how these cars are supposed to drive... The other half seems to think I'm making it up!
Any ideas?
Recently purchased a used Macan GTS from an 'official' Porsche dealership. Before purchasing, they put four new Michelin tyres on it an alignment, which shows everything within tolerance (green on a hunter machine).
However, the car seems to have a pull to the left. On roads that slope left, it seems to drift left (not massively unexpected). On roads that slope right, it seems to drift right. On roads that are (or at least appear to be) flat, it tends to drift left. In case it's relevant, the front tyres are 265/45 R20s with 295/40 R20s at the rear.
Presumably on a perfectly flat, straight road, I should be able to let go of the steering wheel for a few seconds, with the car continuing in a straight line?
The OPC has offered to pay for an investigation but I do not want to 'waste' the goodwill if it's all in my head and/or this is how these cars are supposed to drive... The other half seems to think I'm making it up!
Any ideas?
Edited by Considered on Friday 5th September 13:49
Hunter machine is only as good as the operator, it isn’t fool proof. I had an all green printout, my car was worse than before the alignment, and needed a good 10 degrees of lock in the opposite direction. They failed twice to correct it, Hunter print out all green again. I had to take it elsewhere to return it back to normal.
Try a big car park, early in the morning or after hours. Drive in different directions. If it always pulls to the left, you know something is up.
Try a big car park, early in the morning or after hours. Drive in different directions. If it always pulls to the left, you know something is up.
TBH I felt similar on both Mrs DG's Macan and my Challenger... both were different.
- Challenger was uneven brake-pad wear. TBF this was accompanied by some judder at c.50mph, new pads and discs problem resolved
- Macan was... well weirdly I don't know, it either just went away or I got used to it
- Challenger was uneven brake-pad wear. TBF this was accompanied by some judder at c.50mph, new pads and discs problem resolved
- Macan was... well weirdly I don't know, it either just went away or I got used to it
I had a Merc that, rather than drifting, would roll on more lock depending on which way the camber went. Supposedly Merc designed it like that so you wouldn't run into oncoming traffic if you fell asleep.
On the Merc it could be corrected with offset camber bolts but I never had that done as it wore the tyres evenly and I, as I was doing at lot of miles in it, I didn't want to less it up. However it was a bit of pain to have to hold it ever so slightly to the right on motorway journeys.
Wife has had various VW Group cars and you could take your hands off for a while and they'd run straight. Then her Tiguan had new rear shocks and the dealer was adamant that wouldn't affect things but it was never the same after that, and the more they messed with it the worse it got until we got rid of it.
Are the tyres on the Macan directional? If not, it might be worth swapping the fronts over - sometimes tyres can have runout, they're supposed to be marked when new with coloured bands,
On the Merc it could be corrected with offset camber bolts but I never had that done as it wore the tyres evenly and I, as I was doing at lot of miles in it, I didn't want to less it up. However it was a bit of pain to have to hold it ever so slightly to the right on motorway journeys.
Wife has had various VW Group cars and you could take your hands off for a while and they'd run straight. Then her Tiguan had new rear shocks and the dealer was adamant that wouldn't affect things but it was never the same after that, and the more they messed with it the worse it got until we got rid of it.
Are the tyres on the Macan directional? If not, it might be worth swapping the fronts over - sometimes tyres can have runout, they're supposed to be marked when new with coloured bands,
DodgyGeezer said:
TBH I felt similar on both Mrs DG's Macan and my Challenger... both were different.
- Challenger was uneven brake-pad wear. TBF this was accompanied by some judder at c.50mph, new pads and discs problem resolved
- Macan was... well weirdly I don't know, it either just went away or I got used to it
Uneven brake pad wear caused the car to pull to one side on driving? How unusual. How does uneven wear cause that?- Challenger was uneven brake-pad wear. TBF this was accompanied by some judder at c.50mph, new pads and discs problem resolved
- Macan was... well weirdly I don't know, it either just went away or I got used to it
Panamax said:
Presumably the uneven wear was the effect, not the cause, the cause having been a sticking caliper. May well have pulled to one side when braking.
Right, my thoughts also. It seemed implied from the post that it was the uneven brake pad wear that caused the steering issues which I couldn't work out logistically why/how that would happen.Thought I'd update this thread
I gave up with Porsche in the end (who tried to carry out another alignment but made no difference whatsoever -- not even sure if they did anything!) and took it to Center Gravity in Birmingham. Long story short, Porsche completely messed up the alignment. It was -- despite the glossy green print out -- massively out of spec on the front end and required adjustments all over to get it right.
A bit concerning that Porsche could get it so wrong.
The car now drives a LOT better. If anybody reads this thread because they're having similar issues, I would recommend biting the bullet and getting CG to have a look if you re still having issues.
Not cheap but £575 well spent -- had I left the issue unresolved it was likely I'd have needed a new set of front tyres mid next year with the irregular wear that was being encountered.
I gave up with Porsche in the end (who tried to carry out another alignment but made no difference whatsoever -- not even sure if they did anything!) and took it to Center Gravity in Birmingham. Long story short, Porsche completely messed up the alignment. It was -- despite the glossy green print out -- massively out of spec on the front end and required adjustments all over to get it right.
A bit concerning that Porsche could get it so wrong.
The car now drives a LOT better. If anybody reads this thread because they're having similar issues, I would recommend biting the bullet and getting CG to have a look if you re still having issues.
Not cheap but £575 well spent -- had I left the issue unresolved it was likely I'd have needed a new set of front tyres mid next year with the irregular wear that was being encountered.
Edited by Considered on Friday 17th October 15:54
Edited by Considered on Friday 17th October 15:54
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