Car pulls to the right, but alignment is OK.

[Leor604]

My S4 has developed a slight pull to the right so I thought I needed an alignment. Have never hit a big pothole or curb so I doubt anything is bent.

Took it into my dealer for an alignment and they called me into the back to show me the results. NOTHING was out of spec. Camber, caster and toe all bang on, not even slightly out of alignment. Tech spoke to me about road crown, tramlining, tires etc and I told him I knew what those felt like, and I have the same pull on both winter and summer wheels/tires. He took it for a spin and agrees that it does pull to the right.

He noticed my aftermarket sways (Eurocode) and suggested sway bar preload could cause a pull. Before I take it in and have a shop undo and check the end links, can anyone confirm that preload could cause a pull? Any other suggestions?

Thanks.

Edit: Alignment was $150 and no re-calibration of any sensors or dynamic steering was required (as has been posted in another thread)

[lmmike]

You may need to go to a specialty alignment shop. Sometimes tires have "X" amount lbs of pull in them. A true alignment shop can test each tire and put them on your car so the "lbs of pull" is equal, or close to it on each side. When I just put on my new tires they did the same thing. When I had my shop check the tires, two of the had 19 lbs of pull, one had 2 lbs, and one had 1 lb. They put the tires on the car so the lbs of pull are pretty equal. Now my car drives straight. A specialty shop could also make sure your sways are on correctly, though I doubt that's the problem. Good Luck! Mac

[Leor604]

I'll try rotating tires left to right to see if it makes any difference at all. I did not think it was tires though as I had the same slight pull with my winters. Thanks for the suggestions.

Anyone else?

[S4_Phantom]

I have the same problem with my car. Pulls to the right all the time. I complained to Audi and they gave me a free alignment a while back. Didn't help much as the car still pulls. They said the tire wear looks even and the tires looked good. Tire pressures are all the same. Can't figure it out either. It's very annoying to constantly correct the steering. I'm really interested in what you find out.

[rick b]

Mine did this to even after I had the dealer do the alignment. Lived with it for a while but then couldn't take it anymore so I took it to redline speed Worx. They have one of those fancy hunter hawk eye elite systems and everything has been perfect since.

Rick b.

[Leor604]

Well, I swapped the front wheels left - right and the problem *seems* to be fixed. Just did 15 mins around the neighborhood and it is definitely better. With the rutted city streets, I always get a little tramlining so hard to tell if it is perfect.

I'm doing a 6 hr run down to Oregon this weekend (2 track days ) so the freeway run will tell the tale. I'll report back.

Can't explain why my winters caused the same problem. Both sets of tires are Michelins.

Thanks, lmmike, for the suggestion.

[Massey]

I have a set of michelins and they do the exact same thing! Bought control arms and the shop worked on my alignment for hours! Still no good said tires were the fault taking them in weds to replace all 4 tires.......... So we'll see what happens

[premek]

hey guys I know it sounds dumb but isnt it because most of the roads are made roof type for water draining LOL so your car will pull to the right and if you try in opposite traffic lane it will pull to the left

[B G 8er]

+1 I noticed a slight pull to the right since I rotated my Mich Pilot SS's. Am thinking about an alignment. Not sure that will help.

[Leor604]

I have a set of michelins and they do the exact same thing! Bought control arms and the shop worked on my alignment for hours! Still no good said tires were the fault taking them in weds to replace all 4 tires.......... So we'll see what happens

Let us know how this works out.

[Leor604]

+1 I noticed a slight pull to the right since I rotated my Mich Pilot SS's. Am thinking about an alignment. Not sure that will help.

Try swapping fronts left - right and see if that corrects it. If if does, then you are likely experiencing the same situation as me and an alignment likely won't help.

Are we seeing some inconsitency in PSS's???

[Leor604]

Another clue that something is not quite right with my PSS's.

TPMS went off this morning. Checked pressures and everything is OK so my guess is that there is a difference in the diameters of the tires. There must be enough of a difference that, when I swapped the fronts left - right, it fooled the TPMS into thinking one tire was going down.

More investigation required.

[CorneliusRox]

Alignment shops are a joke IMO. Go in there with specific settings you want and dont let it be off. If one side is on the far side of in spec and the other is on the other far side, it'll ride like crap.

there is a good thread about alignment info in the b7 section worth reading.

[Massey]

Let us know how this works out.

No help at all swapped out all 4! With brand new PSS. Then I got a whole new set of wheels/tires and still has a slight pull to right

[Massey]

Mine did this to even after I had the dealer do the alignment. Lived with it for a while but then couldn't take it anymore so I took it to redline speed Worx. They have one of those fancy hunter hawk eye elite systems and everything has been perfect since.

Rick b.

Do you by chance know what the culprit was for the pull to the right?? Heard some Audis are having this from the line.....?

Thanks

[Leor604]

Alignment shops are a joke IMO. Go in there with specific settings you want and dont let it be off. If one side is on the far side of in spec and the other is on the other far side, it'll ride like crap.

there is a good thread about alignment info in the b7 section worth reading.

The pointers were so close to the middle of the range that they would have been taking it out of spec with any adjustments. Maybe this is what needs to be done though. Custom toe specs to get the gar to go straight?

[rick b]

Do you by chance know what the culprit was for the pull to the right?? Heard some Audis are having this from the line.....?

Thanks

Not sure but your guess is as good as mine.

Rick b.

[CorneliusRox]

The pointers were so close to the middle of the range that they would have been taking it out of spec with any adjustments. Maybe this is what needs to be done though. Custom toe specs to get the gar to go straight?

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...ight=alignment

[Leor604]

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...ight=alignment

Great info. Thx.

Still not sure if it is an alignment issue, though. ASSUMING tires are consistent, swapping fronts left-right *shouldn't* change the way the car tracks. I'm hitting the highway now for a 6 hour run down to Oregon so that will give me a good chance to confirm if my tire swap fixed my problem. Of course, next time I rotate, who knows what will happen.

[ASDBS]

keep us posted!

[Infra]

Great info. Thx.

Still not sure if it is an alignment issue, though. ASSUMING tires are consistent, swapping fronts left-right *shouldn't* change the way the car tracks. I'm hitting the highway now for a 6 hour run down to Oregon so that will give me a good chance to confirm if my tire swap fixed my problem. Of course, next time I rotate, who knows what will happen.

You probably have tire pull, as others have said.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete....jsp?techid=12

If you have a bad pull, you must correct it with steering while driving. This is as bad as having your car out of alignment! One of your tires will be neutral-to-toe out, and the other will be severely toe-in; essentially dragging it sideways down the highway. This could eat up the inside of your tire rather quickly.

If you wear out the tire, even if it had a manufacturing defect, you won't be able to get it replaced. I would recommend you rotate your tires until your car drives as straight as possible, even if some of the tires must be rotating against the recommended direction of rotation. It's better than wearing one side down to threads.

[AWDLover]

I had the same issue. Took it to the dealership and they said it's the slope of the roads. I knew it was pulling more than it should so had them do an alignment. Still pulled to the right. Rotated tires..etc Finally I realized that my steering wheel in the neutral position was ever so slightly biased to the left, so when driving and holding it center, it made the car go slightly right. Had the steering wheel realigned and it fixed my problem.

Probably not a common issue, but something to check.

[drob23]

I had the same issue. Took it to the dealership and they said it's the slope of the roads. I knew it was pulling more than it should so had them do an alignment. Still pulled to the right. Rotated tires..etc Finally I realized that my steering wheel in the neutral position was ever so slightly biased to the left, so when driving and holding it center, it made the car go slightly right. Had the steering wheel realigned and it fixed my problem.

Probably not a common issue, but something to check.

Isn't centering the steering wheel the first step in doing an alignment? I thought toe was set with the tie rods...whose displacement is a function of rack position.

[saxon]

Isn't centering the steering wheel the first step in doing an alignment? I thought toe was set with the tie rods...whose displacement is a function of rack position.

correct, but not all shops set it straight , and most shops have a primative tool to hold it that doesnt do much.

[Luna's S4]

Maybe trammeling? I'm guessing wide tires on uneven surfaces. No?

[skiracerblah]

I had the same problem a few months ago. Write up here:

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...ighlight=tires

[SwankPeRFection]

I had the same problem a few months ago. Write up here:

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...ighlight=tires

You said "had" but that thread has no resolution post. Wtf was the fix or did I miss it cuz of I'm reading the thread on my phone?

[Jango3434]

Put wife/husband or GF/BF on a diet... problem solved

[skiracerblah]

You said "had" but that thread has no resolution post. Wtf was the fix or did I miss it cuz of I'm reading the thread on my phone?

Thread updated. Here's what i wrote:

ok, here's how they fixed it. Firestone tried rotating all different combinations, but it still pulled in some direction. Firestone couldn't determine which tire was causing the problem. Tirerack called the local Firestone and spoke with them. Firestone said to send 4 brand new tires. Tirerack was not willing to play, so they shipped 2 new tires. After i got the 2 new tires installed on the first try, the car was driving straight again. Tirerack reimbursed me for the additional labor for the 2 tires by giving me a refund for the $$ amount of the labor.

[marco12]

roads are sloped towards to the shoulders with the peak being in the middle of the road; to drain water. cars will pull slightly to the right because of this.

[Leor604]

My update is similar to skiracerblah's. My pull is/was definitely tire related. I had a significant pull in the summer and when I put my winters on in November, car magically went straight. I didn't mark tire locations on the car, so I am guessing my winter tires were not on the same corners as they were the previous winter when I still had a slight pull.

Thanks for your input Luna's S4 and marco 12, but I am very well aware of tramlining and road crowning, and that is not the cause in this case. I have one stretch of road on my commute where the road crown drops off to the LEFT side, and my car still pulled right when I had my PSS on. When I put my winters on, it pulled to the left on that stretch, as it should.

I'm putting my PSS back on tomorrow (for track day next weekend). The track is counter clockwise so I'm going to put the tire with the best shoulder on the front right. I'll report how it feels.

[westwest888]

The swaybar preload is probably doing it. That has to be set to 0 with your weight in the passenger seat.

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[westwest888]

Er, driver's seat.

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[Moto One]

Just some of the things that can cause a (perfect alignment) pull.
1. Spring going flat. Or with Coil Overs, corner weight is off.
2, Shock going bad or losing pressure
3. Sway bar not Zeroed
4. Tire stagger. Minor difference in Circumference.
5. Suspension bushing denier different. (this will not show up in a static load alignment).
If all else fails; Blame it on Global Warming.

Mark.

[Usa]

Mine pulls to the left a little bit, did an alignment and there were minimal changes needed.. still feel it sometimes (kinda used to it by now), stock everything suspension.

[PsYkHoTiK]

Lol if I see you pulling to one direction when we're caravanning down, I'll know why... :p

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[Csuda]

My steering wheel has a slight angle to the left, they say they can't fix that either...due to this it also pulls a little to the left

[Leor604]

Appreciate everyone's input as to possible causes, but I've pretty much concluded it is tire related.

Put my PSS back on today. The two tires I put on the front are extremely close in wear and, guess what, no pull to the right (at least in the five miles I drove home). One of my tires has a noticeably more worn outside shoulder, and that tire is on the back now. Like I said previously, I didn't mark the wheels when I took them off, but if I had to guess I would say that worn tire was previously on the front.

The other clue is that, even though pressures were correct, I got a red TPMS warning saying left rear right was underinflated. I'll try to put a tape around the tires to measure the circumference and report back.

Seems the S4 may be very sensitive to tire wear/rolling diameter differences.

[Pedestrian_A]

Sorry for bumping this old thread.
I picked up my S4 3 weeks ago and the car pulls to the right since day 1. Brought the car to another Audi service centre instead of the one I bought the car from and this service centre performed the alignment and corrected both rear toe which they were off. I picked up the car and drove it for another week and the car still pulls to the right. Switching to dynamic mode helps a bit but driving in comfort or auto modes make the car pulls to the right once I let my foot off the throttle. All tires have 41psi and I rotated the tires front and back myself but the problem is still there. Any idea on what is wrong with the car? It seems like the steering rack is loose causing the car pulls once I left off the throttle.

[bombdiggity]

Has the car ever been wrecked?