moomeh

the car still pulls to the right. i took it in for a wheel alignment and told them that it pulls to the right and that i don't think only a wheel alignment will fix it. so they say that the cause is the contours on the road. wtf. they're retarded. making an appointment again and they better fix it. anybody else get a dumbazz excuse like that? also, they just happen to not know how to turn off the "no phone" message.

R4ND0M_AX3

If you drive on the left side of the road it will likely pull to the left. This is because of the crown in the road. Find a long road in the middle of nowhere and try driving down the center then see if it still pulls.

hmn1

after one week of owning the car, I had to bring it in for an alignment too. It was pulling to the left. They did say it was off, and fixed it. But it still pulls. I think R4ND0M_AX3 is right. My car pulls to the left on the left lane, and right on the right lane. I have yet found a straight, flat road that I can go highway speed to test. But it's not that bad now, I just assume it's the road and live it with it.

moomeh

it the other cars i drive around with this never happens. i did also try it on a flat surface (parking lot). no lanes at all and still pulls to the right.

Harris

I heard a story of a C32 pulling to the right from day 1 after delivery: the owner took the car back and realigned TWICE, didnt solve anything. Then the dealer rotate the tires from back to front, that seems to solve 80% of the problem!! Still, the owner is not very happy, then they throw in a set of Michelin Pilot Sport, wala....believe it or not, problem solved!!

Actually, I dont believe it, but when you're in such a deparate situation, it might worth a try.

And if everything fails, your best solution is to pump up the right tire pressure significantly.

Hope this helps!! Good luck.

jrct9454

There are only two possiblities:

-Tires: a quick right-left rotation of the fronts should suffice to see if anything changes.

-Alignment: Our 02 C240 pulled to the right, and I noted this before we took delivery. It took two tries, but the dealer's most skilled tech solved the problem EVEN THOUGH IT WAS TECHNICALLY WITHIN SPEC by being creative with the front caster. After installing the caster adjustment kit [every dealer should have the parts], he cranked in a little extra caster on the right. This causes the car to microscopically resist changes in direction to the right a bit more than the left - he also optimized all of the other adjustments. Voila - it now tracks straight as an arrow.

Do not accept lame arguments from anyone that the car should drift in either direction on a straight, level road. There are only the two possiblities listed above - even if the car's alignment specs are technically within the envelope, that doesn't mean a good tech can't solve your problem. Insist on talking directly to the alignment tech, or make it very clear to the service advisor what needs to be done. Most dealers will try the tire swap if the car is within alignment spec - just don't settle for a no-solution answer.

mctwin2kman

There is no such thing as a level road. The roads are crowned so that the water does not stand on them instead it rolls off the sides. This is what causes the pull. If you fix it as stated above that is all good, but realize it will wear your tires unevenly as well as couse steering problems as stated above. Thsi may fix the percieved problem but is not the correct thing to do. Roads are crowned and the wider the tire on the vehicle the more the vehicle will pull due to the increase in surface area contacting the road surface. if you want the pull to go away then get narrow tread tires. You will lose the handling but your pull will be gone. I am almost positive that all complaining about this issue most likely have the 17 inch wheel package, since the 16's are narrower and will not pull as noticeably.

moomeh

nope i got 16s.

moomeh

also, tried this on the left side of the road today. the pull took me back into the right lane.

i'm taking it in in a week or so to fix this prob. it isn't a gradual pull. after alignment it was gradual, but then after a day or so driving is just nudges you over to the right.

20FHK02

My car pulled to the right on delivery too. After the first attempt to fix the problem it slightly pulled to the left! After the second attempt it was still pulling and then the dealer started to give me that road crown BS. I then took the car to another dealer and got it fixed perfect!

AND: FINALLY I AM A SUPER MEMBER!!

jlm

I don't buy this concept that the road crown is causing the pulling. Darn near every road in the country is crowned to some degree, it's basic road construction. Here in Portland, people drive around with studded snow tires six months of the year for the one or two days during the year when the bridges are icy. As a result, all the highways have these ridiculous ruts down them which allows me to drive my non-power steering VW down the road without bothering to steer (don't try this at home, kids!) and makes driving in the rain-filled ruts on rainy days (all winter, over here) REAL fun! While the coupe does weave some in the ruts, on the other roads in town it tracks effortlessly.

It has been reported by others that as a cost-saving measure on the coupe the standard adjustments for the front end alignment were deleted, replaced with non-adjustable parts of supposedly nominal settings. Given the number of complaints on cars pulling to one side or the other, including some lemon law suits, I am convinced that MB's cost saving approach was, shall we say, less than optimal.

I have no complaints about my car, but if I did I would insist that they install the full alignment kit, and set the car dead-on for alignment spec before accepting some lame excuse for pulling. Alternatively, tell them to take you out in an SL55 and prove it pulls as much as the coupe!

jlm

Outland

News flash for you...he has a sedan, not a coupe. And the steering geometry is the same on both the sedan and the coupe. I'd estimate that 50% of the 'pulling' problems are related to the crowning of the roads and wide, low profile tires. I used to have a Jeep Cherokee that tracked perfectly with the stock tires and wheels....when I put on a set of 16" BBS wheels with low profile tires, the thing was an absolute bear to drive. Same thing happened when I put 17's on my Saturn coupe. If you lower a car, the effect seems to get worse, at least in my experience.

My coupe pulls a little sometimes- sometimes its left, sometimes right- depending on the road I'm on. Most of the time, its neutral...but I can tell that its road related. Here's the kicker---In the winter when I had the 16" snows on, the car never pulled on the same roads I'm driving now.

moomeh

i think i'll do this.

avlis

Same here. I drive over 30 miles each day through highway construction. Since I put the C7's back on, I really have to grip the wheel and keep correcting the car's direction.

mctwin2kman

If you do not believe it is the road crown and wide tires then go test a Viper, Vette, Porsche, or any other vehicle with wider tires than ours and see how you like that. I have driven quite a few vehicles in my life and the wider the tires and lower the profile the more they pull due to the crown. I just put 1000 miles a few weeks ago all highway on mine and yes it pulls slightly but it was not anything that forced two hands on the wheel or me to drive any diferently than I do any other car.

czachari

Thanks

CZ

czachari

My last 2 cars were the following:

2001 740i Sport 18 inch wheels all around, LARGE tires.
No pulling.

1999 M Coupe, 17 inchers all around, low profile,
No pulling.

On my 03 C230K Sedan I have to constantly correct. Sometimes to the right sometimes to the left but mostly I need to correct to the right. I think it's unsafe because if you have to take your eyes off the road for a sec or two ( like this morning when I sneezed really hard ) you end up at the edge of your lane. This is the first car where I had this happen without a reason. The only car I have seen something like this was my 92 MR2 after it had been in an accident and it never tracked straight ever again.


CZ

galaxygrrl

I had this problem. My coupe needed to be aligned 4 times before they got it right. Came out of the factory with this problem. But the dealership finally fixed it.

I heard the crown story too, but please, you know if your car is pulling or not. Take it in somewhere and have them do it right, or take the service manager out on a test drive with you with the place your working with now.

20FHK02

It all depends on luck.

On my first 2 attempts at the original dealership they had the same tech did the job. So nothing was fixed and this hinted me that they probably only have one tech to do the alignment. So I brought it to another dealer, had a different tech of course, he test drove it for a mile (recordered), confirmed the misalignment, and then readjusted it. That's all.