bhamg

I'm curious if anyone has had a similar experience to mine. I'm told that many M-B's will drift to the right even with "perfect" alignment. Well mine is the opposite, even after a meticulously thorough alignment (caster and toe-in were mildly out of spec, nothing extreme) at the dealer with an MB rep there who consulted throughout and OK'd parts replacement just to be on the safe side. Hands off the wheel, my car will slowly drift left even on crowned road surfaces where I would expect it to go right. My guess is the Pirelli's might be the issue but if anyone has any additional thoughts please feel free to weigh in.

FlyC63

Mine is the same way! Only 1200 mi on the car. I thought it was the Fwy
as it slopes to the left on the fast lane. On the normal city street it drives
straight. Let see what others have to say.

hjlim88

Mine does this too! But I think this is due to my driving style as I drive with my left hand and usually place my left hand on the steering wheel, where the controls are, not the handle. So there is more weight on the left side. When I drive with my right hand, I drift to the right!

bhamg

I've tested my car multiple times this way:

I choose a new asphalt surface, visibly crowned and sloping to the right, such as the newly repaved stretches of the 405.
I center the car/steering wheel to go straight in the middle of the lane and drive hands off.
Every time the car will be over the adjacent lane marker to the left within 400 yards.

I'll speak with service shortly and report back on the next step(s).

patboyy

Look...i am from aus, MY09, mine C63 pulls to the left quite heavily...i booked in to redo the alignments, but that took me three days, and they still cant do it...they said i is because the camber and there is a pin in the camber caused the problem (i dnt know what the hell he was talking abt, and i dnt think that is the truth) but MB service admit that it is a common problem in C63, and only C63s. every week they will have bookins for c63 to do alignment.

yesterday, they bookin my car again and said to me, some guy from MB aus come and will adjust the car manually, but today they still cant fix it 100 percent...now i have to wait until tomorrow...

i know it must be cuased by camber angels, but i did not look at the car, i m not sure...and i do know the camber is AMG made, and they are for racing purpose so it is pretty hard to adjust compares to normal, but shoudnt b that hard...it seems mine is a extrem case...

(ZO)

C63 camber angle is fix and cannot be adjust useless you can a camber adjustment kit form K-Mac which is a Sydney base company, the kit cost around AUD $300.

REDSRT

I thought it was only my car. My car does the same EXACT thing. WTF?

Merc63

Mine pulls to the left slightly too.

bhamg

My dealer wants to realign the car - presumably to put it mildly out of spec w/o destroying tire life - to take a stab at eliminating the leftward tendancy. Not too wild about the proposed solution but what else to do?

rantarC63

I had this problem at 7,000 miles and the dealer first realigned the car to no avail and then replaced the front tires which they said were delaminating. Car was better but not perfect until now (10,000 mi.) as it started pulling more and more. Yesterday, I swapped the tires from side to side and this seems to have reduced the amount of pull somewhat. I think it has a lot to do with the junk Pirelli's.

Bigdot

not to be rude.

do you weigh a lot?

bhamg

Are you asking me? If so, I'm fairly normal, 6-2, 207.

bigbodybeeenz

Mine pulled to the right REALLY badly. I got the alignment done, still the same. Very frustrating.

patboyy

after two days....my car pulls to left again...not as bad as b4...but still......AR!!!!! i gonna phone them up and let the service manager talk to the dealer principle and give me a extended warranty on the alignment and a result!!!

sikvald

Same for me, after I installed the H&R springs it started to pull to the right. The car got a couple of mm higher on one side maybee thats the problem, VERY annoying!

bhamg

I contacted "technical" at AMG to pick their brains as it is their front end. They were nice enough to get back to me with the following very explicit words of advice (paraphrased):

"Get an alignment done so that you know the values are well within spec and do not monkey with it further...do not attempt to eliminate the condition by adjusting alignment away from proper spec."

So I am now looking to tires as a contributing factor and will discuss it with the service manager next week when I go for my limited slip fluid change.

jjb03

Guys, this is an easy fix. My car did the same after 2 alignments.
Get under the front of the car and adjust the tie rod ends yourself.
Work out which way your car pulls , loosen the locknuts on the tierods and turn the tierods to suit. Once you get under the car you will see what i mean.
Its pretty basic mechanics.
But be warned -a quarter turn on a tierod ia alot, probably enough to fix your problems.
Whatever you do on one side - replicate on the other.

bhamg

Thx, I'll ask my tech on Tues. I came up with this today after a search:

STEADY PULL

This is a condition where the vehicle continually pulls or drifts to one side while traveling straight. The driver typically has to maintain steady pressure on the steering wheel to keep the vehicle on the road. Possible causes include:

Uneven camber side-to-side. Too much cross-camber can make a vehicle pull or lead towards the side that has the most (positive) camber or away from the side that has the least (negative) camber. The underlying cause may be a bent strut or mislocated strut tower, a bent spindle, collapsed bushing, weak or broken spring, or a shifted crossmember or engine cradle. Check SAI and the included angle to see if these are in or out of specs to diagnose the problem. Also check ride height. Correct by replacing worn or damaged parts, correcting location of strut tower, repositioning engine cradle, and/or reducing cross-camber to half a degree or less by readjusting camber to specifications.

Uneven caster side-to-side. Too much cross-caster can make a vehicle pull or lead towards the side that has the least (negative) caster. The underlying cause may be a bent strut, spindle or mislocated strut tower. Correct by replacing damaged part, correcting location of strut tower, and/or reducing cross-caster to half a degree or less by resetting caster to specifications.

Rear axle steer. The front wheels are with alignment specifications but the vehicle pulls to one side. The underlying cause may be rear toe out of specifications, a bent rear axle, chassis misalignment or a stackup of assembly tolerances in the chassis causing rear axle misalignment. Measure and compare the wheelbase on both sides, check for the presence of a thrust angle, and/or measure individual rear toe. Correct by realigning the rear axle or rear toe, or by performing a thrust angle alignment.

Brake drag. The pull is constant to one side and may get worse with the application of the brakes. Raise the vehicle and spin each wheel by hand to check for excessive drag. Possible causes include caliper sticking, frozen or sticking piston in caliper, overfilled fluid reservoir in master cylinder (does not allow caliper pistons to retract when brakes are released), weak drum brake return springs, misadjusted drum brakes, misadjusted parking brake, misadjusted parking brake pedal switch (creates residual pressure in the master cylinder to cause drag). Readjust or repair brakes as required.
NOTE: If the pull only occurs when the brakes are applied, the problem may be unequal braking not a dragging caliper or misalignment. The vehicle will pull towards the side with the stronger and away from the side with the weaker or inoperative front brake. Uneven braking can be caused by a sticking floating caliper, a frozen caliper piston, the use of different grades or brands of brake linings side-to-side, fluid leaks, or contaminated linings on one side (by brake fluid or grease). Correct by repairing brakes as required. Other causes may include worn or loose control arm bushings or strut rod bushings that allow alignment changes when braking, so be sure to inspect these components before blaming the brakes.

Low tire pressure. The vehicle will lead towards the side with low pressure in the front tire. Correct by inflating tires to recommended pressure.

Mismatched tires side-to-side. The vehicle will pull or lead towards the side that offers the greatest rolling resistance. Compare tire sizes, tread wear, tread styles and patterns, also brands.

Uneven. If one side of the tread is worn more than the other, the tire develops conicity. The effect is much the same as camber, causing the tire to roll towards the side which is worn most. The uneven wear may be the result of incorrect camber, toe and/or failure to rotate the tires periodically to even out wear. If rotating the tires side-to-side reverses the direction of the pull, the tires need to be replaced.

Ply steer. A manufacturing defect in the way the belts are positioned inside the tire causes the tire to generate a lateral (sideways) force as the tire rolls. To test for this condition, drive the vehicle forward, then in reverse. If the direction of the drift or pull changes, one or more tires at at fault. Rotating the tires front-to-rear or crosswise may help cancel out the ply steer, otherwise tire replacement is necessary to correct the condition.

Unbalanced power assist. Seal leaks in the control valve or off-center steering may route hydraulic pressure into one side or the other of the boost cylinder piston causing the steering to want to turn itself to one side. This can be checked by raising the wheels with the engine running to see if the wheels turn to one side by themselves. No changwould indicate another cause, but if the pull suddenly vanishes an imbalance in the system is to blame. The control valve assembly or steering gear needs to be replaced.

Excessive road crown. Roads are raised or crowned in the middle so rain water will run off to the outside for proper drainage. But the slight slope to the pavement can often make a vehicle drift to the outside. This can be countered by adding a little positive camber and/or negative caster to the left front wheel , but this should only be done if the vehicle spends most of its time on crowned roads and the customer demands a fix.

RedG

Do you have the specs from your last alignment trial?

bhamg

Yes, everything F&R was well within "Target Data." After correction the differences between front R & L were minimal:

Camber - 0.06'
Caster - 0.16'
Toe - (pressed) 0.00'

RedG

If left side caster was lower positive then the right side there is one likely reason for a left leading drift. The other possibility of course is tires, crossing the front tires is typically the best course of action here. If the tire on the left front has a radial pull the car may also lead to the left. *IF* it is a tire related issue that left leading pull/drift should 1) go away or 2) produce a right leading drift/pull.