pulling right
Thread Starter
Super Member
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 917
Likes: 86
pulling right
Guys, have a question.
My car now has about 50 miles, and I need to go to Houston tomorrow (about 400 miles round trip). Car is pulling to the right, but have not had a chance to take it in for service yet. Would you recommend that I take the car on the trip. I can take my old car, but would like to take the E500 to see how it handles on the highways. Won't have another highway trip for a while, but I'm concerned about the effect on the tires of having it out of alignment...
Opinions please..
My car now has about 50 miles, and I need to go to Houston tomorrow (about 400 miles round trip). Car is pulling to the right, but have not had a chance to take it in for service yet. Would you recommend that I take the car on the trip. I can take my old car, but would like to take the E500 to see how it handles on the highways. Won't have another highway trip for a while, but I'm concerned about the effect on the tires of having it out of alignment...
Opinions please..
Member
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 113
Likes: 1
From: La Jolla, CA
13 E550 Cabriolet/19 SL550
400 miles isn't going to damage anything. I initially had the same issue with my E500. Service discovered it was aligned improperly from the factory and re-aligned it. That fixed the issue.
Senior Member
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 304
Likes: 0
From: San Clemente, CA
2003 E-500
Suggest you check the tire pressures all around and set them to the recommended pressures listed on the fuel filler door. I had this problem on my first E-500 when it was new but it went away when I set the pressures to the recommended. The front tire pressures were initially both high and uneven.
Before taking my test drive in my replacement E-500 in August, I found the pressures to again be incorrect. I set them to the recommended and have never had the problem.
You may still need an alignment but high, uneven pressures can lead to a pull.
Before taking my test drive in my replacement E-500 in August, I found the pressures to again be incorrect. I set them to the recommended and have never had the problem.
You may still need an alignment but high, uneven pressures can lead to a pull.
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 1,398
Likes: 7
definetely check tire pressures.
in fact, often times its very hard to get a 100% perfect alignment. and if you have just a very slight drift with hands off the steering wheel (flat road), you can work it out by increasing 2-3 PSI in the front tire in the direction of the drift. many times this is better then making trip afer trip for an alignment adjustment for a very minor drift, that cannot be worked out no matter how many times they do it.
in fact, often times its very hard to get a 100% perfect alignment. and if you have just a very slight drift with hands off the steering wheel (flat road), you can work it out by increasing 2-3 PSI in the front tire in the direction of the drift. many times this is better then making trip afer trip for an alignment adjustment for a very minor drift, that cannot be worked out no matter how many times they do it.
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Thread Starter
Super Member
Joined: Sep 2002
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Well at this point, I'm not a happy camper. It has been 7 days to fix 4 problems:
1. pulling to the right
2. glovebox door unaligned
3. parktronic led sensors on right are dim
4. compartment under passenger seat does not open.
Well on day 1-2, they said they were busy and did not get to everything, kept the car over the weekend, upto day 4, needed to order parts, would be fixed on day 5. On day 5, somebody forgot to order the parts on day 4, so now it will be day 6. On day 6, parts still not in, day 7. On day 7, supposedly everything is fixed except the glovebox, parts still not in, will arrive day 8....being frustrated I picked up the car, and said I would bring it back. Upon driving the car,
1. It still pulls to the right
2. parktronic leds are still dim
3. glovebox not fixed because of part missing
So after 7 days, the only thing that they fixed is the compartment under the passenger seat, which probably should have taken 20 mins to fix. Left a message for service advisor, did not get a call back...
Can someone post their resolutions to the pulling right problem? I think there were multiple resolutions including changing tires, just want to get feedback again on that..
1. pulling to the right
2. glovebox door unaligned
3. parktronic led sensors on right are dim
4. compartment under passenger seat does not open.
Well on day 1-2, they said they were busy and did not get to everything, kept the car over the weekend, upto day 4, needed to order parts, would be fixed on day 5. On day 5, somebody forgot to order the parts on day 4, so now it will be day 6. On day 6, parts still not in, day 7. On day 7, supposedly everything is fixed except the glovebox, parts still not in, will arrive day 8....being frustrated I picked up the car, and said I would bring it back. Upon driving the car,
1. It still pulls to the right
2. parktronic leds are still dim
3. glovebox not fixed because of part missing
So after 7 days, the only thing that they fixed is the compartment under the passenger seat, which probably should have taken 20 mins to fix. Left a message for service advisor, did not get a call back...
Can someone post their resolutions to the pulling right problem? I think there were multiple resolutions including changing tires, just want to get feedback again on that..
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Member
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 201
Likes: 0
From: Chino Hills, CA
2007 E63, 2007 BMW 335i Coupe & 1991 Honda Accord
Abhansali, I am sorry to hear about your issues. Hope they are all resolved to your satisfaction soon so you can continue to enjoy your new car. On the issue of pulling to the right, I have that too but have noticed it doesn't happen always. On some roads and freeways, it happens almost instantly when I let go of the steering and on others, I am able to drive in straight for half a mile or more without the drift. I have the tire pressure monitor and thus know the psi is pretty even at 26/32 cold. I know this issue has been posted quite a few times and wonder if some of the drifts could be due to road conditions.
Member
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 107
Likes: 0
From: Florida
SL500
We have same issue on 2004 SL. Seems to also be related to the amount of fuel in tank and whether or not a passenger is in the car. May have something to due with suspension geometry either caster or camber ?
Newbie
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 24
Likes: 0
From: Santa Clarita, CA
'03 E500
My saga
I inherited the same problem on my used (16k miles) ’03 E500. I took it back to the dealer who put it up on the alignment rack and performed the necessary. I received the vehicle back with no improvement. I returned the vehicle for another attempt at correcting the pull. The dealer replaced the camber bolts. At first the alignment seemed to be corrected, but shortly the pull returned.
I returned to the dealer a third time and requested that the service director drive the vehicle. During our road test, he proceeded to tell me that the German cars are really set up for right handed drivers and a slight pull is common - Hmmmm, I could have sworn I had the ‘Sucker’ tattoo removed from forehead. I replied, “Funny, my BMW doesn’t pull”. After picking it up the third time, I found that the dealer replaced all four tires and the pull had vanished.
I suspect the alignment; camber was never correct to begin with and wore the tires unevenly.
Best of luck on resolving your issue.
I returned to the dealer a third time and requested that the service director drive the vehicle. During our road test, he proceeded to tell me that the German cars are really set up for right handed drivers and a slight pull is common - Hmmmm, I could have sworn I had the ‘Sucker’ tattoo removed from forehead. I replied, “Funny, my BMW doesn’t pull”. After picking it up the third time, I found that the dealer replaced all four tires and the pull had vanished.
I suspect the alignment; camber was never correct to begin with and wore the tires unevenly.
Best of luck on resolving your issue.
Thread Starter
Super Member
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 917
Likes: 86
Service advisor called me around 6:45pm. Actually she is the mgr sitting in for the normal SA that is out sick. But anyway, she said they did the alignment, so they will want to check the tires. Also on the parktronic, turns out they did not get that part in either, so actually nothing was done on that.
The tires also seem to pick up a lot of road noise. Also, when I let go of the wheel on the highway, the steering wheel actually a little off center and to the right. If I hold the wheel centered, then the car drives straight. In other cars I've driven out of alignment, the wheel is always straight, the car goes to the left or right, and if you want the car to go straight you over compenstate by holding the wheel off center to the correct direction. That's why I think it is something with the tires or suspension geometry.
I don't think it is any of the other things posted, I have driven with 2 and 4 people in the car, drove 6 hrs to Houston and back to Austin on variety of different roads and with full tank and almost empty tank, car has constantly pulled. Also uneven tire wear itself seems unlikely since it only has 420mi.
The tires also seem to pick up a lot of road noise. Also, when I let go of the wheel on the highway, the steering wheel actually a little off center and to the right. If I hold the wheel centered, then the car drives straight. In other cars I've driven out of alignment, the wheel is always straight, the car goes to the left or right, and if you want the car to go straight you over compenstate by holding the wheel off center to the correct direction. That's why I think it is something with the tires or suspension geometry.
I don't think it is any of the other things posted, I have driven with 2 and 4 people in the car, drove 6 hrs to Houston and back to Austin on variety of different roads and with full tank and almost empty tank, car has constantly pulled. Also uneven tire wear itself seems unlikely since it only has 420mi.
