I've had this ANNOYING problem ever since I got my CL about 12 months ago...

Here is a brief overview of the condition:

- Car pulls to the left, and has to be compensated by a 15 degree steering wheel turn to the right

- Doesn’t ALWAYS pull to the left, when I go on a straight road, and adjust my steering wheel properly, the car goes straight (although the steering wheel is still at a 15 degree angle to the right)

- When I go on a road which is lower on the left hand side (driver’s side) the problem is amplified, and there is a HARD pull to the left.

- When I go on a road which is lower on the right hand side (passenger’s side), the car usually drive’s straight with no problems.

- I verified the steering wheel when the car is IDLING, and the steering wheel is straight when the wheels are straight, it’s only when I start driving that I have to correct the streering wheel alignment.

- I’ve started noticing a smell of burnt rubber on the rear right wheel (passenger side). I’m not sure if it’s burnt rubber or something else, or if it has to do anything with the problem.

I’ve had my car alignment done 4 times, and it hasn’t solved the problem. What should I be looking for???

Any help would be appreciated.

 

I have the same problem, but not to that extent. I have had my car aligned 3 times and it still does it. As for the burnt rubber, chances are its not your tires. The only way you would be able to smell that is if they are wearing away very quickly(2 days time) and I dont think thats the case.

 

Tire pressure?

 

My car pulls right. I'd check your tire pressure, cuz if one is lower than the other it would pull. Smell could be brakes

 

I checked tire pressure, and all is good... I was thinking that the smell in the rear of the car (outside) could be either brakes or a wheel bearing, but I'm not sure, it really smells like burnt rubber.

Anyways, I'm going to get it aligned ONE LAST time, and if the problem persists, I'm getting rid of the car. I have no choice. I'm not enjoying my car WHATSOEVER with such a problem.

 

If you have all ready had it aligned 4 times one more won't do anything. First I would check tire pressure and wear. Then rotate them. It might be your tires, brakes grabbing, or your car might of been wrecked and your frame is bent, which is putting your whole car in a bind while pulling it to the angles of the road. You can get a perfect computer alignment with a bent frame because it only aligns the four tires in a straight line while your whole car is out of wack. Run a CarFax on it if you have only had it 12 months used.

 

I verified my car's title on carfax a while ago, and there were no problems whatsoever.

But the bent frame possibility could make sense. How would I go about finding out if my frame is bent?

Also, if my rear wheels were misaligned, could that cause some sort of pulling problem?

 

Yea, Car Fax only knows what was reported. I would take it to an auto body collision place and tell them what is happening. Most auto mechanics don't know what to look for with body- frame alignments. It could be your whole front end suspension or rear end is crooked. Someone may of hit something hard enough or ran off the road into a ditch and moved the suspension under the car and not fixed it. That way no body damage done, it is all to your undercarrage. This would be the only thing I could think of.

 

check all your ball joints, wheel bearings and tie rod ends... if any of these are bad your car wont stay aligned for very long.

If thats not it and you have to have the frame checked, most better auto body shops have frame machines to check what kind of shape its in.

 

I've looked into something like this. first thing I found was that lots of these cars were built with the steering wheel out of alignment. I have a great dealer and they tried several times to make it right. can't tell you how many alignments I've had.

second thing was that the stock tires didn't wear well at all. had to steer instead of tracking in a straight line. noticed a huge difference last year when I put arctic alpins on for winter and suddenly tracked amazingly well. night and day difference.

so now I'm looking for recommendations for summer tires that track really well. anyone have experience with yoko avs db?

 

Have you tried rotating the tires? If not, swap the front tires (only if they are non-directional) and see if the pulling problem follows the tires.

If your frame is straight, you could have a bad tire. I have had several cars with bad tires act like there is an alignment problem. The tire may look fine, but the problem is internal.

Also, I don't believe that you would be able to notice a 15degree wheel movement by looking at the front wheels when the car is not moving. Find a flat road, rotate the tires in different positions and retest on same road. Don’t forget to take good notes.

My bet is that if the frame is straight, you have a bad tire (or 2).

Don't give up yet! Good lucK.

 

Thanks for the vote of encouragement... I thought at first it was the tires, so I got myself 4 brand new tires, still the same problem... then I checked the rim, there was a silightly bent rim, so I got a new rim, still the same problem. I'm going in about 20 minutes, to re-get alligned. I hit a serious pothole a few months back, so maybe it made things worst. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, that maybe the alignment "expert" will be able to figure it out... I sure hope so, I really like the car, it just doesn't feel right when I'm driving it.

 

I had a sim. problem when I bought my car from a dealer. The car was an "off-lease" car and the dealer put the cheapest tires on it. After replacing the tires with new firehawks the problem went away. Before putting the new firehawks on I rotated the tires and this helped .

Good Luck

 

Just came back from the alignment place, and the guy corrected my problem with his eyes closed. The left wheel was out of alignment, and he simply adjusted it, and now it feels like day and night. My car drives much much better, BUT it doesn't handle the way I'd like it too, so the springs and shocks will be coming in soon. Thanks for everyone's help.