JNOA

This is a continuation of previous Threads. How many of you have a Gen 3 TL that pulls to the right at 60 mph +? The faster I go the worse it is. This will be the fourth time to the dealer in 2 months/1,500 miles since I bought this vehcile new. I've had two alignments (2 different Acura dealers), one new tire installed, one bent right rear control arm replaced (shipping damage), and all tires rebalanced.

The last dealer service response was the pulling to the right is normal for TLs. The loaner TSX they gave me the last time did not pull to the right. Actually the service tech that drove in the car with me said the pulling was unacceptable, but the service manager overruled him and said since another TL they had at the dealerhsip pulled to the right then this is a normal occurance for TLs

I just called Acura customer service in California and they have promised to get the Florida Acura representative involved in my case. The road I'm doing my testing on is a long, flat, newly constructed bridge that is in excellent surface condition.

Within a second or two after releasing my grip on the wheel the cars starts to drift/pull to the right. If I do not correct the direction of the car it would crash into the retaining wall.

Does anyone else accept this as "normal" for a TL?? I don't. My 2002 TL-S did not drift/pull. The loaner TSX did not pull/drift.

Jesstzn

Mine doesn't pull to the right .. at any speed .. none of my cars have.

In fact cars are set to pull just a bit to the left to compensate for the normal crown in the highway. So in other words if the road was 100% flat the car will pull to the left just a bit.

gauravp123

my car pulls slightly to the left but that's because my alignment is off since the day i got the car, now 5 weeks old with 2600 miles on it.

But no my car doesn't pull to the right nor does it progressively worse as I go faster.

RSA_Secure

For further peace of mind, ask your dealer to give you the alignment chart for your car.
-You can go to thrid party alignment shop that have laser wheel alignment.
-Get your wheels balanced.
-Check tire pressure.

TLVR

Yor situation is simply unacceptable. Let those service reps put it in writing that the cars pulling to the right is normal and that nothing can be done. I bet that for the obvious legal reasons they will decline to do so. Maybe mentioning the lemon law will speed things up for you. I would just get more insistent that this gets fixed pronto.Meanwhile it wouldn't hurt to start looking for a good lawyer who specializes in automotive matters. Good luck to you.

JNOA

They already put it in writing that pull to the right is an acceptable operating condition for a TL

Will Y.

No car should pull in any direction with steering wheel straight on a flat road at steady throttle (yes, people, full throttle torque steer is excepted...), regardless of price, manufacturer, etc.
The service tech was right, as you noted from the loaner cars, and the service manager is an idiot- let me know if anyone has heard of a TSB saying "TLs will pull to one side in normal operation..."

You and some other posters had bent control arms which were replaced; have your car's tires, wheels, suspension and attachment points ALL checked again (preferably by another dealer's service department). To make it easier, you may want to adjust the tire pressure and visually inspect the tires/wheels on the rack yourself (incredibly, sometimes techs may not see a bubble in a sidewall or note tire pressure differential is off).
If no other Acura dealer is in your area, see if Acura will pay an Honda (not Acura) dealer or an independent service to check it.

Hope you will be tracking straight and true with one final service department visit!

niander99

Hey buddy, I have been dealing with the EXACT same problem as you for the past 6 months now with my 06 TL 6MT. I have had some of the tires replaced and god knows how many front end alighnments. At this stage, i am completly disgusted with the car. Firestone blames Acura and Acura blames firestone.

Rapid1

there is absolutely no normal driving condition where you would not have a grip on the steering wheel. within a second or two, you could be dead and have killed a number of other people. if you have to release your grip on the wheel for the car to drift or pull, it sounds like the problem is with you. quit wasting people's time...

niander99

He is not wasting peoples time. He is just stating if you take your hands away from the wheel, thats how bad it pulls. The problem is, even when your hands ARE on the wheel, you are constantly fighting the wheel cause it wants to pull to the right. At least that is what I am experiencing

NCRider

I have a similar but slightly different problem. I'm going to the dealership in an hour to get it fixed (crosses fingers).

I've noticed that to remain straight within the lane, I have to turn my steering wheel about 5 degrees to the left. If I put the wheel straight, I'll head into the right lane or off the road in about 50 yards. There's no discernable "pull" to the right.

I do recall hitting a pretty significant pothole last week on the right. A day or two after that is when I noticed the problem.

Hoping I don't have a long drawn out battle that others seem to be having...

ussi

iTrader: (1)

I have had the exact same problem with my 6MT 04 TL, two alignments and 1 set of tires later, its only gotten worse.
I'm getting new rims/tires this month and an alignment so if it doesn't get better I will be pissttttttttt.

niander99

Well, firestone is replacing 2 of my tires again. I do not like those bridestones that come on the car. I think they are JUNK, $300 a piece junk!! If the car still pulls to the right after this, I am taking all 4 of the Junkstones off and putting Coopers on. After all of this through 2 TLs in the past 11 months, I think i will be moving to Lexus the next time..... I love my TLs, but my god the issues I have dealt with.

NCRider

FOLLOWUP

I've noticed when driving that I have to keep my steering wheel about 5 degrees to the left to remain straight, regardless of road crown (except for exceptional crown). When I let go fo the wheel, it returns to 5 degrees left to go straight.

I also notice that it seems to be slightly more difficult to turn the wheel to the right than the left (I may be imagining it, maybe not).

Any ideas??? The dealer did an alignment and all looked pretty good. They mentioned that the left rear tire was slightly out of alignment (still within tolerance) so they corrected that but it made no change to the drive.

HELP!

niander99

Well, there was one time where I had the problem fixed and that was having the tires rotated. Car drove straight as an arrow. Firestone determined it to be defective tires (bad belts) so they ordered me 2 new tires. Well, when the new ones came in, I dont know which tires they replaced, but now the car is back to pulling tot he right again.

huberc

This is happening to me too with an 2006 6MT with the stock Michelin tires. I thought I had it fixed with 1500 miles on the car when they replaced the two front tires, but I just rotated my tires at 12000 miles and the problem reoccured. The car just pulls to the right under any condition, coasting, accel, braking.

I've had my car into the dealer 8 (EIGHT!!!!) times now to get the problem fixed and I still don't have a solid answer from them. The service guy mentioned this morning that it might be a Michenlin problem and I'd have to talk to their warranty people about it, which is absolutely unacceptable.

I don't know what to do and honestly I am getting so sick of the problem I just want to get rid of car.

wildchild_8635

I dont know exactly when the pulling started for me. But Mine pulls to the right a little now. Im on my third set of tires and it pulls. I just got used to it. I know those TECHNICIANS dont know anything. Thats why theyre TECHNICIANS. So I dont waste my time. Time is money, and the time I would waste with my car being in the shop is valuable. But I guess since I never drive straight down the road anyways, its not much of a nuissance. Im a bob and weaver. Anyone whose dealt with Houston traffic knows what I mean.

JNOA

I've had a number of posts on this issue and you all can see my repair issues in the previous posts. I appreciate the very good responses from everyone.

The car has been fixed and the solution to the pulling issue follows below. This was my fifth time back and last. I was ready to give up and file a lemon law case which I could have already done after the 3rd attempt. However, I thought that the Acura TL was the best value out there of any car for the price so I wanted one last attempt.

My dealer, Crown Acura in Clearwater did an outstanding job. From what I understand, they completely loosened the entire suspension from the car; all suspension components in both the front and rear. While they did not remove anything, every suspension component was loosened and then reset to proper factory specs. The complete subframe that holds the tranny and all components was also reset. This was an extensive warranty repair and they had my car for (5) working days.

All I can say is that the car is perfect!! This appears to be the solution at least in my case. No more pulling!! Perhaps in yours. The car now drives straight as an arrow at any speed.

Thus, you need to work with your Acura service department and do not accept anything else.

Again I give accolades to Crown Acura in Clearwater, FL for repairing my new 2006 TL. What is especially noteworthy is that I did not originally purchase the car from them and yet they put 110% effort into getting it correct.

niander99

Hey man, I am in the same boat as you are! I am so sick of the problem and my deal basically told me that I am out of luck. I dont think I will ever buy another Acura after this, but I have never had to good of luck with any car. I think they are all JUNK.

At this stage of the game, I do not know if it is a problem with the tires or the car. Firestone tells me its the car and the dealer tells me its the tires. BAH!

niander99

WOW! I wish my Acura dealer would be like that. They have just basically told me to go to h*ll. If I print this out and take it to them, they will probably just say that this is only one person saying this fixed it. I had to print out the 75 page thread about replacing the tranny fluid to fix the 3rd gear problem before they would even talk to me about it.

kautiongsr

yeah i have a 05 tl i did my own alignment and also did a road force balance on my tires and i still have a pull to the right. i also get the pull harder as speeds go up. this really sucks i talked to the service manager at my acura and he also said that because the car is front wheel drive it tends to pull and acura policy is that if it changes 1 FULL lane then it is a problem within 6 sec. i love my TL but this may be my last ACURA

holybear

My 06 acura TL doesnt sway at all tot he right or left, but if i hit the gas hard on the start it will sway but thats it. lol its supposed 2 tho If that dealership is correct taht the acura TL is supposed to go to the right, it will KILL someone if there not paying attention, no one would purchase the car and the TL would b a big dissapointment, i wouldnt have bought it if it had swayed to the right after 60MPH.

JNOA

Check my post on alignment or pull cure which I posted around June 8th.

huberc

I recently got fed up with the stock tires how much they suck in the 1st place (and them pulling to the left/right constantly after 6 trips to the dealer), so I bought a new set of michelin pilot sport A/S tires. Right from the get go, I am getting this very weird high frequency vibration/noise at 80 through 85 MPH. So I am in the process of sending them back to michelin...as I crossed around 1000 miles on them, i am now noticing that my car is pulling to the left, just like how it was with the crappy OEM tires. I'm getting very fed up with this and am thinking about the lemon law now. Ridiculous.

will never buy another acura ever again.

JNOA

My last trip to the dealer (5th) after complaining to Acura in California resulted in a complete repair of my suspension. Yes its much better and now acceptable. However, I'm still having vibration problems above 80 mph. I'll buy some other brand next time. I look at all these complaints in this forum and then I go to the Nissan ALtima SER forum and they all talk about making their cars faster or better handling, not about constant problems. What does that tell you.

Aznpersuasion

my car is in the shop right now and i have to pay $80.00 for an alignment? does anyone know if i could get that free? lol...

niander99

Hey guys, just an update on my problem. I still got the pulling to the right, even worse now than before since Firestone started rotating the tires again. They want to replce 2 more tires but I havent even gone back because I am just plain sick of it. I guess I will just have to live with a $35K car that pulls to the right (my $18K 2006 Sonata doesnt) but I have the same feelings as the rest of you when it comes to buying another Acura. I feel like I own a damn Chrystler product because this is how Chrystler treated me, but really, are any car dealers worth a damn? Once the factory tires wear down, I am going to try a set of Coopers and see what happens. If that doesnt work, then I guess I am "out of luck" as my Acura dealer told me.

Aznpersuasion

yeah i know what you mean, my dealer told me to bring in m stock tires cause it's wearing out. the sides only the center of the tire is still good, but they wanted to see them so they could do something about it. cause i have the falken drift tires on my car right now on some 19'

JNOA

It may not be the tires. I called Acura Customer service and had my car go in for one last time. The dealer ended up undoing the entire suspension and resetting and retourqueing everything. It was a (5) day repair. But the car has been corrected!!

Aznpersuasion

Well.... since they fixed it for the past 4 and a half hours they finally got it right
~Jason

priggly

I test drove two different TL's and both pulled to the right. I asked the salesman "what gives?" and he told me the pulling was because the cars were demos!?

This odd drivetrain behavior coupled with the many tales of harmonic vibrations, rattles, cheap leather, bad tires, fading dash, etc., etc., etc. convinced me to stay away from Acura and I subsequently bought a Chevy Impala SS. It tracks straight and true, is lightning fast, quiet, handles well, has no rattles or other niggling problems. I could not be happier!

niander99

Well, Firestone has just replaced 2 more of my tires. This makes all 4 factory tires replaced and its still doing the same damn thing. I truly have given up at this point. My dealer has already told me to basically stop bothering them about it because its "torque steer" that causes the car to do it. i give up. I got a friend that wants to buy the car off of me so thats where its going.