Alignment is Perfect, STILL Pulling to the Left

[Aggmeister2010]

Hi everyone,

My 2016.5 S is pulling to the left despite a perfect alignment readout and an inspection of the suspension components confirming that all bushings are in good shape.

If I hold the steering wheel to the right a few degrees, I can keep it straight. The pull gets worse under acceleration.

Here is my alignment read out, verified at two shops:

Given that the suspension is in good shape and alignment is basically spot on, I only have two remaining ideas that would give me a pull this noticeable:

1) I do have a bit of cross caster - but is that really enough for a pretty substantial pull??
2) Perhaps I have an issue with one of my tires that is causing this behavior?

I've been throwing parts at this for a bit, and did a 'toe shift' to the right a couple weeks back to see if that would solve the problem.....and frankly, it did make it track better, but I felt like it was a little more squirrely because technically the toe values were no longer equal.

I can swap my tires side to side and see if it goes away - but am I missing something else? I'm almost to the point of being stumped.

 

[SDRick]

It’s rare but it could be a bias in the tire. Try swapping sides or another set.

 

[Aggmeister2010]

It’s rare but it could be a bias in the tire. Try swapping sides or another set.

That's what I'm thinking at this point. I have Michelin PS4s, and I did read on a forum where there were cases of bias recently...but I don't know how valid that actually is.

The only other thing I can think of is the cross caster, because anything more than 0.3 is technically out of spec, but IMO cross camber is a much bigger factor in pull than caster.

 

[Aggmeister2010]

Well folks, another update.

I swapped the wheels left-to-right today to see if there's a tire bias.........nope.

So, I'm assuming that cross caster is my problem. The car pulls to the left normally, and under acceleration, and under decceleration.

Back to the alignment shop!

 

[ngng]

For a street car I think you want a slight positive bias on the right front.

 

[Aggmeister2010]

For a street car I think you want a slight positive bias on the right front.

I agree. I was always under the impression that cross CAMBER caused more problems than cross caster, but a delta of 0.6 is outside Tesla spec and a good 1/4 of hub to hub distance….guess that’s more significant than I thought.

 

[ngng]

I agree. I was always under the impression that cross CAMBER caused more problems than cross caster, but a delta of 0.6 is outside Tesla spec and a good 1/4 of hub to hub distance….guess that’s more significant than I thought.

Good luck, hope you are able to solve the issue!

 

[SCharged]

I have a similar issue on.my 2016.5, mine was a slight pull to the left with a straight steering wheel, or a slightly off centered steering wheel with straight drive. Eventually, I gave up and settled with a slightly off centered steering wheel.

 

[ngng]

I have a similar issue on.my 2016.5, mine was a slight pull to the left with a straight steering wheel, or a slightly off centered steering wheel with straight drive. Eventually, I gave up and settled with a slightly off centered steering wheel.

That sounds more like somebody adjusted your toe, but didn't center your steering wheel prior to the adjustment.

 

[cytranic]

My alignment is so far off my FSD doesn't prompt me for my hands on the wheel!

 

[D Unit]

I had a similar issue when I installed my rear adjustable camber arms in my garage and took it to the alignment shop afterwards. Alignment shop swore everything was aligned correctly but the steering wheel still pulled to the right. They finally gave up and so when I got home, I loosened up by rear camber arms, torque them to spec WHILE THE CAR WAS UNDER LOAD, and it fixed my issue. Good luck.

 

[ngng]

I had a similar issue when I installed my rear adjustable camber arms in my garage and took it to the alignment shop afterwards. Alignment shop swore everything was aligned correctly but the steering wheel still pulled to the right. They finally gave up and so when I got home, I loosened up by rear camber arms, torque them to spec WHILE THE CAR WAS UNDER LOAD, and it fixed my issue. Good luck.

Please, nobody do this. You basically just set a random camber and toe value on the corner you messed with.

 

[Aggmeister2010]

Please, nobody do this. You basically just set a random camber and toe value on the corner you messed with.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds like he's saying that originally he torqued down the inner and outer bolt while the suspension was hanging, thus twisting the bushings.....and when he got under the car while it was sitting at drive height he loosened and re-tightened to make sure it wasn't twisted. Standard procedure, no?

 

[ngng]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds like he's saying that originally he torqued down the inner and outer bolt while the suspension was hanging, thus twisting the bushings.....and when he got under the car while it was sitting at drive height he loosened and re-tightened to make sure it wasn't twisted. Standard procedure, no?

I could be wrong too, depending what OP adjusted. However, if you loosen the hardware on the camber arms both the camber (and toe, as a result) will change. Assuming the alignment is doing the job on a rack, the suspension is going to be loaded as well. So, not quite sure why anything was binding up?

 

[Aggmeister2010]

I could be wrong too, depending what OP adjusted. However, if you loosen the hardware on the camber arms both the camber (and toe, as a result) will change. Assuming the alignment is doing the job on a rack, the suspension is going to be loaded as well. So, not quite sure why anything was binding up?

Yeah it is weird that he had a significant pull from a twisted bushing. Usually it just impacts the life of the bushing, not the alignment.

 

[BostonBurley]

Yeah it is weird that he had a significant pull from a twisted bushing. Usually it just impacts the life of the bushing, not the alignment.

It was a coincidence. Twisted bushing doesn’t impact alignment.

 

[BostonBurley]

Ironic. Same for me. 2012 with all new suspension, air struts, brakes etc. worse than it’s ever been. And I’ve paid for two alignments since the install… i had the second place do it again bc on a ride along the car clearly drifted toward oncoming traffic even against the slope of the road.
My caster is similar but my left caster is 3.1* and not “green”. Caster is not adjustable and no two alignment machines are identical, unfortunately. Hunter themselves claim you could align a vehicle on a rack, back it off and pull it back up and start over and you will not get identical figures. They primarily blame this on cars.

 

[Aggmeister2010]

Ironic. Same for me. 2012 with all new suspension, air struts, brakes etc. worse than it’s ever been. And I’ve paid for two alignments since the install… i had the second place do it again bc on a ride along the car clearly drifted toward oncoming traffic even against the slope of the road.
My caster is similar but my left caster is 3.1* and not “green”. Caster is not adjustable and no two alignment machines are identical, unfortunately. Hunter themselves claim you could align a vehicle on a rack, back it off and pull it back up and start over and you will not get identical figures. They primarily blame this on cars.

Caster is adjustable via the lower fore arms. At this point, I'm just going to let the shop see if they can figure it out. Eliminating cross caster might help some, might also just need a toe shift to the right, who knows.

 

[besnova]

I have a similar issue where the car pulls to the right. I needed new tires so I went to Tesla to get new PS4S, balancing and wheel alignment. Still pulls to the right when I let go of the steering wheel. I reached out to them and paid top dollar ($200) for a wheel alignment at Tesla for this to still be an issue. 40K miles on the car, brand new tires. Speaking of tires, I specifically asked for and paid for the PS4S (written in invoice), and they installed the PS4. LOL

 

[Aggmeister2010]

Folks,

Found the culprit.

The rear bushings connecting the control arm to the knuckle on BOTH SIDES was very torn, allowing for movement. I can move it with my finger, I can only imagine how much each side was moving under heavy torque.