P90D drifts to the right, what can it be?

[cousin_IT]

On straight roads my MS drifts to the right. It’s annoying so I:

• Aligned the car
• Fixed the rims (now perfectlh round again)
• Bought new tires
• Replaced all 4 suspension arms
• Aligned again

but to no effect. Any suggestions as of where to look next?

 

[thesmokingman]

Look up the service menu, there should be an offset you can edit, ie. offset on the steering angle. After aligment, the offset needs to be reset.

 

[cousin_IT]

Look up the service menu, there should be an offset you can edit, ie. offset on the steering angle. After aligment, the offset needs to be reset.

This is not available in the service menu in my car. Do I need a toolbox subscription for this?

 

[cousin_IT]

@Gtech Do you have any more suggestions as to where to look for?

 

[tldickerson]

Try having another alignment shop look at it. Sounds like it needs a little adjustment. Have them test drive the car first.

 

[aerodyne]

Try having another alignment shop look at it. Sounds like it needs a little adjustment. Have them test drive the car first.

Think op already aligned the car.

I had a similar problem after hitting a curb. I rotated the tires in a x pattern, fixed it.

 

[tldickerson]

I read that he did have the car aligned. That doesn't mean they did a good job.

 

[cousin_IT]

I read that he did have the car aligned. That doesn't mean they did a good job.

No true, this would be my 7th alignment though. This is a visual from the last alignment:

 

[Sam1]

This is not available in the service menu in my car. Do I need a toolbox subscription for this?

In the service menu, select chassis then steering. You don't have that option? I'm not familiar with the older models, but all of the newer ones have it.

 

[Gtech]

Do you know if the mechanic who aligned your car checked all the bushings for slack thoroughly?

When you accelerate/decelerate on low or high speeds can you notice any difference?

When did this started or has it always been like this?

 

[cousin_IT]

In the service menu, select chassis then steering. You don't have that option? I'm not familiar with the older models, but all of the newer ones have it.

I don’t see it?

 

[cousin_IT]

Do you know if the mechanic who aligned your car checked all the bushings for slack thoroughly?

Yes, that’s how he found out 2 rubbers were bad.

When you accelerate/decelerate on low or high speeds can you notice any difference?

Tried this yesterday. It always trails to the right, either accelerating, constant or decell/braking

When did this started or has it always been like this?

Was like this when I got the car, got Tesla to look at it. They replaced 1 suspension arm which had some slack and aligned the car. It was fine then but after 1 year the problem returned. Got all 4 suspension arms replaced and aligned but still trails.

 

[Sam1]

I don’t see it?
View attachment 896625

Doesn't look like you have the option, unless it's an older version of firmware & I wouldn't know where to look for it then.

 

[Aggmeister2010]

In the service menu, select chassis then steering. You don't have that option? I'm not familiar with the older models, but all of the newer ones have it.

Are you talking about the ability to Reset the Steering Angle sensor? That wouldn't impact the direction the car drives in.

OP, how hard is the pull? Is it possible you're just experiencing drift from the crown in the road? When did this start happening?

 

[Gtech]

The MCU1/2 hasn't got all diagnose functionality in service mode as the newer ones (yet).
If you drive for 30 miles without AP it also learns the new offset without resetting it so I think that is not really the case now.

How does an independent shop reset steering angle after alignment?

So I'd like to get an alignment at an independent shop. Part of modern cars alignment is to reset the steering angle sensor to 0* to mark the new straight ahead position and center the wheel, and with Tesla, reset the autopilot recalibration. How does an independent shop do this when the model...

teslamotorsclub.com

Do you also have the values for the rear side of the vehicle since I cannot see them clearly on this report
Also, IF the alignment is done correctly there must be another control arm/bushing with slack. Unfortunally alignment equipment cannot detect bad control arms.

 

[gaswalla]

Above beat me to it… consider failing control arm. Also, consider taking to Tesla or someone VERY experienced with alignments on Teslas.. had a similar issue with a recommendation from local place for suspension work due to inability to align correctly. Tesla just aligned it fine (expensive alignment, cheaper than suspension work)

 

[cousin_IT]

Are you talking about the ability to Reset the Steering Angle sensor? That wouldn't impact the direction the car drives in.

OP, how hard is the pull? Is it possible you're just experiencing drift from the crown in the road? When did this start happening?

It was always the case when I bought the car. Tesla replaced a control arm and then aligned but after 1,5 year the problem was bad. Turned out 2 control arms were bad (including the one Tesla replaced). Had them replaced and got the car aligned but still drifts to the right. It's not a very hard pull but it happens on every road (highway, town road). Within 200 meters it starts to drift.

The MCU1/2 hasn't got all diagnose functionality in service mode as the newer ones (yet).
If you drive for 30 miles without AP it also learns the new offset without resetting it so I think that is not really the case now.

How does an independent shop reset steering angle after alignment?

So I'd like to get an alignment at an independent shop. Part of modern cars alignment is to reset the steering angle sensor to 0* to mark the new straight ahead position and center the wheel, and with Tesla, reset the autopilot recalibration. How does an independent shop do this when the model...

teslamotorsclub.com

Do you also have the values for the rear side of the vehicle since I cannot see them clearly on this report
Also, IF the alignment is done correctly there must be another control arm/bushing with slack. Unfortunally alignment equipment cannot detect bad control arms.

They did probably not align the rear side as it was aligned recently (1 month ago). I replaced all 4 control arms so what else can it be? Upper control arms?

Above beat me to it… consider failing control arm. Also, consider taking to Tesla or someone VERY experienced with alignments on Teslas.. had a similar issue with a recommendation from local place for suspension work due to inability to align correctly. Tesla just aligned it fine (expensive alignment, cheaper than suspension work)

How would Tesla do this differently? They have the same hardware.

 

[gaswalla]

Having the hardware and having the knowledge and experience are separate issues

 

[Gtech]

They did probably not align the rear side as it was aligned recently (1 month ago). I replaced all 4 control arms so what else can it be? Upper control arms?

They replaced all front lower control arms? Model S has 12 control arms in total so 8 left that can mess up your alignment and literally every control arm can fail so it's hard to say from a distance which control arm(s) are bad, it's not always the same ones that go bad.

 

[Aggmeister2010]

Above beat me to it… consider failing control arm. Also, consider taking to Tesla or someone VERY experienced with alignments on Teslas.. had a similar issue with a recommendation from local place for suspension work due to inability to align correctly. Tesla just aligned it fine (expensive alignment, cheaper than suspension work)

Not sure about the skillset of the SC where OP is, but most of the service centers I've dealt with are abysmal at alignments. They jack-up the car, turn the bolts until it's green, and tighten. There's not much effort into resolving symptoms or even getting values identical side-to-side.

I'd suggest a race shop, or some experienced precision alignment shop that will actually take the time to fiddle with your alignment settings to address the root cause, and get the identical values side to side. I had a pull to the left on my car that 3 shops failed to address, and then I finally found an experienced BMW shop that took an extra hour on it and got it perfect.