Hi,
I've been having issues with my car pulling to the left despite pretty much perfect alignment specs after two alignments from my local Firestone. I know my car is capable of driving straight - it used to before I got my first alignment from Firestone. Now I'm wondering what the heck is going on. I don't have the specs from those alignments anymore, though.
This seems to be a common-ish issue, so I was hoping to hear from others who have gone through the same, and what worked and what didn't.
In my case, the car pulls to the left regardless of road crown. If I let my hands go of the steering wheel, the car will basically switch lanes to the left lane on its own. I've reset the steering angle in service mode a couple times and allowed the car to "re-learn" it, but that doesn't seen to work. From some digging, the problems could be due to:
*radial tire pull: switch tires from left to right (just front? Or also switch the rear tires from left to right?)
*steering wheel is not actually centered properly (alignment shop's fault?) (Edit: first have them center the steering wheel, THEN do the alignment?)
*steering angle needs to be reset right before the alignment is done? Or right after?
*non-zero thrust angle (I'm pretty sure my last alignment had this zeroed out, but I'll ask Firestone on my 3rd and hopefully final appointment)
*there is something physically wrong with the suspension (unlikely, I haven't hit a pothole or curb in the past few months, when my car suddenly started driving like this)
*the tie rods are not the correct lengths? (Idk much about suspensions, but there's something not quite right about how the steering wheel connects to the rest of the suspension?)
I set up an appointment at the Tesla service center where I've gone for windshield replacements and general warranty work, and the tech thought my car drives straight even though it really doesn't (much more noticeable at > 60 mph). I think he really just wanted to push me to get Firestone to fix it so I wouldn't spend $275 for no reason. So I've set up an appointment with Firestone a few weeks from now. If that doesn't work, it looks like I'll have to get my car aligned at a different service center :/
There are no vibrations from the steering wheel, so this likely isn't a balance problem. (Edit: tire pressures look OK. All four are at 44 right now, several hours after not being driven, at night)
Some references below. I've had this happen before, where Firestone couldn't fix it but Tesla SC did. Fortunately, about two hours from me there's at least one Firestone with a Tesla-certified tech. It is not the same Firestone where I've taken my car for rotations and alignments.
I've been having issues with my car pulling to the left despite pretty much perfect alignment specs after two alignments from my local Firestone. I know my car is capable of driving straight - it used to before I got my first alignment from Firestone. Now I'm wondering what the heck is going on. I don't have the specs from those alignments anymore, though.
This seems to be a common-ish issue, so I was hoping to hear from others who have gone through the same, and what worked and what didn't.
In my case, the car pulls to the left regardless of road crown. If I let my hands go of the steering wheel, the car will basically switch lanes to the left lane on its own. I've reset the steering angle in service mode a couple times and allowed the car to "re-learn" it, but that doesn't seen to work. From some digging, the problems could be due to:
*radial tire pull: switch tires from left to right (just front? Or also switch the rear tires from left to right?)
*steering wheel is not actually centered properly (alignment shop's fault?) (Edit: first have them center the steering wheel, THEN do the alignment?)
*steering angle needs to be reset right before the alignment is done? Or right after?
*non-zero thrust angle (I'm pretty sure my last alignment had this zeroed out, but I'll ask Firestone on my 3rd and hopefully final appointment)
*there is something physically wrong with the suspension (unlikely, I haven't hit a pothole or curb in the past few months, when my car suddenly started driving like this)
*the tie rods are not the correct lengths? (Idk much about suspensions, but there's something not quite right about how the steering wheel connects to the rest of the suspension?)
I set up an appointment at the Tesla service center where I've gone for windshield replacements and general warranty work, and the tech thought my car drives straight even though it really doesn't (much more noticeable at > 60 mph). I think he really just wanted to push me to get Firestone to fix it so I wouldn't spend $275 for no reason. So I've set up an appointment with Firestone a few weeks from now. If that doesn't work, it looks like I'll have to get my car aligned at a different service center :/
There are no vibrations from the steering wheel, so this likely isn't a balance problem. (Edit: tire pressures look OK. All four are at 44 right now, several hours after not being driven, at night)
Some references below. I've had this happen before, where Firestone couldn't fix it but Tesla SC did. Fortunately, about two hours from me there's at least one Firestone with a Tesla-certified tech. It is not the same Firestone where I've taken my car for rotations and alignments.
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