[Alain]

Originally Posted by BMWM.D.

I think what you’re experiencing is different than what was going on with Ted’s car. His problem wasn’t on hard acceleration, but a steady pull to one side when accelerating lightly or even maintaining speed at highway speeds. This was a tire issue, but I haven’t seen anyone else with this symptom. I think Ted’s car is an anomaly.

What myself and pretty much everyone else has complained about is a strange rear end ‘wiggle’ at full throttle — usually when going WOT in a straight line from a roll. It only happens one time (a quick side to side feeling) then is gone. My car did it on day one. I’m guessing this is what you’re feeling.

I’m experimenting with my alignment again. It’s always felt like a rear toe problem to me, but I aligned my car at about 1500 miles and it didn’t go away. So I’ve just been living with it. We just got a brand new alignment machine, so I put the car on it this morning to see how everything looked. It was all over the place. Rear was toed out a little, and front had a ton of toe in.

I don’t really know what to make of it yet or if it’s been fixed. We were having problems with our old alignment equipment for a few years now, so it’s possible it’s been off this whole time. What I found today SHOULD have been causing some goofy behavior. It would be awesome if it’s gone. I need more seat time to be sure.

And yeah, tires CAN cause a pull like Ted had. Hunter Engineering even has a feature on its higher end balancers to identify it and minimize its effect. It’s not much help on cars like ours with staggered tires, but here’s a video that might explain it:

https://youtu.be/hG8Mve2x7Ts

I just re-read the original post. My car is doing exactly what Ted describes. Which is, when already in motion (40-60Mph) under moderate to hard acceleration the car starts to wonder towards the left.

I have never had my car on an alignment machine. I did stress to the dealer, last year when I bought the car, that I wanted the suspension set for street driving and the alignment done accordingly. But who the hell knows what they did or If they even checked the alignment.

I wish there was a way to check the alignment at home. I’m going to start playing with the PSI on my front tires (increasing it) and see what happens.

It’s scary when it happens and you’re not ready for it. Feels like the car is going to turn into the median/concrete divider by itself.

[bobby35ny]

Originally Posted by Alain

I just re-read the original post. My car is doing exactly what Ted describes. Which is, when already in motion (40-60Mph) under moderate to hard acceleration the car starts to wonder towards the left.

I have never had my car on an alignment machine. I did stress to the dealer, last year when I bought the car, that I wanted the suspension set for street driving and the alignment done accordingly. But who the hell knows what they did or If they even checked the alignment.

I wish there was a way to check the alignment at home. I’m going to start playing with the PSI on my front tires (increasing it) and see what happens.

It’s scary when it happens and you’re not ready for it. Feels like the car is going to turn into the median/concrete divider by itself.

Go to any alignment shop and put the car on the rack. Tell them you want the numbers that's all, don't touch the car. Cost me $20!!
Numbers were WAYYYYYYYY off on my car. took the sheet to Chevy and they aligned under warranty. Car is much better now by far.

[BMWM.D.]

Originally Posted by Alain

I just re-read the original post. My car is doing exactly what Ted describes. Which is, when already in motion (40-60Mph) under moderate to hard acceleration the car starts to wonder towards the left.

I have never had my car on an alignment machine. I did stress to the dealer, last year when I bought the car, that I wanted the suspension set for street driving and the alignment done accordingly. But who the hell knows what they did or If they even checked the alignment.

I wish there was a way to check the alignment at home. I’m going to start playing with the PSI on my front tires (increasing it) and see what happens.

It’s scary when it happens and you’re not ready for it. Feels like the car is going to turn into the median/concrete divider by itself.

If it’s a legitimate pull and not the weird rear steer / fishtail thing a bunch of us have, then I’d just start with the basics:

1- Cross swap the tires side to side to see if it changes direction.

2- Get it up on an alignment machine at a reputable shop.

3- If all else fails, have your tires tested on a Hunter Road Force balancer that has straight track. That video link I posted explains why it can happen.

[Alain]

Originally Posted by bobby35ny

Go to any alignment shop and put the car on the rack. Tell them you want the numbers that's all, don't touch the car. Cost me $20!!
Numbers were WAYYYYYYYY off on my car. took the sheet to Chevy and they aligned under warranty. Car is much better now by far.

I had no idea this was a possibility. Going to look into this next week, thank you for the advise.

Originally Posted by BMWM.D.

If it’s a legitimate pull and not the weird rear steer / fishtail thing a bunch of us have, then I’d just start with the basics:

1- Cross swap the tires side to side to see if it changes direction.

2- Get it up on an alignment machine at a reputable shop.

3- If all else fails, have your tires tested on a Hunter Road Force balancer that has straight track. That video link I posted explains why it can happen.

Mine does the little fishtail/wag as well, I chalked that up to the car searching for grip on the initial slam of the gas pedal.

this is a legitimate pull to the left, I actually feel the steering wheel pull to the left under hard acceleration.

EDIT: I just watched the youtube video you linked, thank you for that. I now get how the tire can be the issue. Thank you again for that link, this is why I love coming on here............to learn and share knowledge.

[Mikael]

i had the same problem with my 17 cts-v