My Z4MC pulls to the left slightly after an alignment...

[glastoveteran]

Hi all,

I had a few issues with a Z4MC I bought recently (AUC) and it's been back to the dealers to have new front discs and pads, a new front n/s alloy to replace a buckled one and a full alignment, which they did without hesitation.

One of the symptoms before was that it was pulling to the left and even after the work was carried out it still is to a certain extent (less than before), but I'm just not sure how much is considered normal and whether I should be sending it back in.

I guess the camber on the majority of roads means it generally will pull to the left most of the time, but on a totally flat piece of road it does pull to the left ever so slightly and on adverse camber it tends to go dead straight, when you would expect it to pull to the right?

So if they have done a proper alignment on it should I be getting it checked out again or just accept that a certain amount is normal?

Cheers,

Alex

 

[Tweed]

I think all cars are set up to pull left ever so slightly, so that in the event of a lapse of concentration, the car is less likely to veer into oncoming traffic. Unfortunate for any pedestrians though

 

[klarky]

thats got to be an urban myth. after i had my car aligned the guy said it comes down to personal feel, he can line a car up dead straight but a customer will come back saying the wheel doesnt sit straight to them / pulls to one side when holding it straight, so for the final setting he has you set the wheel to how you think dead ahead should be.

he also commented that he drives a honda civic and due to seat / wheel positioning when aligned correctly it feels like the car is pulling when in fact it isnt. the hunter settings for his civic leaves the wheel slightly to the left.

as for the op's pulling, ask what machine they did the alignment on. the hunter hawkeye mine was one was an impressive bit of kit. they took 2 hours and were happy for me to stand and watch / explain the process to me. its computer controlled and the tolerances are pretty fine. if your not happy go back to the dealer

 

[glastoveteran]

Fair comments guys - thanks.

I don't know whether this helps a diagnosis but the car does go straight when the steering wheel is dead centre, but when I take my hands off the wheel it slowly turns to the left. I guess that's normally what happens when people say their car pulls to the left?

As for the machine it was done by BMW so I don't know whether they all use KDS (is that right?) machines?

I am going to try and get the printout anyway.

 

[James_G]

Hi Alex

Sounds exactly like the problem I had with mine. Pulled to the left on test drive so got a full KDS done prior to purchase through the AUC, including the print out. Still pulled to the left, so I took it back and they told me it was all in tolerance. I was getting increasingly annoyed so I took it to Wheels in Motion (http://www.blackboots.co.uk/) who agreed that it was all in tolerance even when weighted down correctly. However they swapped the front wheels over, and that cured it. It seems that no alignment will make up for the fact that tyres are not always perfectly square shouldered.

Don't get fobbed off by the excuse that it's camber pulling the car to the left. I took the car to France for the day and it still pulled to the left, even though plenty of the French roads are heavily cambered.

Anyway, it doesn't pull to the left anymore and harmony is restored. Give it a try.

 

[glastoveteran]

Thanks James

To be honest it could have a lot to do with the tyres. I don't know how long it's been out of alignment for but I'm pretty sure the tyres have worn unevenly as I'm getting other symptoms that point to uneven tyre wear (droning noise at motorway speeds). So do the wheels just swap over without needing to change the tyres on the wheels as well? In my mind I thought the tyres were directional and swapping them wouldn't work!

 

[James_G]

In my mind I thought the tyres were directional and swapping them wouldn't work!

Depends which brand you have fitted presumably. I have Contis on mine, and they non-directional, which came as a bit of a surprise, so it was a quick swap of the wheels.