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Car still pulls after alignment

14K views 16 replies 13 participants last post by  171sf 
#1 ·
Back in March I was run off the road and my passenger side rims were destroyed, after a month of back and forth with the insurance company trying to get a rental car i scraped the side of the car because the alignment was off and i still had bent rims.

So I just got the car back the other day they did a 4 wheel alignment, replaced the 2 rims, and I purchased 4 new tires (Stock Size) I am noticing that the steering wheel does not quite center and the car wants to pull to the right when I take my hands off the wheel. The first time the shop did the alignment they use specs for 2009-2010, I told them that was incorrect and 2011 and up had different specs for a 4 wheel alignment. Is there a reason why my car pulls ever so slighly to the right and the steering wheel will be about 1 degrees to the right. If I move it to the center it goes straight. I would like to go back and explain to them what needs to be done, they even said they were not a suspension shop and had to sublet it out.

They replaced the right front wheel hub as well.

As far as body work goes they did a stellar job on the color match and restripe on the door and quarter panel.

Attached is the alignment sheet.
 

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#2 ·
one of your tires may have radial pull. I have that on one of my motivos. It is a factory defect in the tire. In order to troubleshoot, you need to rotate one side front to back, drive and see if its gone. If it is still there, rotate the other side and test again.
 
#3 ·
The full degree split on the caster isn't good & will make it pull. Make sure they are giving you the print out after everything is tightened up. Guys doing alignments are notorious for getting it in spec with it not all the way snugged up. I used to do alignments & you can get a degree out once you snug it all down. Lots of guys get them in spec, print it out, take the heads off then tighen it all up.
 
#4 ·
hate to hijack this thread - but I'm having a similar issue - the cause may be different, but the symptoms the same - I had a fender bender a while back on the front left; body shop did a good job putting everything back, car didn't pull until I got a new set of tires recently. The tire shop did several alignments, cross rotated some tires, yet the car still pulls to the right.

I had recommended a engine cradle shift, but the tech says the alignment would be thrown off spec (especially the front caster, that's not adjustable). So they're saying everything on the car is "in spec".

What else could cause such a pull? Evidence of bent rims and radial pulls should surface on wheel rotations right?
 
#5 ·
I too am having the same issue; however my car is been in no accidents and has never been hit. I have had it aligned now five or six times and each time they say it tests green. I get it back and it drifts to the right still as soon as I remove my hand from the steering wheel. Every time I bring it back they test drive it and confirm slight pull. They seem to have finally fixed the slight 1 degree the steering wheel was off but not the pull to the right. I'm about ready to lemon this because of it being a brand new 2014 RT. Any suggestions???
 
#6 ·
I too had this issue on my 2011 SRT8, with the two different size rims front and back. To make matters worse, I have replaced the F1s when they wore out at 20K with Hankooks which had to rotate in the same direction, making it impossible to rotate the tires. I never had an accident, and never anything more than minor curb rash on the rims. The first time I had a 4-wheel alignment, I got it back and it pulled to the left. I had it done again, still pulled to the left.


I am pretty sure that I will not have them align my 2015 SRT. I don't think I'll ever have an alignment done unless there is a problem. I feel like I need to find a really good performance shop that knows how to align these cars, because I don't think the dealers in my area know how. I'm very nervous about having my new car aligned in the future.
 
#7 ·
My experience with alignments has been terrible. There are a lot of alignment techs out there that have no idea what they are doing. I had a 2001 Ram that I bought new and traded recently. It took years to find a shop that was able to line it up correctly and get the wheel centered when you are driving down a straight, flat road. My advice is to do some research and try to find a shop with a real alignment expert. It may be hard but it is worth the effort. Based on my experience with over 80 cars and trucks in my lifetime, I only get alignments done when absolutely necessary.
 
#8 ·
this alignment sheet is terrible!! get a refund, seriously

what a crappy job from the camber to the toe it is a complete mess

they have no clue; DEMAND an exact camber set up MATCHING they must

the toe in the rear is ridiculously unmatched, the front is not even matching

all of these must only have 2 tenth of distortion and camber in the front MUST match

because we have completely dropped the front and rear suspension twice in the last 60 days because of the massive upgrades suspension I have that I know that

i spent enough time with the mechanics at the shop where I go to learn from them

ODP
 
#9 · (Edited)
and so much camber in the back? are u running 245's tire in the rear?

front go with 1.5 negative

and it pulls to the right because ur toe on the left of the car is pulling positive toe or toe in by 0.19 and 0.08 which make both left tires front and rear toed in the right so of course ur going right, where else should we go....up?....lol

not pulling your chain but frustrated they are wasting your time

get that sorted and even; and it is too much toe anyway; 0.05 should be fine; if you go racing, go for negative toe in the front, that's crazy fun....


they are right they are not a suspension shop which u need to go to; hands down; if they charged you for the alignment they need to refund you.

ODP
 
#11 ·
on the SRT i believe we have the eccentric bolt so camber is adjustable

they did adj camber in front of me when we still had the stock A arms in there and i was visiting the track; i saw them working with the eccentric bolt on the front lower control arm;

and yes working with the eccentric bolt requires skills; and as stated above u need to lock it in and make sure all is tight before stating all is well

ODP
 
#12 ·
Was always under the impression that these cars were meant to pull slightly to the right, asked the dealer about it years ago and they said it was like that so if I fell asleep I wouldn't go into oncoming traffic.

Probably a giant crock of **** but mine has pulled to the right since I got it with 7 miles on the odometer.
 
#14 ·
i think it is

i have had SRT's for 3 years and it never pull anywhere but straight

yet i am anal about alignment

ODP
 
#15 ·
I have the same problem with my car as well. I started another thread about it previously but I have had an alignment done and nothing was really off much. My car pulls to the right and when I let go the steering well it probably goes about a degree to the right as well. If I hold the steering wheel straight the car will go straight so something is pulling it. I do have a staggered set up and the tires are actually new and it's been doing this from the start. Unfortunately there all directional tires and to even test if it is a radial I would have to dismount each front tire and switch them... Probably risking damaging one of the tires by doing that. I might just deal with it since it's my summer set and when I switch back to my winter wheels I'll know if it was the tire or not.
 
#16 ·
Wheel alignment ??

I have a new 2014 R/T with the 20 inch chrome rims . I have only 1300 miles on it and when I got it I felt it pulled to the right . My local dealer did a 4 wheel alignment and it seemed to help but not entirely . I then swapped the front wheels from side to side and it got a bit better . I feel it drives straight now but the road has to be flat . If the road is crowned (most are) it will pull to the right until the road flattens out again .

Is this normal due to the tires being so low profile ? Its starting to really bother me to the point Iam not enjoying myself .
 
#17 ·
I have a new 2014 R/T with the 20 inch chrome rims . I have only 1300 miles on it and when I got it I felt it pulled to the right . My local dealer did a 4 wheel alignment and it seemed to help but not entirely . I then swapped the front wheels from side to side and it got a bit better . I feel it drives straight now but the road has to be flat . If the road is crowned (most are) it will pull to the right until the road flattens out again .

Is this normal due to the tires being so low profile ? Its starting to really bother me to the point Iam not enjoying myself .
Do you have the before and after readings,if so post them up.
 
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