Pulling to the right
Thread Starter
1st Gear
Joined: Apr 2012
Posts: 1
Likes: 0
Pulling to the right
I have a 2012 Vette with 1800 miles on it. Ever since I drove it home I noticed it pulled to the right. I finally took it to the dealer at 1400 miles. They aligned it twice and it still pulled so I contacted the service manager. He rode with me in the car and acknowledged that it is pulling to the right and stated it should not do that and wanted me to leave it with him for troubleshooting.
He forced balanced the tires, changed one of the front tires, changed the rack and pinion and according to the 3rd service invoice they tried to align it to pull left and it still pulled right. At that point, he thought his equipment was wrong and took it to another shop who aligned it. It still pulls right. Not knowing what else to do he said he would contact GM and get the engineers involved. GM responded that it is normal. The service manager told me his hands were tied and now everyone is singing the same music.... it is normal. I have since heard every excuse in the book from GM why it is okay:
Wheel alignment
Tire radial pull
Rack and pinion- valve not centered causing it to steer right
Wide tires
Torque steering (hmm, isn't that for FWD cars only?)
It’s a normal attribute of the car
It’s a tire issue not a car issue
Crowning of the road
The roads I drive are knocking the car out of alignment (Not)
It was determined to be “operating under normal operating conditions”
It seems to me that this condition will just wear out the tires prematurely which are very expensive. Plus, it also is just annoying, I expect more from a Corvette! I really don't believe that this is a "normal characteristic" for a car that suppose to go close to 200MPH! The last thing I ever thought I would be dealing with is a handling problem... with a CORVETTE! My other cars seem to drive down the road straight so I guess they are not normal.
Has anyone else had this problem with a C6 Corvette?
He forced balanced the tires, changed one of the front tires, changed the rack and pinion and according to the 3rd service invoice they tried to align it to pull left and it still pulled right. At that point, he thought his equipment was wrong and took it to another shop who aligned it. It still pulls right. Not knowing what else to do he said he would contact GM and get the engineers involved. GM responded that it is normal. The service manager told me his hands were tied and now everyone is singing the same music.... it is normal. I have since heard every excuse in the book from GM why it is okay:
Wheel alignment
Tire radial pull
Rack and pinion- valve not centered causing it to steer right
Wide tires
Torque steering (hmm, isn't that for FWD cars only?)
It’s a normal attribute of the car
It’s a tire issue not a car issue
Crowning of the road
The roads I drive are knocking the car out of alignment (Not)
It was determined to be “operating under normal operating conditions”
It seems to me that this condition will just wear out the tires prematurely which are very expensive. Plus, it also is just annoying, I expect more from a Corvette! I really don't believe that this is a "normal characteristic" for a car that suppose to go close to 200MPH! The last thing I ever thought I would be dealing with is a handling problem... with a CORVETTE! My other cars seem to drive down the road straight so I guess they are not normal.
Has anyone else had this problem with a C6 Corvette?
Instructor
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 247
Likes: 3
From: Northern NJ
St. Jude Donor '06
This is not normal.
See if you can find someone to swap tires with for a test drive and rule out tire problems. If you rule out tire problems then keep complaining and look into the lemon law in your state.
BTW, ask your dealer to take you out for a test drive in one of their demo Corvettes. I will bet it will not pull the way your does.
See if you can find someone to swap tires with for a test drive and rule out tire problems. If you rule out tire problems then keep complaining and look into the lemon law in your state.
BTW, ask your dealer to take you out for a test drive in one of their demo Corvettes. I will bet it will not pull the way your does.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 2,633
Likes: 2
From: Evans Colorado
Your dealer probably aligned the car to the factory specs which are a more track oriented specification. Most roads have a crown on them to shed water, which is why your car is pulling to the right. It's "falling" off the road if you will.
Take the car to the dealer, or other qualified alignment shop and have a street alignment done on it. This alignment compensates for the crown on the road and should get you tracking straight.
It's important to note that the more track specific alignment from the factory shouldn't adversely cause premature wear on the tires. You're right foot on the hand...
Take the car to the dealer, or other qualified alignment shop and have a street alignment done on it. This alignment compensates for the crown on the road and should get you tracking straight.
It's important to note that the more track specific alignment from the factory shouldn't adversely cause premature wear on the tires. You're right foot on the hand...
Race Director
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 19,574
Likes: 167
From: Frederick, MD
I wonder what the spec is for your caster alignment settings. Mine is different by around 1.5 degrees between the left and right sides which generally means one tire is slightly behind the other one. Dealers don't like to adjust it because it means shimming the control arms. I'm getting mine adjusted at JDP Motorsports next week and they don't even have an alignment machine.
