hey fellow tc owners,

I have a '05 silver tc and I've had it since '04, so I'm planning to change the rims & tires around '07 - but my question is regarding the car itself - in particular alignments and wandering.

I've read around the forum and everyone sez they have some form of "wandering", when they're driving. Its like the car keeps gradually turning itself towards a particular side of the road.

I experienced this first when I got the tC in a lil accident where the right side collided with a curb >.> I noticed the wheel was "off center",( ie though I was going straight, the wheel looked like I was about to make a turn) I had the alignment checked for like 90 bux @ the dealership :[ they checked it and realligned [though i still say there was some wandering]

about 5-8k miles later, a very bad pothole in a poorly constructed street caused a really bad ding to my front right rim, when i was making a right turn into a minimall and I was afraid that knocked my alignment outta wack (. that was around like 14,200 miles on the odo, and I had the 15k dealership check @ 14,500 (guys know if they do allignment check on teh 15k checkup?). Nothing bad reported and the car is performing fine. ..til tonight.

It was an empty road so I felt like testing the alignment out. Was on the left lane and let go of the wheel. I noticed that the car gradually "wandered" to the right. Tested it on about 2 roads, and still wandered to the right on both roads.

Question : Is that normal?

Parent sez, yea its cuz cars naturally go to the right side of the road so as to prevent car accidents when u fall asleep at the wheel, and also the composition of the road affects the direction the car will end up in.

There is no noticable "pull" to the right when you have both hands on the wheel, and even with just one hand, u occasionally just redirect a little to the left to make up for the turning the bumps on the road were causing or for the gradual wandering.

What do you guys think?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, and thank you very much. G'day

 

Roads are designed to slope right for run off of water and such to help prevent accidents mainly. Many cars with low-pro tires will " track " or follow slight ruts in the road also due to the hardened smaller side wall giving an illusion of an allignment problem. To many who have never had low-pro tires on a car this can be an issue that they worry about. Best way to check alignment problems is in an empty parking lot. Hope this helps!

 

lol by coincidence, the first accident was in a parking lot, but it wasn't due to the wandering..

anyways, yea ~ the only thing thats really worrying me is the pothole incident. I've heard tons of stories of how potholes can wreak havoc on suspension and on alignment alike. that pothole was on the side of the street, right in front of the entrance to the minimall i was referring to.. it actually chipped the rim..

does anyone know if the 15k dealership checkup entails alignment check? I know they rotated my tires, not sure if they did anything else.

any advice is welcome regarding "wandering"

and thnx again in advance.

 

My tC has pretty lousy on-center feel. If there's the slightest crown to the road, the car follows it and pulls pretty hard. For most roads, since the crown is to the right, that means my tC pulls hard right. The rare left crowned road seems to make the tC pull left.

BMWs and Audis never have this problem. They ride on rails. I suspect that playing with the alighment of the tC could get it to center better, but I don't know anyone good enought to do it.

 

I'm pretty sure that they check the alignment. Look in your book to see what they do at the 15,000 mile check up. I know that my dealer automatically checks that at every service.

Hope that helps :-)

 

My car... goes straight. Had it re-aligned after I had springs installed, but it kept pulling to the left just a smidge. Took it back and had the shop check their re-alignment, and now it's dead center.

 

did they realign it for free? or did they charge you again.

 

there is no adjustment for pull on our cars. only for camber and toe, caster is non adjustable. the reason it seems to pull right, especially after hitting something, is because one wheel is pushed farther back than the other, it might be annoying, but it will not cause any wear. same thing happened to mine after hitting a curb, i fixed it by running a couple pounds less air pressure in the tire on the opposite side of the pull

 

mine as seemed like it as always had a slight tug to one side. I have taken it in 2 times to get it aligned before adding the new wheels/tires and lowering it and then I took it back again after lowering it and it still pulls, lol....geez.

 

It's strange, but the tC is the first car I remember having that doesn't follow the road. Everything else I've driven (that I recall) seemed to follow the road with very little steering required. My tC goes exactly where I point it, and never seems to follow the road on it's own, whether there are ruts/grooves or not. Really a trade-off imo, as there are pros & cons to either. That said, mine hasn't pulled or wondered at all, at least not yet.

 

What happened to the Jag? I've only seen one of the old Saloons in my life. I think it was also a '58. That was back in... uh... I guess about 1979.

 

You answered your ? right there. If its a slight pull to the right that is. If its pulling hard, then I would get it checked at the dealer or go to Midas. (4 wheel align is $100 there.) Also, is it a ding in your rim or is it bent? If its bent, you should replace it. You can find them (stock rims I'm assuming) for about $125 ea.

 

when i got my first oil change at 3k i told them that my car was pulling to the right. they checked it out for me found out that the steering wheel was off by a lil bit and they fixed it for me. its dead on center now and it was free (maybe b/c they did it at the same time as the oil?)

 

When I got my car, after a little bit I noticed that the car was pulling pretty hard to the right. I took it in and found that the alignment on my front tires were out pretty bad, especially for 1200 miles...but they took care of it for free. Then for christmas my parents got me a lifetime alignment thing at Firestone here in town so I can go get an allignment whenever...but even after both allignments, the car still pulls a bit to thr right.

 

my hit the curb at 4k miles and when she got home, the steering had to be at 9 o' clock to drive straight, after first alignment it was straight for like a week then car started pulling to right again. now today i got another alignment at 10.8k miles and it is dead center.hope it stays like that because i onlyhear the most tcs keep on wandering to the right

 

my alignment has never been straight. since the first day i got it back almost 2 years ago its always been a little to the right.

 

still have the jag in the garage, never quite finished it...maybe someday

 

I have the same thing going on with an old Sunbeam. In the garage, never quite finished...maybe someday

 

i was wondering if i was the only person that this was happening too. I've driven many cars before, and have never had a car tug to the right the way this car does.

 

I guess I'm not the only one. From day 1 my car had a right pull. I sent it back 2 times to the dealer. After the first realign it was better & after the second nothing changed. The car bump steers, and definitely follows the crown of the road down. However it does favor turning right as I see a few of you have complained about. My guess is a screw up on the old assembly line. I really like the car. Its too bad the body integrity (creaking & whatnot) and the slight pull is common. Oh well for a 16K tuner I guess its not bad.