My car pulls to the left. Dealership says it's natural???

[JEDI]

i have a new 2002 Chevy Prizm w/700 miles. it pulls to the left. i didnt notice it when i test drove it. but it did when i drove it on the highway for a length of time.

took it to the largest Chevy dealership in Northern VA (koons chevy). they did a wheel alignment. now it pulled even more to the left. took it back. they said everything was in specs. they rotated the tires, but basically said it's the nature of the road. WTF?

i would blame it on the crown of the road if it pulls left when i'm on the left lane, and pulled right if i'm on the right lane. but it doesnt. it pulls left on the left lane, and goes straight on the right lane.

Any suggestions, besides putting more air pressure into the left tire?

THX

 

[StageLeft]

How hard does it pull? You shouldn't bea ble to feel a noticeable pull in the wheel. When you're driving straight and you let go how fast does it drive off to the left?

Anything more than a very subtle pull should be corrected.

 

[bmacd]

wasn't there just another thread about a wheel pull from the other day?

-=bmacd=-

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

ask them if it is natural to get sued when your car veers into oncoming traffic...

 

[bmacd]

Originally posted by: yamahaXS
ask them if it is natural to get sued when your car veers into oncoming traffic...

lol...good point

-=bmacd=-

 

[lRageATMl]

you may want to check your tire pressure ... also may want to get your wheels balanced ... those both can lead to your problem. Once you get those checked if not fixed, then it will definatly be your wheel alignment.

 

[Kadarin]

It is possible for the alignment to be within spec and have the vehicle still pull. This depends on the range of what the manufacturer considers acceptable for the alignment. You should check the current air pressure to verify that it's even. You might also try rotating the tires to see if that has an effect (pull could be from the tires rather than from the alignment.)

 

[JEDI]

skoob,

when i let go of the wheel, it goes immediately to the left. in a few seconds, i past the line on the left hand side.

the air pressure on all 4 tires are at factory specs, and the dealership said they did a wheel alignment the 1st time i bought it in.

Any ideas?

Originally posted by: Skoorb
How hard does it pull? You shouldn't bea ble to feel a noticeable pull in the wheel. When you're driving straight and you let go how fast does it drive off to the left?

Anything more than a very subtle pull should be corrected.

 

[Fausto]

"Natural" my ass. You tell them to make it right or you'll let Chevy corporate know how they treat their customers. A new car should be perfect, and if it isn't they should do whatever it takes to make it right.:|

Fausto

 

[Skyclad1uhm1]

OMG! Your car is a leftie!

 

[lRageATMl]

Complaining on the corporate level makes a huge difference. I know it did for me when it came to FORD.

 

[Fausto]

Originally posted by: lRageATMl
Complaining on the corporate level makes a huge difference. I know it did for me when it came to FORD.

Yup, I had a "funny noise" coming from my tranny case on my old Explorer and the local dealer gave me the "don't worry about it" speil. Naturally, the transmission blew up a month later and stranded me in rural NC, I raised hell with the dealer and they basically told me to f*ck off since the car had just gone off warranty. I then relayed the whole story to Ford corporate and suddenly the dealer was only too happy to get me fixed up free of charge. Assholes.:|

Fausto

 

[Mister T]

Does your car only pull to the left when on the highway in the left hand lane...

Remember, highways are banked a couple of degrees for water drainage

 

[Iron Woode]

Try an independant wheel alignment shop. A good one that is. I found a good one by asking the mechanics at places that take care of fleet vehicles. In my case it was the Police dept. that lead me to a good shop.

Check wheel balance and tire pressure too. What about tire wear? Also there could be an issue with your steering gear.

 

[JEDI]

dealer rotated the tires. still pulls to the left

air pressure is even and at factory specs for all 4 tires.

Originally posted by: Astaroth33
It is possible for the alignment to be within spec and have the vehicle still pull. This depends on the range of what the
manufacturer considers acceptable for the alignment. You should check the current air pressure to verify that it's even. You might also try rotating the tires to see if that has an effect (pull could be from the tires rather than from the alignment.)

 

[Mday]

prolly something wrong with the axels, hopefully. if anything cars should pull a little to the right here in the US (and some are actually made to do that).

 

[QTPie]

<<"Natural" my ass>> hehe... agree. You should keep complaining. Or even ask the manager to go with you on a test drive and scare the hell out of him with your "leftie" car.

 

[TomC25]

A + B + C = "X"

If "X" is less than the cost of a recall, we don't do one.

 

[rufruf44]

Is the tire the Goodyear Integra tires ?

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

Originally posted by: Mister T
Does your car only pull to the left when on the highway in the left hand lane...

Remember, highways are banked a couple of degrees for water drainage

you may want to work on your reading comprehension skills....

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: XFILE
i have a new 2002 Chevy Prizm w/700 miles. it pulls to the left. i didnt notice it when i test drove it. but it did when i drove it on the highway for a length of time.

took it to the largest Chevy dealership in Northern VA (koons chevy). they did a wheel alignment. now it pulled even more to the left. took it back. they said everything was in specs. they rotated the tires, but basically said it's the nature of the road. WTF?

i would blame it on the crown of the road if it pulls left when i'm on the left lane, and pulled right if i'm on the right lane. but it doesnt. it pulls left on the left lane, and goes straight on the right lane.

Any suggestions, besides putting more air pressure into the left tire?

THX

Being a mechanic this is what you need to do. Go back to the dealer that said it was normal. If there are any new prizms on the lot ask to test drive 2 of them. If they both do the same thing then it is normal. If one of them does not pull or both, then tell them to drive your car with you in it and point it out. This was they have another car to compare it to and can fix you problem faster.
My Mom drove a older Chevy Prizm and it was a great car. Now she has moved up to the Conv. Z28

Marlin

 

[JEDI]

i think so, yes. WHY?

Originally posted by: rufruf44
Is the tire the Goodyear Integra tires ?

 

[JEDI]

as i said in my orginial msg, it goes left on the left lane, but goes straight on the right most lane.

Originally posted by: Mister T
Does your car only pull to the left when on the highway in the left hand lane...

Remember, highways are banked a couple of degrees for water drainage

 

[UNCjigga]

[Bono]"She wore LEMMOONNNNN!!!!!!!"[/Bono]

 

[Pacfanweb]

2 things: 1: Balance won't make a car pull, unless it EXTREMELY unbalanced.

2: Your car has a problem. You need to have a competent front end tech align it. Obviously, the tech at the dealer you took it to is not. A good front end man doesn't just set the alignment to dead center of the specs and let it go. The specs have tolerances, and you don't just set every spec to the middle of the tolerance. Sometimes, you may need to adjust the camber, caster, or toe a bit toward the outer limits of the tolerances to get a car to not pull. It doesn't sound like they put that much effort into it.
It's kind of a pain, since you have to set up the car on the machine, align it, take it down, road test, put it on the machine again, etc. until you get it right.
If the dealership won't do anything else for you, you can do 2 things. One is, call the corporate customer service line and complain. That may or may not work, and will take quite a bit of time.
Another option is to take your car to a reputable front end shop, tell them the situation, and let them have a crack at fixing the pull. If they are able to fix it, pay them and take the bill to the dealer that did the work originally.
Don't go this route until the dealership absolutely refuses to work on it anymore, in fact, you may want to propose that to them, to see if they'll commit to paying another shop to fix it since they can't.

Good luck.