Guys, I really need your help here. Just bought a new 2009 R3 and after the first 100 miles I've noticed the car likes to pull left. Going 65-70 in the left lane I basically have to keep a very soft right turn to go straight. To make sure that's just not what the car does I got in the right lane and it pretty much went straight instead of wanting to pull right so I know it's not the slight banking of the road that's causing it.

What worries me is can a new car really have alignment issues straight from the factory? It had 35 miles on the odometer when I bought it so I'm worried someone hit a curb on a test drive and I just didn't notice on my test drive. Does anyone know what this could possibly be? I couldn't find anyone bringing this up in any thread (at least with stock tires and rims). Also at 65-70 the car is not as smooth and tire pressure is 31-33psi cold so I know it's not that.

Anything you guys can contribute would be really appreciated. The local dealership here in Louisville is filled with nothing but @$$holes and I'm worried they're going to give me the run-around. Thanks again.

 

Just get an alignment.

 

Yup, go to the dealer and let them know about this problem. You have not modded the car or anything so it had to be that way when you purchased the vehicle. Just let them know, they wont bite (i hope).

 

Dood you have a warranty... the dealer should know that you couldnt have honestly done something in that short of an amount of time and will just fix it. Its an allignment

 

well the first thing you should have done when you noticed it was call the dealer to mention it.

now-

check that you have- the tires inflated properly, that the tires are all the same brand/size etc, that they are all put on going the right direction. if so get the alignment check AT the dealer. its their job to make any necessary adjustments within the first 12k miles.

 

Is this on the same stretch of road? Could be radial pull.

 

It can also be a bad tire. I had that happen once with a new car. I first brought it to the dealer (as everyone here is saying) who did an alignment. When that didn't fix it, they told me to go to the tire dealer. Goodyear tire, so I went to the Goodyear store. They test drove it a few times, swapping tires around, and identified the bad tire.

But odds are it's alignment. It does not take much of a hit to knock that off without doing any real damage, and low profile tires like this are sensitive to misalignment.

Ken

 

Still sounds like tramling. Although 2 lane roads do have a 'crown', that effect can easily be overshadowed by the wear patterns car/trucks make in each lane, depending on how much traffic lives in each lane.

I remember when the 8 1st came out this was a very common 'problem' that peps were all concerned about until 'tramlining' was discussed thoroughly. The thing with the 8 is that the steering is so very direct and sensitive that when somone is used to driving a 'normal' car with the typical very damped, distant feeling to it, the 8 feels very strange indeed, pulling this way and that over every road irregularity.

Best to try it on a number of different roads and mention it to the dealer too, but I'd bet it's just tramlining.

 

actually my first thought was tramlining but then i sort of pushed that thought aside until spin posted that above and i re-read the op.

that fact that it acted differently in the left lane and the right lane actually makes a better case for tramlining.

still should check those other thing just to be sure. the alignment specs from factory are pretty loose and dealers have been known to not check the tire pressure before delivery.

 

my r3 pulls too

 

when i first let my girlfriend drive the 8 she had trouble keeping it straight. i had to explain to her what tramlining is.

makes alot of sense if your used to driving non performance cars. i remember when i first got my miata i thought the brakes sucked cause i was used to driving a van that was heavily assisted and needed very little effort while braking. the miata needed much higher pressure to brake.

 

Certain vehicles do it much more than others. There is a certain 4 lane divided road nearby, and one lane of it has 2 fairly deep distinct ruts in it, I guess because it is so old and a lot of semis drive on it. If I am in the rx7 or rx8 and am in that lane, I have to fight the wheel with both hands to keep the car in the lane at all, and if someone is beside me, they'd probably think I was either drunk or trying to run them off the road.

I can be in that lane in my truck and have almost no issue whatsoever...and it has wider tires than either of the cars.

IF the car doesnt pull most of the time, it's an issue with the road and not the car.

 

After reading all your posts I've definitely ruled out alignment. I had never heard of tramlining before and it seems like that's what I'm dealing with. I'm still planning on taking it to the dealer in the off-chance the steering wheel is slightly off-center (to be honest I can't really tell if it's there of if it's in my head so just to be safe). I'll keep you guys updated in case it's something out of the ordinary and can benefit the community.

 

yea, the 8 likes to, or at least mine does, follow the contours of the road A LOT. I thought I had issue with my suspension/alignment for a long time and the dealer told me it was all A'ok.

It just wants to hug the road and hug it no matter what.

 

it's tramling, almost 100% sure. most 2 land highways, the right lane is made so that it's relatively flat and easy to cruise in while the left lane is made so that it takes more effort to stay in lane (it's suppose to be a passing lane)

to test you alignment, find a giant parking lot or a 4 lane+ road, then just don't touch the steering wheel as it goes straight, it should lightly want to go left a little bit, very slight. this alignment is factory tuned to help counter the crown effect of most road to aid drainage (i opted to take it off when i realign my car). What this means for me is it takes more effort to stay in the lane when there are sever crowning of the road.