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Steering Pull...Alignment?

R

RV8Pilot

GUEST
My Av pulls slightly to the right. No biggie, went to the dealer and asked about it and he said they would not do an alignment until at least 1000 mi. I just broke 300 mi. Does this sound right? I hate to be scrubbing a tire for that long, plus it just bothers me to drive that way. It's not a bad pull, but enough to need fixing and be annoying :mad:
Should I insist on an alignment, or give it time?
 
I'd give it until 500...our local dealer recommended it. They want the thing to shake loose from being tied down on the truck. I would insist on it. Mine pulled so bad I had to hold the wheel hard to the right to keep it from going off the road. After a few hundred miles I took it in and that took care of it. Common problem.
 
idocpilk said:
I'd give it until 500...our local dealer recommended it. ?They want the thing to shake loose from being tied down on the truck. ?I would insist on it. ?Mine pulled so bad I had to hold the wheel hard to the right to keep it from going off the road. ?After a few hundred miles I took it in and that took care of it. ?Common problem.
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Your's sounds like it was worse than what I'm experiencing. Never thought about the suspension being squashed during transit. My Av was born 4/02, I bought it on the 16th of April so it hasn't had much time to recover if it was strapped down tightly.
Thanks !
 
gandolphxx said:
Unless it is parking itself ?:D I would give till 1000 and then let the dealer do his thing.
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I guess I'll wait to do anything. :(
It's so much fun to drive, I'm impatient to get the little problems squared away.
Thanks to XRover too, looks like it's time to chill :cool:
 
I picked mine up on 4/10/2 and it had a noticeable amount of pull to the left. I took it back to the dealership and spoke with the service manager. He said "wait and see if it still does this at 1,500 - 2,000 miles". He says sometimes it takes a few miles for the suspension to loosen up. I don't think it should take that long. Does anyone know if thats true or not? I have about 1,760miles on it now. :B:
 
Hey Blue,

The complimentary wheel alignment from GM was supposed to be for vehicles under 750 mi.

If your dealer told you to go 2000 mi then he wasn't thinking about GM picking up the tab.

You are way over due for that alignment. You have plenty of Miles on it and if it is still pulling, take it in and ask for the free alignment...

You shouldn't have a problem if your dealer told you to go the exta miles.......
 
Thanks XRover,
I have to take it in for the midgate leak :6: next thursday so I will see if they can also do the alignment then .
 
Well, at 1300 miles I took it in for an alignment. It took the tech 3 tries to get it done (align, drive, align, drive.etc), the last try I went for a drive with him. He said the Av's are very hard to adjust for alignment. The pull is a caster adjustment, and if you go too far with it you wind up with a "wandering" problem. I took the car back home, and it's much better but still drifts to the right. I can't believe that this is not fixable. It's like a bad dream for me...I had another (not chevy) new SUV in '93 that did the same thing! The dealer told me it wasn't a "pull", it was a "drift" which they can't fix. I took the SUV to BIG "O" and they did an alignment, the thing tracked perfectly!
The dealer tried to write it off by telling me about how roads have a "crown" that is causing it. The tech verified what I had said when I dropped the truck off...that it was happening on flat highways.
Maybe time to take my Av to BIG "O" too? Or maybe another dealer? :cautious:
 
I still have the same issue. The crown on certain roads does play a major roll in the pull and drift. I just find a level smooth road (good luck) and if the truck tracks straight then I am happy. The main thing is to make sure that if your on a road with a crown that the truck is not pulling hard to go down the crown. Some roads crown up and some down so the alignment tries to get a happy medium while also keeping the tires vertically aligned.

I had the wander problem on both of my Land Rover Discovery's. Those have an inherent wander.
 
I just made an appointment for an alignment at another dealer for Tuesday AM. I'll see what they can do. I agree with you, XRover, and am also only looking for straight tracking on a level road. Right now it will change lanes in about 3 seconds on a perfectly flat interstate. I'm sure this vehicle can do better. I'll give the goodwrench guys another chance, then it's BIG "O" for me... :)
 
My Av was pulling to the left. Had my alignment done on the 8th. @ 9,500 miles, no charge, now I have an appointment to get tires rotated on Monday.
 
Well, not often that problems just "go away", but this one did!
I was driving Monday afternoon, and noticed that the pull was gone! There was a slight drift to the right, but there was also a pretty good breeze blowing...
Going home, opposite direction, same breeze, slight drift left! If you subtract the wind effect I'd have to say the alignment is right on.
Went for my Tuesday service appointment, he fixed my bolster drive motor, I told him to forget the alignment. Maybe something just needed a little more time to loosten up?
In looking in my new service manual set, I see that there are lots of things to check BEFORE doing an alignment! Lubrication, chassis level, tire pressure (that one I had done :)) a few other things I can't remember now.
Anyway, I'm a happy camper, my Av is running great and I'm off to Sedona next week for a vacation!
 
I'm glad to here that one was a no brainer.....have fun rv8.. :B:
 
NJAV said:
I'm glad to here that one was a no brainer.....have fun rv8.. :B:
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Thanks...I'm looking forward to getting on the road with my Av now that the little kinks are taken care of.

One thought...as I sit here, thinking how weird it is that the pull just "went away", I remember last weekend adding air to my tires...took them up from 32 to 38 in front, 36 in back. Handling around turns improved, road feel increased, and...pull went away? I only did local driving (lots of curvy country roads) and didn't hit the highway till Monday. That's when I realized the drift was gone.

Maybe no mystery after all. :0:

Just finished installing my roof rack today, took me about 4 hours. Came out nice! FIPK coming...
 
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