Pull or Drag When Driving (city or highway)

[indus49]

I'm headed to the dealership this Friday to get my plates, and to have a weird steering pull checked out.

It feels like the steering may be slightly out of alignment, or one of the tires is unbalanced. I talked to the service department, and they asked if my tires were inflated to the correct pressure (32 psi)... I said I assumed so, but I would check.

Has anyone experienced this issue?

[XterraVersa]

What type of pavement are you feeling this? I can feel it on tined (grooved) concrete pavement. This is caused by the tire tread spacing matching the tined spacing.

I am part of a FWHA study that is trying to find a texture that doesn't cause this.

If it was on asphalt, get it checked out at the dealer for an alignment.

[Ever Victorious]

My last car had a little imbalance/damage on one of the front tires from the factory. I rotated the tires front-to-rear and the problem went away, because the "wobble" was no longer on either of the wheels that dictate steering.

[indus49]

Yeah this is on straight pavement, which leads me to believe it's the car. I'm headed up Friday, so I'll let you guys know what happens.

[craigv]

Mine used to pull to the left when I would let off of the gas, and to the right when I would accelerate from coasting. I don't know if I just got used to the car, or the tires aren't as new (I only have 750 miles on the car), but I haven't noticed it lately. I was on both old asphalt and brand new asphalt when I was seeing the pull.

[versace2007]

I have the same problem. When driving on straight pavement it feels like my cars pulls to the left and I would have to fight the steering wheel slightly and pull it to the right...Would I get a free alignment if i do need one?

[Ever Victorious]

Should be, the car is new enough. Most mfr's have a 1 year/12000 mile "adjustment" warranty, as part of their standard warranty.

[BenDupre]

Mine is pulling pretty solid left as well. Enough so that if I let the wheel go in the right lane of the 4-lane interstate it will cross over to the left lane. 4-lane divided highways are crested in the middle, so the right lane slopes to the right, left to the left: to drain. A properly aligned car should either hold or drift right in the right lane, drift left in the left lane, but very slightly.

My tires might be improperly inflated though. The dealer was messing with them last week when my TPMS light started blinking. I need to check that first. I'm waiting for new sensors BTW.

Ben

[Jemdawg]

Mine is fine. In fact, I could even take my hands off of the wheel on the highway and the car will stay straight (I don't make a habit out of this, don't worry).

My old 95' Sentra GXE used to pull to the left. Usually a car will pull towards an underinflated tire, but in this case, the front left tire was unbalanced, which also made the car shimmy around often.

[Paula]

I've got 3,200+ miles on my V. I do notice some pull, drift, and "floating" on a lot of the roads I normally drive- BUT - I think just about ALL of it is due to poor roads. What little interstate driving I do is on I-40 which is rutted out by all the 18 wheelers. The 4 lane highway that goes to town is being torn up by dump trucks from a paving/excavating company that uses it to gain access to the interstate. This same highway gets beat up by 18 wheelers as it is used to re-route traffic when there's an accident on the interstate.

The V's wheelbase isn't quite as wide as those big trucks so I figure that's why it seems to float (the tires just aren't getting real good contact with the road). If I drive in the left lane, its a much smoother ride.

Paula