Steering Wheel always turns to right by itself

Discussion of Infiniti's amazing (and underrated) sport-luxury crossovers, the EX35 and EX37. For 2014, the EX series will be renamed QX50, in line with Ininfiit's new naming conventions.
rootbeer
Posts: 5
Joined: Thu Dec 11, 2008 10:19 am
Car: EX35

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hey, I just got my new EX35, 18' wheels, AWD. When I am driving, the steering wheel always turns to right by itself (the car is not going straight). this happens all the time, either in city or highways. I asked the dealer and he said this is normal, but I feel this is really uncomfortable . I already asked the dealer to do a Wheel Alignment testing. But before this, I wanna know if here is anyone has the same problem.

thanks...


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MagikDragon
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Car: 1991 240SX, 1992 240SX, 1986 MB 190E 2.3-16
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It is normal for a car to have a little tendency to turn away from the crest of the road, but if it is doing it all the time, you should get this aligned. I believe there is an actual calculation for how bad it is, like if it goes X ft off course during Y ft Forward travel it is still considered in spec. I'm sure this information isn't hard to find either.

rootbeer
Posts: 5
Joined: Thu Dec 11, 2008 10:19 am
Car: EX35

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MagikDragon, thanks for your quick reply.

CaribMon71
Posts: 198
Joined: Tue Aug 05, 2008 12:28 pm
Car: 2009 FX50 Sport

Previous Car: 2008 EX35 Journey AWD
Location: Arlington, VA

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Might be easy to find, but difficult and impractical to actually calculate. It should not be veering off to either side. The fact that it favors one side should be an indication of an issue. It should pretty much track straight.

KJ911TT
Posts: 150
Joined: Fri Oct 10, 2008 2:34 pm
Car: 2004 Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet
2008 Infiniti EX35

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CaribMon71 wrote:Might be easy to find, but difficult and impractical to actually calculate. It should not be veering off to either side. The fact that it favors one side should be an indication of an issue. It should pretty much track straight.
Most roads are slanted towards the right for drainage purposes. That way, all the water runs to the curb where the sewage drains are. As a result, cars will tend to veer to the right. BUT, if it's really bad, it could be a problem.

- KJ

rootbeer
Posts: 5
Joined: Thu Dec 11, 2008 10:19 am
Car: EX35

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thanks for you guys.

I forgot to mention that the dealer told me this is a technology which is for safety reason. if I fall into sleep when I am driving, the car will always go to the right side, so I wont have a crash with the left side coming car.

In fact, it truly does a good job to keep me awake since I need to adjust the steering wheel all the time.

but I dont think his explanation makes any sense.

any comments?

kamiguy
Posts: 269
Joined: Mon Jul 28, 2008 8:48 am
Car: 2008 EX Scarlet silver wheat interior.. all options

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Does the car seem to slow down when it's pulling to the right? I wonder if it has to do with the Lane Departure Prevention system, if your car is so equipped. If so, this would indicate that you are always drifting to the left as you drive and the car corrects itself to the right.

rootbeer
Posts: 5
Joined: Thu Dec 11, 2008 10:19 am
Car: EX35

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NO.

I do have the LDP equipped, but I never turn it on.besides, this function only effects when the speed is above 72km/h, I usually dont drive this fast in city.
Modified by rootbeer at 6:26 PM 12/11/2008

302@12psi
Posts: 144
Joined: Sun Sep 28, 2008 3:33 pm

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If it's the LDP it should give an audible tone that it's being activated and you should also see a light on the dash if I'm not mistaken.

I'm guessing it's probably a bad alignment or a malfunction of the LDP. If it's constant or at the same speed over and over again I'd say it's probably the alignment.

specialist23
Posts: 87
Joined: Wed Sep 17, 2008 4:04 pm

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rootbeer wrote:hey, I just got my new EX35, 18' wheels, AWD. When I am driving, the steering wheel always turns to right by itself (the car is not going straight). this happens all the time, either in city or highways. I asked the dealer and he said this is normal, but I feel this is really uncomfortable . I already asked the dealer to do a Wheel Alignment testing. But before this, I wanna know if here is anyone has the same problem.

thanks...
unfortunately i think the "soft" steering is causing a lot of this. we just brought our ex in as well and they put it onto the alignment machine and they said everything was within specs even though it does drift quite a bit.

rootbeer
Posts: 5
Joined: Thu Dec 11, 2008 10:19 am
Car: EX35

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specialist23 wrote:unfortunately i think the "soft" steering is causing a lot of this. we just brought our ex in as well and they put it onto the alignment machine and they said everything was within specs even though it does drift quite a bit.
specialist23, thanks for sharing your experience.the steering is indeed very soft. I will update here as long as I get the alignment test result.

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Timmbo
Posts: 3212
Joined: Tue Nov 20, 2007 9:14 am
Car: 2013 Infiniti JX35 AWD & 2013 Nissan Maxima Sport Pkg
Location: Green Bay, WI

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I had that happen on my Armada, get it to the dealer, the Alignment is off, they will fix it under warranty.

garbagejunk
Posts: 9
Joined: Sat Nov 22, 2008 10:27 am

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There is a service bulliten out there related to this.

I copied and pasted some of the info below. Its a 19 page pdf file. Not sure if its related to your issue.

Classification: ST08-002 Reference: ITB08-046 Date:October 9, 2008

ALIGNMENT AND ROAD CROWNAPPLIED VEHICLES: All InfinitiSERVICE INFORMATIONCustomers may report that their vehicle “pulls” or the steering wheel is “off-center”. This bulletin discussesthese subjects and provides diagnostic and repair information.If a vehicle drifts to one side of the road, it may be the normal result of road crown. Most roads in the UnitedStates are built with a “crown” to help rain water drain from the road surface. The slope of the road crownvaries from place to place. In most cases the crown slopes 2 to 3 degrees to the right.Vehicles have a natural tendency to drift to the low side of the crown. The greater the slope of the crown, thefaster the vehicle will drift in that direction.Tires and vehicles are designed to counteract the effect of typical road crown, but may not fully counteract theeffect of a highly crowned road.Some freeways slope to both the left and right from the center. When driving on a freeway that slops in bothdirections, a vehicle may exhibit a small amount of drift to the left when driving in the left lane and a smallamount of drift to the right when driving in the right lane.This bulletin does not address road crown issues because they are not vehicle related, although thecustomer may incorrectly perceive them to be. Use the information provided in this bulletin to identify andrepair other types of "vehicle pull".Incident Description:PullThe vehicle consistently drifts to one side while driving at a constant speed on a straight, flat road.• A vehicle is said to “pull” if it completes a lane change in less than 7 seconds (with no steeringcorrection from the driver) when driving at 60 MPH on a road with less than 2 degrees road crownslope. All four wheels must pass into the other lane during this time (7 seconds).


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