car pulls right - AFTER 4-wheel alignment
Thread Starter
Three Wheelin'
Joined: Jul 2019
Posts: 1,560
Likes: 834
From: SF Bay Area
car pulls right - AFTER 4-wheel alignment
So my car has been pulling right (mostly at higher speed, 50mph+) .. for a few months now, so I finally decided to pay the $550 for a 4-wheel alignment ... well, diving it home today from the dealer, it still did it... not quite as bad, but still.. The car is a 4S with 4-wheel steering... could it be something else?
Tire pressure is 2.4Bar front and 3.0 Rear (although the right side is 2.8)... could that be the issue? I'm surprised the dealer didn't equalize the tire pressure.. I'll be taking it to a gas station and adding some air, but I highly doubt .2 BAR will make that much difference... right?
Tire pressure is 2.4Bar front and 3.0 Rear (although the right side is 2.8)... could that be the issue? I'm surprised the dealer didn't equalize the tire pressure.. I'll be taking it to a gas station and adding some air, but I highly doubt .2 BAR will make that much difference... right?
Rennlist Member
Joined: Jun 2015
Posts: 8,273
Likes: 6,727
So my car has been pulling right (mostly at higher speed, 50mph+) .. for a few months now, so I finally decided to pay the $550 for a 4-wheel alignment ... well, diving it home today from the dealer, it still did it... not quite as bad, but still.. The car is a 4S with 4-wheel steering... could it be something else?
Tire pressure is 2.4Bar front and 3.0 Rear (although the right side is 2.8)... could that be the issue? I'm surprised the dealer didn't equalize the tire pressure.. I'll be taking it to a gas station and adding some air, but I highly doubt .2 BAR will make that much difference... right?
Tire pressure is 2.4Bar front and 3.0 Rear (although the right side is 2.8)... could that be the issue? I'm surprised the dealer didn't equalize the tire pressure.. I'll be taking it to a gas station and adding some air, but I highly doubt .2 BAR will make that much difference... right?
Assuming that the dealer aligned the car properly - I’d look at your tires. Severe uneven wear can do funny things.
Failing that - control arms, mount bolts and bushings are all suspects. But this is usually on old, higher mileage cars. Unusual to see that on a newer car.
RAS motors can fail - though I would think that would generate a code.
Thread Starter
Three Wheelin'
Joined: Jul 2019
Posts: 1,560
Likes: 834
From: SF Bay Area
Rennlist Member
Joined: Jun 2015
Posts: 8,273
Likes: 6,727
on two occasions the car hit (on the right side) a significant freeway pot hole at speed and made a "slam" sound... could it be damage to said arms? I looked at the alignment report and everything is "Green" and with in spec... so it has to be something. Before the alignment, a lot of items where in the red, and out of spec..
Dealers are notoriously bad at diagnosing this stuff. I had funky highway behavior on my 993 (pulling and shimmy) that was resolved with new control arm bushings. Have the tech do a drive along so he can see what’s going on.
Rennlist Member
Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 689
Likes: 372
I would play with the tire pressure first. I always felt my 992 C2S with RAS pulled to the right. At highway speeds I could take my hands off the wheel and *most times* in the outer lane (right lane in the US) the car would drift off the road to the right within 50-100 feet. I had alignments, rotated tires, etc. - had a specialist Porsche shop locally align it and they claimed after a drive that it was fine. Then I adjusted my tire pressure to 32 front 37 rear and I have felt that it tracks much better. I still notice some tram-lining when in ruts - but I can explain that away - as I can often feel the wheel pull to the left or the right, not just drift to the right. This is a firm sports car with a short wheelbase - so I'm still getting used to it.
Rennlist Member
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 4,348
Likes: 1,638
From: santa barbara
Don’t overthink it! Having suspension components worn out at this every stage while not impossible is highly unlikely.First make sure that the caster and camber are the same on both sides. If one side has more camber the car will pull to the other side because it has a bigger contact patch and produce more drag. If one side has more caster it’ll will to that side. Having the thrust angle off will make the car-pull.. thrust angle @ 0 is having the toe in identical on both rear wheels. in extreme cases it’ll actually make the car dog track And pull under acceleration and breaking.The other thing to do if you haven’t switch the tires side to side and sometimes you can get what’s called a radial pull. The last thing is don’t always trust dealers and alignment machines many times they are way out of calibration. That’s why race cars use string and Mechanical gauges.Carl
Last edited by 4carl; Apr 18, 2022 at 11:07 PM.
Trending Topics
Racer
Joined: Mar 2021
Posts: 288
Likes: 329
From: SoCal
I assume theres no cross wind or crowned road causing the car to pull to the right. If not then Id suspect they screwed up the alignment. Did you get a printout of the alignment? The dealer could have done the alignment without energizing the RWS. Id take it back have them verify the alignment being sure to energize RWS. I had my car aligned at an alignment shop and verified the alignment definitely changes with and without the RWS energized.
Rennlist Stories
The Best Porsche Posts for Porsche Enthusiasts
10 Porsche Colors That Have More Personality Than Most People
Verdad Gallardo
Guntherwerks' Final Speedster Creation Is the Ultimate Porsche Restomod
Verdad Gallardo
10 Reasons I Hate Going to the Porsche Dealership (& the 1 Reason I Stay)
Joe Kucinski
Porsche Shakes Up The Nürburgring Lap Record Table Once Again
Verdad Gallardo
6 Ways the Porsche 911 GT3 S/C Redefines Performance
Joe Kucinski
10 Wildest Homologation Specials Porsche Ever Sold
Verdad Gallardo
Super Rare RUF BTR III Comes Out of Hibernation, Looking For a New Home
Verdad Gallardo
10 Porsche Opinions That Can Start a Fight
Joe Kucinski
One-Off Porsche 911 S/T Takes Inspiration From Famous '70s Race Car
Verdad Gallardo
Rennlist Member
Joined: Mar 2020
Posts: 1,733
Likes: 981
From: Central Florida
After my dealer did an alignment I looked at the spec sheet and although specs were all green, there was a significant difference in left and right camber. The tech said Porsche does this because of the crown in the road or some BS. I said please make them even and the car drives normally. So you might want to look at left vs right camber on your spec sheet.
Pro
Joined: Sep 2021
Posts: 656
Likes: 517
Green means nothing. It can be green and still WAY off. Please post a picture of the front and rear alignment printout or post the numbers. That's the only way we have a fighting chance to know if the alignment is on point.
Rennlist Member
Joined: Jul 2020
Posts: 672
Likes: 386
From: San Francisco
Rennlist Member
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 4,348
Likes: 1,638
From: santa barbara
Another thing to keep in mind is the alignment machines that dealers use will show green on camber if it’s within a half a degree of the other side. Porsche‘s factory spec is 2/10 of a degree. It’s a classic case of close enough is not close enough same thing with the other readings caster toe and thrust angle. Carl
Intermediate
Joined: Jan 2018
Posts: 28
Likes: 5
From: Redding, CA
Re: 992 Sam, Post alignment pulling or drift
Hi fellow Porsche gang,
I wont bore all with my long-term tech background.
Anyway 4Carl did hit the problem on the head with one of his suggestions. However, do differentiate between Tire pull or Drift. Either one can be a mentally depressing issue. In the old days with a customer car or when any one of my cars or pickups did this it used to wake me up at night trying to analyze the problem, but finally training, experience and wisdom took over, Drift is when the whole vehicle moves on a slight angle, kinda sideways, usually to the right, and its not road crown. Its like when a crosswind pushes your car from the side; the steering wheel DOESN'T try to push/pull your hand. For example: I have seen a rear axle have drag on one wheel, or different size tire in the rear cause a drift. Tire pull is more pronounced, and its 98% from the front. If the Align angles are close like the other nice Porsche team posted below, and i don't mean perfect, just all green is good and trust angle at spec., then the issue is internal tire belts. With a tire pull the steering wheel will PUSH AND PULL your hand, usually to the right. I think 4carl said to switch front tires side to side, he is dead on. My 2005 Boxter tires says "outside" on them so with not much worry i switched them and my Boxter went from moderate pull right to moderate pull left. And Carl is right, if you haven't fixed it yet, and the angles are good don't overspend and don't overthink or worry too much, Tires take a pounding, and with all that weight on them i am surprised that hey hold up as well as they do. Hope this helps you or other Porsche gang.
I wont bore all with my long-term tech background.
Anyway 4Carl did hit the problem on the head with one of his suggestions. However, do differentiate between Tire pull or Drift. Either one can be a mentally depressing issue. In the old days with a customer car or when any one of my cars or pickups did this it used to wake me up at night trying to analyze the problem, but finally training, experience and wisdom took over, Drift is when the whole vehicle moves on a slight angle, kinda sideways, usually to the right, and its not road crown. Its like when a crosswind pushes your car from the side; the steering wheel DOESN'T try to push/pull your hand. For example: I have seen a rear axle have drag on one wheel, or different size tire in the rear cause a drift. Tire pull is more pronounced, and its 98% from the front. If the Align angles are close like the other nice Porsche team posted below, and i don't mean perfect, just all green is good and trust angle at spec., then the issue is internal tire belts. With a tire pull the steering wheel will PUSH AND PULL your hand, usually to the right. I think 4carl said to switch front tires side to side, he is dead on. My 2005 Boxter tires says "outside" on them so with not much worry i switched them and my Boxter went from moderate pull right to moderate pull left. And Carl is right, if you haven't fixed it yet, and the angles are good don't overspend and don't overthink or worry too much, Tires take a pounding, and with all that weight on them i am surprised that hey hold up as well as they do. Hope this helps you or other Porsche gang.
