My new Smart Pulls to the left!

Katielarch · 08-29-2008, 10:12 AM

HI! new owner with 150 miles on my Passion and she pulls to the left. brought it back to the dealer and he tells me it's due to the crown on the road......Ummmm wouldn't that make it pull to the right?

but anyway.... they did an alignment and commented that the toe was out. so i'm going to pick it up tonight so i'm not 100% sure if it's been fixed i'm wondering if anyone else has had this problem???

**Old smart** · 08-29-2008, 10:20 AM

Happened to me, but to the right. As soon as I had some open road I took the car through a series of hard brakings from about 50 to about 10, letting the brakes cool off in between. After a half-dozen or-so cycles of that, the pulling was gone. Brake break-in.

SylenThunder · 08-29-2008, 10:23 AM

ditto what old smart said. Mine pulled to the left though... but ran the brakes through the proper break-in procedure and it has run straight and true since.

Katielarch · 08-29-2008, 10:29 AM

I did the brakes trick thinking the same thing!! and it didn't seem to help.

so i brought it in.

the dealership acted like they were doing me the biggest favor by servicing my BRAND new car! I understand they are inexpensive but really, a brand new car!?!?!

my biggest concern is the steering wheel isn't straight horizontal level. it's cocked to the right to drive straight.

thanks for your quick reply.

chieftmc · 08-29-2008, 10:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Old smart

Happened to me, but to the right. As soon as I had some open road I took the car through a series of hard brakings from about 50 to about 10, letting the brakes cool off in between. After a half-dozen or-so cycles of that, the pulling was gone. Brake break-in.

Wasn't it FredVon4 who recommended "burnishing" the brakes prior to leaving the dealership for pick up?

SylenThunder · 08-29-2008, 10:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Katielarch

my biggest concern is the steering wheel isn't straight horizontal level. it's cocked to the right to drive straight.

I was led to believe, (and think I read it on one of these forums..,) that wheel auto-centers. I don't know how it would do this, but I have heard of this feature on other cars, and I think I have it on my wife's Saturn.

Probably one of those tech things where you have to turn the key to 'acc' 5 times, hit the blinkers and click your heels three times saying "there's no place like Hambach".

**Old smart** · 08-29-2008, 11:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Katielarch

... my biggest concern is the steering wheel isn't straight horizontal level. it's cocked to the right to drive straight. ...

Also had that problem (different car). The problem came about after the front end was re-assembled, after a bull moose collision. The toe was set while the steering wheel was unknowingly cocked a bit. The fix was to turn the adjustable ball-ends on the tierods an equal number of turns, one in and the other out until the steering rack and wheel were pulled to centerline. Fairly simple. Dunno the situation with a smart.