Brand new 200 pulling to the left

[scotty@cliosport]

Hi all,

I have a brand new 200 FF with cup chassis and, since the day I bought it, it pulls a bit to the left. It's as though the steering self-centers into the wrong position, slightly to the left of where it should be. If I force the wheel into a straight ahead position by applying some right-hand correction the car tracks straight.

I've had the alignment done twice at two different places and today it is in with the dealer for the second time. They're starting to edge towards telling me that "all our other 200s do that and it's normal", effectively saying there is not problem. Seems contradictory to me - there *is* a noticable pull, they just reckon I should ignore it. Surprisingly I'm not keen on that solution.

Anyone experienced this? Any ideas? I'm getting a bit fed up and am considering rejecting the car. I expect my brand new car to be (nearly) perfect - plus we're not talking about a cosmetic issue here!

Would really appreciate any advice!

Thanks,
S

 

[Alan]

Are you holding onto the steering wheel whilst accelerating?

 

[Cookson]

Camber of the road? lol

 

[LEEMJONES]

Mine does it, always has done. Ive always put it down to the wider wheel base/tyres and the camber of the road. If it is massively pulling then get them to check it over, if its just slightly 'drifting' to the left then I would live with it. I simply dont notice it now but when I let my mate have a go he said "Its pulls to the left" straight away. At some point I may get the tracking/wheel allignment done but untill then I'll just keep pumping up my right arm. All the damn pot holes havent helped either I should imagine.

 

[dmn1989]

Camber of the road? lol

+ 1

:rasp:

 

[Louism]

Mine doesnt, i live on a private road which is vey bumpy so i have just had mine re done however that has now been fixed.

 

[dmn1989]

perfect example is the 308. it always pulls as it was set up for the french roads

 

[LiquidRich]

our R27 has done this since day one, had the tracking checked twice by different people and it was fine both times

 

[LEEMJONES]

Just to add, my 197 did it too before I got the 200 which is why I never really bothered about it.

 

[sussex_gti]

Get them to put in writing that its fine. Take note of the tyre depths, and re-check in a few thousand miles. If its tracking, and as bad as you say, it'll show pretty quickly in tyre wear on the edges. Then confront the dealer with them stating the tyres are shot, and they were adamant the tracking was fine.

 

[scotty@cliosport]

Camber of the road? lol

LOL! That was the dealer's first suggestion.

Are you holding onto the steering wheel whilst accelerating?

It's happening at steady speeds. If I take my hands off the wheel it starts to bear left.

Got a call from the dealer. The car has been driven and tweaked again on their alignment machine. Looks possibly like one of the previous alignments was done wrongly (by them). I collect tonight...

 

[scotty@cliosport]

Get them to put in writing that its fine. Take note of the tyre depths, and re-check in a few thousand miles. If its tracking, and as bad as you say, it'll show pretty quickly in tyre wear on the edges. Then confront the dealer with them stating the tyres are shot, and they were adamant the tracking was fine.

This is a great idea. I will do exactly this.

 

[Gorms]

Mine doesnt do this at all. All cars are designed to go the left a little but by the sounds of it yours is not right.

Gorms

 

[sussex_gti]

This is a great idea. I will do exactly this.

No problems. Its happened a few times at our dealership, and Nissan have forked out for new tyres.

 

[scotty@cliosport]

go the left a little but by the sounds of it yours is not right.

Pun of the week

 

[fUbAr]

My 182 does this.

 

[Marv-C]

I think all cars are designed to pull a little to the left in this country so that if you fall asleep at the wheel the car will drive into the curb not the oncoming traffic. My 197 also pulls slightly to the left and I don't see this as a problem.

 

[lbrench]

Thank god someone put this up, mine has done it since day 1!! Had it tracked 4 times and 4 places and the traking is perfect, had a full geom check at Renault manchester and everything was straight and I spoke tithe head mechanic and he said it's the nature of the car, he has got a 09 plate 197 and it does the same thing, very odd but oh well

 

[spomonie]

My Peugeot 307 pulls slightly to the left also. Had it tracked twice now and it still does it. Gotten used to it now though, don't really notice it anymore.

 

[Needster]

It'll be the tracking if you notice it massively - mines pulling on the 182 and I refuse to get it aligned because if you hit a pothole it'll knock it out again. But by the sounds of it, the dealers probably could've sorted it now. If its only a tiny amount they all tend to do it a little. Any very noticeable pulling will definitely be tracking alignment.

 

[JayR]

I think all cars are designed to pull a little to the left in this country so that if you fall asleep at the wheel the car will drive into the curb not the oncoming traffic. My 197 also pulls slightly to the left and I don't see this as a problem.

And possibly pedestrians! That sounds about right! Haha

 

[scotty@cliosport]

Just a quick update for anyone interested.

I got sorted out! A proper techy person came to the dealership, took the car out and has now aligned it for me. Looks like it was a fairly simple problem after all but took quite a few visits to sort out. In fairness, Renault have been good about it, organising courtesy cars, refunding my costs etc.

Enjoying the car a lot now!

Thanks all for the advice.
S

 

[KMB]

Mine doesnt do this at all. All cars are designed to go the left a little but by the sounds of it yours is not right.

Gorms

The same

 

[richard1]

Mine started pulling to the left after about 8k.

She's just had new boots on the front (17k) and had the tracking checked but it's still the same... I put it down to just being sensitive to the camber.

It's annoying when I think about it!!

 

[cliocc]

I was in having my front tyres re-balanced this morning at a garage which is beside Renault and Peugeot main dealers and the guy there has been there for 10 years plus. He said he has seen new cars come in with tracking issues and they are generally harder to true up. What was the issue in the end?

 

[Fred@BTM]

i think people need to learn how to align cars properly

i hate the word tracking!

 

[shadowsun]

My 182 used to do this, it's just being frank with whoever is doing the alignment and getting it just right.

 

[scotty@cliosport]

What was the issue in the end?

Seems like it was a simple alignment job. I reckon my pre-delivery check wasn't done. I had it aligned as a first attempt to fix but it seems the guy who did it (same organization as my dealer) didn't do too good a job... I had concluded there was something more afoot because that alignment check hadn't fixed things. Once the Ren guy got hold of it things got better.

 

[Jamie]

Fucked up alignment can majorly affect how your car handles. Mine was screwed and the car was all over the show. Thought something major was up. After a few things it got spotted and sorted. Made the world of difference.

 

[daydotz]

my dynamique does not badly my the steering wheel is slightly out as well sounds more common then i thought

 

[shadowsun]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it's more noticble when you have cup chassis too.