Car tracking left

[Paul29]

On 8/24/2024 at 5:30 PM, googsy said:

I'm like an expectant father now waiting for Paul to report back. Hopefully sorted 👍 

Googsy I posted an update today and it didn’t appear here for some reason.

Brought it to United tyres today. They put it on the alignment machine and said the alignment was way out, despite it being done only last week by Heffernan Tyres in Naas.

I was reluctant to potentially waste another €70 on the 4th alignment in a matter of weeks….but given you had such regard for this place I said I’d go for it. 

im delighted to say it is dramatically improved. At least 80%, if not 90% better. I need to take it out on a fast motorway drive to say whether it’s fully perfect, but it’s very noticeably much much better. 

so thanks very much to you for jumping in on this post and recommending this place. Absolutely shocking that I had to have 4 alignments done in 4 separate places before it could be done right.

Really appreciate your help 🙏🏻🙏🏻

 

[googsy]

Delighted to hear that .Used Heffernan tyres before too , rubbish. At least you know where to go next time ! I won't go anywhere else. Keep us posted .

[wharfhouse]

4 hours ago, Paul29 said:

Googsy I posted an update today and it didn’t appear here for some reason.

Brought it to United tyres today. They put it on the alignment machine and said the alignment was way out, despite it being done only last week by Heffernan Tyres in Naas.

I was reluctant to potentially waste another €70 on the 4th alignment in a matter of weeks….but given you had such regard for this place I said I’d go for it. 

im delighted to say it is dramatically improved. At least 80%, if not 90% better. I need to take it out on a fast motorway drive to say whether it’s fully perfect, but it’s very noticeably much much better. 

so thanks very much to you for jumping in on this post and recommending this place. Absolutely shocking that I had to have 4 alignments done in 4 separate places before it could be done right.

Really appreciate your help 🙏🏻🙏🏻

 

That's great to hear and just shows how bad many of the tyre places are at alignment. If the alignment has been out for some time and new tyres are not put on the car when it's been done properly there can be some residual error that's down to uneven tyre wear. It may improve over the next months or may not be completely right until new tyres are fitted. 

[Paul29]

3 hours ago, wharfhouse said:

That's great to hear and just shows how bad many of the tyre places are at alignment. If the alignment has been out for some time and new tyres are not put on the car when it's been done properly there can be some residual error that's down to uneven tyre wear. It may improve over the next months or may not be completely right until new tyres are fitted. 

Makes sense.  Thankfully the tyres aren’t visibly unevenly worn yet. I’ll probably get it redone whenever I do change the tyres down the line…there’s lots of thread of them at the moment.  Just glad now to have it sorted…it was driving me F’ing demented.  I had only changed to Lexus this year for an easier life after 7 years in Audis and I was losing the faith big time.  

[Paul29]

4 hours ago, googsy said:

Delighted to hear that .Used Heffernan tyres before too , rubbish. At least you know where to go next time ! I won't go anywhere else. Keep us posted .

I won’t go anywhere else either. Thanks again pal. 

[Paul29]

On 8/24/2024 at 5:30 PM, googsy said:

I'm like an expectant father now waiting for Paul to report back. Hopefully sorted 👍 

Well….that didn’t last long. 
The car is pulling left again after a couple of weeks of being perfect. 
I don’t think this is that the alignment wasn’t done properly. 
There must be something else going on with the car. 
anyone any ideas please ?

the underbody and suspension has been checked multiple times and I’m told it’s fine. 
 

[Notamech]

2 hours ago, Paul29 said:

Well….that didn’t last long. 
The car is pulling left again after a couple of weeks of being perfect. 
I don’t think this is that the alignment wasn’t done properly. 
There must be something else going on with the car. 
anyone any ideas please ?

the underbody and suspension has been checked multiple times and I’m told it’s fine. 
 

Some amount of pulling left is normal i reckon due to the roads being banked that way for drainage. Also how much pull you feel varies from car to car. In my opinion the IS steering has a bit of a wobble / pull under certain circumstances. Perhaps watch this video hopefully it helps you diagnose if its even an issue. Another thing to check is if at somepoint aftermarket parts were used in the suspension. If someone checked it and said its fine they may mean that its not leaking broken etc...but if its not original it can cause problems.

 

[scythe]

So take it back to the people who got it right.  They'll want to make you happy so you keep on going there, and seem to know what they are doing.

: o )

[IS300FSPORT]

17 hours ago, Paul29 said:

Well….that didn’t last long. 
The car is pulling left again after a couple of weeks of being perfect. 
I don’t think this is that the alignment wasn’t done properly. 
There must be something else going on with the car. 
anyone any ideas please ?

the underbody and suspension has been checked multiple times and I’m told it’s fine. 
 

Did you get the tyres replaced? As mentioned in an earlier post the belt within a tyre can be defective speaking from experience. Acknowledge it's a tricky one to rule out with out spending extra cash.  Worst case you can always sell on your current tyres to recover some of the money, assuming they prove to be good & still have reasonable amount of tread left. 

[Mr_Groundhog]

Well all along I thought something like this would sound too niche to most of you but.... ME TOO!

I also have the same issue, and I already told the dealership (servide due in a couple of months) so they look at it in detail, because it is just like the OP described it: I need to continuously correct to the right slightly, for the car to keep straight, by about two degrees. Once you notice, you can't unsee it and i find it very annoying.
I had a specialist look at it, with new tyres on, and hunter alignment didn't find anything. It was all in the green.

It is potentially a dreadful rabbit hole of changing wheel bearings, suspension arms, etc....(and spend way more money than I'd get for the car if I sold it). So I fear I may have to live with the issue for the foreseeable if the dealership can't find a solution.

[scythe]

I'll attach a document to this post. If you look at page 37 you'll see a section called "Practices to follow for best results".   This is a tiresome section, that no one should bother with - do you really expect a technician to roll the car back and forth by turning a rear wheel to let the steering settle on it's own?

There's other parts of this document that also are just timewasters, and best ignored.

You need to find someone committed to using a wheel alignment machine properly, preferably someone who will let you watch while they do it.  Hard to find, but great to cultivate a relationship with the people who do the aligning!  

: o )

3850-T WinAlign® Software - Operations Manual.pdf

[Boeryeoes]

Had a similar experience. Bought 2019 IS300h which tracked well. Was on UUHP tires (Bridgestone potenza sport) and replaced them with CC2s at a fast fitter. Immediately tracking was horrid. Steering wheel was offset to the left. 
 

Fatfitter did alignment and made things worse, steering wheel was now offset to the right. Went to the dealer and they aligned too. Was slightly better. 
 

As the whole experience on the CC2s was lackluster I replaced them with Goodyear F1Eagle 6s ( good tracking tires) things improved further but still not as it should. Offset was now to the left. 
 

Did another alignment at the dealer and this time it was alright. The car now goes straight when the steering wheel is center. 
 

Still don't know what caused it but in sticking to these tires and let dealer do alignment. 
 

What this 18 month affair has taught me is that this car has very sensitive tracking. 

[Mr_Groundhog]

Could it be the fact that some tyres aren't symmetrical?
I realised mine aren't a while ago..... if that's what is causing it (and not serious mechanical damage), it may be good news.

When you look at for instance, rain tyres, they usually mirror each other, but in this case, they aren't. See how the grooves flow on each side? Does this make sense?

[GMB]

Well, most tyres have "inside" and "outside" plus direction arrows so there should be no confusion. I know that my motorbike front tyre looks back to front but it isn't, based on the indicators on the tyre and the fact that my experienced tyre fitter explained why the pattern does not look right even though IT IS!  I could send pictures but nobody would be remotely interested in such a boring thing, even though your life may depend on it!

[Mr_Groundhog]

16 hours ago, GMB said:

I could send pictures but nobody would be remotely interested in such a boring thing

Sorry I posted a picture of tyres. Next time I will ask before posting.

[LenT]

17 hours ago, Mr_Groundhog said:

Could it be the fact that some tyres aren't symmetrical?
I realised mine aren't a while ago..... if that's what is causing it (and not serious mechanical damage), it may be good news.

When you look at for instance, rain tyres, they usually mirror each other, but in this case, they aren't. See how the grooves flow on each side? Does this make sense?

I almost dozed off looking at your pictures ….but suddenly I wondered if they were on the same axle?

As you say, they appear asymmetrical in tread- in which case one of them is the wrong way around.  The outer tyre wall will be marked ‘outside’.  

[Mr_Groundhog]

2 hours ago, LenT said:

I almost dozed off looking at your pictures ….but suddenly I wondered if they were on the same axle?

As you say, they appear asymmetrical in tread- in which case one of them is the wrong way around.  The outer tyre wall will be marked ‘outside’.  

But that is the thing! That they are indeed correctly fitted, rear and front: I checked when I realised
That´s how they are....and they aren't cheap tyres: they're michelins
BTW yes they are both front tyres.
Both tyres have the same groove pattern: if you take one of the images and turn it upside down by 180 degrees, it would turn into the other, but the thing is that right now, they both show "outside" as they are. And they don't have an indication to fit right or left (Im trying my best to explain but I guess it can sound confusing).

[GMB]

4 hours ago, Mr_Groundhog said:

they're michelins

I think I have figured out the strange tyre pattern problem. You would think that they would be symmetrical about an imaginary central axis ( if you can figure that out! )  But they are Michelin tyres, made in France, in the afternoon, after a couple of litres of red wine with lunch. So, there you go. 

It does look wrong but I suppose so long as the water is deflected it does not matter in which direction?

BTW I posted a picture of a tyre about two weeks ago, asking for advice - the silence was deafening.

[Paul29]

I believe I have solved this problem.

It seems that the issue that was the cause of the car pulling left despite multiple alignments was an asymmetry in the position of the bonnet on the left and right side, affecting the aerodynamics of the car. 

when the bonnet was closed I noticed a bigger gap on the passenger side than on the driver side, and also the bonnet was sticking up about 2cm on the right under the passenger side windscreen, which was causing the car to drift. 

A sharp press on the bonnet to even both surfaces immediately fixed the car pulling left. 

Looking at both the bonnet and the boot, the finish is poor, with slight variances beteeen the gap on drivers and passenger sides. 

In hindsight I noticed this before, and noticed it on other IS300’s aswell, but never thought it would affect the handling of the car…..well it does. 

I hope this helps someone. I was losing my mind with this issue. 

[Boeryeoes]

Amazing it was the bonnet position.  

On my car the panel gaps are all tidy and regular hence me wondering about your car. Could it be that your car has been in an accident and was poorly repaired?

[LenT]

2 hours ago, Paul29 said:

It seems that the issue that was the cause of the car pulling left despite multiple alignments was an asymmetry in the position of the bonnet on the left and right side, affecting the aerodynamics of the car. 

Well spotted, Paul.

Not something that came to mind as a possible cause, I must say.  I expect that wind noise at speed is also reduced - a clue for others who may have the same problem in the future, maybe?

[Paul29]

1 minute ago, Boeryeoes said:

Amazing it was the bonnet position.  

On my car the panel gaps are all tidy and regular hence me wondering about your car. Could it be that your car has been in an accident and was poorly repaired?

I don’t know. It’s possible, but I saw this on other Is300’s when test driving them before I bought the one I have. There is similar asymmetry on the boot gaps. I bought the car approved from a Toyota main dealer…I would be surprised if they sold me a car that had been totalled. It’s perfect in every other respect. 

[Paul29]

3 minutes ago, LenT said:

Well spotted, Paul.

Not something that came to mind as a possible cause, I must say.  I expect that wind noise at speed is also reduced - a clue for others who may have the same problem in the future, maybe?

Immediately the ride was smoother and quieter. Yes, hopefully it helps someone 🙏🏻

[Mr_Groundhog]

3 hours ago, Paul29 said:

Immediately the ride was smoother and quieter. Yes, hopefully it helps someone 🙏🏻

@Paul29 Would you be able to post an image or two of where things were looking weird and misaligned please?

[Paul29]

21 minutes ago, Mr_Groundhog said:

@Paul29 Would you be able to post an image or two of where things were looking weird and misaligned please?

I’m away at the moment and don’t have a before picture, only an after, but this is the area of the passenger side of the bonnet picture I’m referrring to where the panel gaps was elevated about 2cm.