Car pulling left.....help!

[silverfox_6]

Really appreciate some advice on why my car is pulling left despite having all the tyre pressures checked and laser wheel alignment and they even said the camber and toe are correct so this shouldn't be happening, and it is more prevalent when coming to a standstill, the wheel seems to turn on its own nearly 90 degrees left!

I have a BMW X6 only a year old so all in warranty, but think BMW will fob me off, any suggestions of what it could be apart from the obvious like the alignment!?

[Fastra]

I'd imagine you'd really have to persist with BMW, saying that it's very much a safety issue!
You've checked all the obvious signs so chuck it back at them and tell them its dangerous.

[snuffle]

When the car is cold drive it gently for a few miles, does one wheel feel warmer than the other? possible sticking caliper.

Or possible PAS fault.

[Dave Hedgehog]

snuffle said:

When the car is cold drive it gently for a few miles, does one wheel feel warmer than the other? possible sticking caliper.

Or possible PAS fault.

sticking caliper can cause this as can a bent rim if there wide low profile

did OP see the laser geo report? the thrust line is the main thing not the individual wheel setup

make sure your adjusting for the camber of the road driving with the white line down the centre of the car where safe to do so

[davepoth]

silverfox_6 said:

Really appreciate some advice on why my car is pulling left despite having all the tyre pressures checked and laser wheel alignment and they even said the camber and toe are correct so this shouldn't be happening, and it is more prevalent when coming to a standstill, the wheel seems to turn on its own nearly 90 degrees left!

I have a BMW X6 only a year old so all in warranty, but think BMW will fob me off, any suggestions of what it could be apart from the obvious like the alignment!?

Did it start happening suddenly? Or has it been getting progressively worse? I've had a failed wheel bearing cause this sort of thing as it was chewing through the stub axle...

[ColinM50]

I really would take this back to BMW and INSIST on speaking with the service manager and take him out for a drive in it. Really INSIST. If he won't or says there's nothing wrong, ask to see the dealer principle and tell him you're rejecting the car as not fit for purpose. A car, any car, should not display this sort of dangerous characteristic. Do not accept being fobbed off. Remind them there are newspapers and TV programmes (Watchdog etc) that just love this sort of dodgy engineering and dealer.

[silverfox_6]

Thanks for the advice guys, going to book into BMW this week just wanted to educate myself first, as BMW originally told me that the wheel alignment would cost over £250 and I had it locally done for £100 and all the tolerances were all fine before I even had it done!

Good suggestions though I will ask these to be checked....

[Dave Hedgehog]

ColinM50 said:

I really would take this back to BMW and INSIST on speaking with the service manager and take him out for a drive in it. Really INSIST. If he won't or says there's nothing wrong, ask to see the dealer principle and tell him you're rejecting the car as not fit for purpose. A car, any car, should not display this sort of dangerous characteristic. Do not accept being fobbed off. Remind them there are newspapers and TV programmes (Watchdog etc) that just love this sort of dodgy engineering and dealer.

one of the problems is that most sales and techs just don't notice it, they don't seam to be attuned to a car, they don't care, or they drive to much dross

One of my GT4s was pulling to the right, i argued the toss with them, there master tech said it was fine, in the end we agreed that if it was in spec i would pay and if out they would pay, geo test showed the thrust line was 1 and bit degrees out to the right ..

[snuffle]

ColinM50 said:

I really would take this back to BMW and INSIST on speaking with the service manager and take him out for a drive in it. Really INSIST. If he won't or says there's nothing wrong, ask to see the dealer principle and tell him you're rejecting the car as not fit for purpose. A car, any car, should not display this sort of dangerous characteristic. Do not accept being fobbed off. Remind them there are newspapers and TV programmes (Watchdog etc) that just love this sort of dodgy engineering and dealer.

Get off your high horse darling you will hurt yourself.

OP make no mention of even asking BMW to investigate in his first post.

[Carlique]

I've had this problem before in my car, turned out It was the torque sensors in the electric power steering were dodgey and it was messing up the ecu, so it was telling it to apply more pull left, rather than balancing them out etc. For me it was cheaper to replace the power steering column/motor, however I recommend you just go to BMW and get the to do a full car scan and take it from there. You're in warranty so i would'nt fret too much.

[Rich_W]

silverfox_6 said:

Really appreciate some advice on why my car is pulling left despite having all the tyre pressures checked and laser wheel alignment and they even said the camber and toe are correct so this shouldn't be happening, and it is more prevalent when coming to a standstill, the wheel seems to turn on its own nearly 90 degrees left!

I have a BMW X6 only a year old so all in warranty, but think BMW will fob me off, any suggestions of what it could be apart from the obvious like the alignment!?

I reckon if they have shown you a printout with all the figures in spec. Then they evidently are.

Does the wheel "turning at stopping" thing happen the other way if you are on the other side of the road? If it Does. No fault. If it doesn't ask them to try new front pads and discs.

ColinM50 said:

I really would take this back to BMW and INSIST on speaking with the service manager and take him out for a drive in it. Really INSIST. If he won't or says there's nothing wrong, ask to see the dealer principle and tell him you're rejecting the car as not fit for purpose. A car, any car, should not display this sort of dangerous characteristic. Do not accept being fobbed off. Remind them there are newspapers and TV programmes (Watchdog etc) that just love this sort of dodgy engineering and dealer.

I bet you're fun in day to day life. I hope the OP has more of alife than you do or he'll never get anything done!

Dave Hedgehog said:

make sure your adjusting for the camber of the road driving with the white line down the centre of the car where safe to do so

You'd be AMAZED how many people Ive seen complain about their car pulling left. When they drive on the other side of the road (briefly) it pulls right. I swear some people shouldn't be allowed to drive cars.

[SSBB]

I'm assuming the X6 has very wide and low profile tyres. Could just be tramlining.

[D900SP]

Try swapping the wheels and tyres from one side to the other, it may have a tire problem.
The shop that did the wheel alignment should have done that already when the check and adjust didn't work.

[silverfox_6]

Thanks for all advice, just an update... went to BMW today, head technician came out in the car and test drove the car. he agreed it violently pulled, said going to ask head office if they have had previous complaints with X6 or anything similar.

they want to keep the car a few days for tests but did say they firstly will only do the investigations once they have to rechecked the 4 wheel alignment on their own machine at my cost! i gave them copy or report I got previously from an independent that showed all levels are in tolerances but still want to do own checks on alignment before other investigations.

[silverfox_6]

just to update again, it has been in BMW for a few days now, they said all alignment, tyre pressures, tracking is perfect so no problem there....they checked the PAS, sticking wheel calipers, brakes etc and nothing, they have said they are going to have to talk to head office to see if any other X6s have ever had the same problem....fingers crossed it gets sorted!

but if anyone has any other ideas would be great to hear them as seems its none of the conventional problems....

[Rich_W]

silverfox_6 said:

just to update again, it has been in BMW for a few days now, they said all alignment, tyre pressures, tracking is perfect so no problem there....they checked the PAS, sticking wheel calipers, brakes etc and nothing, they have said they are going to have to talk to head office to see if any other X6s have ever had the same problem....fingers crossed it gets sorted!

but if anyone has any other ideas would be great to hear them as seems its none of the conventional problems....

Nice to see being reasonable with the dealer is having the desired effect. Good job you didn't follow the idiotic advice proffered up the page about calling Watchdog (which for the record no-one watches anyway ) Not surprised it's stumped them. Modern cars are a bit of nightmare at times and it may be something really abstract causing the fault.

[chongwong]

QUICK!!! turn right a bit

[With these feet]

I assume you cannot swap wheels around the car due to directional tyres? Otherwise a front - rear swap would be the first option.
Irregular tyre wear can magnify pulling / tramlining especially with wide tyres.

Ask the dealer if they would try another set of wheels/tyres off another car as a test. A friend of mine recently had all 4 tyres replaced by BMW when they kept deforming when warm. Took many weeks and several complaints before they admitted there was an issue with a batch of rubber.