2014 Passat TDI right pull

[JonLla84]

Maybe I'm crazy, but since racking up 20k+ mileage, I've noticed the car wants to go towards the right slightly... ill be on a small roads, highways, doesn't matter, any speed, and if i let off the wheel, it will drift towards the right...

the dealer did an alignment and said the wheels weren't really off, and the car continued to drift... so i went back after nothing really changed and today i went on a short trip with the shop foreman, who drove it... and said ok, lets take a look at the tires, and check the force pull, or something like that, where they put it on a machine and i forget the rest of the technical explanation they gave me...

nonetheless, it was supposed to have corrected the drift but its pretty much the same... i suppose i just have to live with it?

any one else experience a slight drift with the passat? I'm not sure why i never really paid attention to it before and now all of a sudden its wiggin me out...

 

[tdiatlast]

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=367213&highlight=Passat+pull+drift

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=390856&highlight=passat+drift+pull

...gee...the search function still works!

 

[cfm56]

all of us seem to experience this. Another item that makes you wonder how the heck they make vw's anymore... ours has done it since day one.

 

[tdiatlast]

^^^Nope. Not at all "all of us". There seem to be several that have complained, but certainly NOT "all of us".

Moderator should shut this thread down before it becomes ANOTHER thread on the issue, which is discussed at length in the 2 links posted above.

 

[JonLla84]

Ive read both threads and i just had tires rotated rears to front.... and then once they tried to correct the pull, flip flopped the fronts... so wondering if mine could also be from the rotation, even after two alignments... they say the wheels are within spec so i won't see abnormal tire wear... its only a slight pull, nothing drastic, but its there....

It should be ok to drive until the 30k service right? I'm at 22k.... i mean, it won't affect my wear, mpg, or anything else?

 

[VeeDubTDI]

A slight pull probably isn't worth the hassle of trying to fix, especially if you've already done two alignments and a tire rotation. If you aren't seeing any abnormal tire wear and it isn't obnoxious to drive, I wouldn't mess with it.

 

[JonLla84]

Hopefully it will balance itself out as the tires wear evenly or upon the next rotation..

 

[Not_Agn]

I'm glad mine doesn't pull. But if it did it would annoy the **** out of me. Cars are not suppose to pull unless something is messed up. Granted I do deal with some pulling on occasion from wind, or different crowns of roads. But all the time isn't right.

 

[Not_Agn]

This is where an old school alignment tech comes in handy. They can read what the computer gives them and see what's going on. Not just a minimum wage tech that knows green or red.

 

[JonLla84]

So now I'm concerned that i need to go back unfortunately... once i get it up to 72+ mph... say cruising at 75... i get slightest of vibration to the steering wheel... i mean slightest... i don't remember it being there before...

reason to go back again or just leave it alone?

 

[Not_Agn]

If your willing to deal with it, don't go back. If you want it right, then go back.

 

[tdiatlast]

Were the tires actually re-balanced when you rotated them at 20k+ miles? Even the best tires sometimes need rebalancing. Of course, tire balance isn't a warrantee item.

 

[jhinsc]

Tires can be the fault of right or left side bias pull. My 2014 had a definite right side pull when new, so I took it back 2x to get it fixed. They told me they just swapped sides on the front tires - (over an hour to do that?), but whatever they did it helped so it didn't pull as much. Then when the tires were rotated at 10k service, the right side pull was a bit stronger than before, although not as bad as it was originally. I'm just waiting for the service tech to tell I need an alignment at a future service so I can tell them they weren't able to cure the right side pull originally, so why would I want THEM to do my alignment now? So far I'm not seeing any unusual tire wear. My future plan is buy new tires at Costco and then take it to a tire shop to have the alignment done.

 

[tdiatlast]

Bottom line, gentlemen:

The NMS Passat (or ANY vehicle!) should NOT have any drift/pull to the left or right. If it does, there is a problem that needs to be corrected.
IIRC, VWoA recently (within the past 4 months?) clarified the alignment procedure for the NMS Passat. Make certain your servicing dealership is aware of this updated procedure.