Steering wheel not straight on a new Forester

[chester]

I just picked up my Forester 2.5 XT a few days ago
and found that in order to go straight I must hold
the steering wheel at about 3-5 degrees to the right.

If I hold the steering wheel straight while driving
on the freeway at 65 mph then the front left wheel
will go into the next lane in about 5 seconds or so.

Is it possible to adjust this car's steering wheel
like you do with a bicycle's handle bar or does this
problem have something to do with the alignment ?

Thanks in advance for the suggestions.

 

[TM]

This seems to be a common problem with new Subaru vehicles.

Do not try the bicycle handle bar approach. It will not solve the
pulling to one side. Is the car brand new or new to you?

In the past I have found the following causes:

1. Defective Tires: Is the problem more noticeable at higher speeds?
Move the front tires to the rear. If this solves the problem, try to
get the defective tire replaced under warranty. Good luck!!!

2. Alignment problem. It seems that the alignment could be lost during
transportation due to an incorrect vehicle tie down procedure.

3. Frame problem. Lets hope this is not your case.

Take the car back to your dealer a.s.a.p. If you cannot do it right
away, call your dealers service advisor and let him know about the
problem. Have them solve this issue.

 

[Andrew Morris]

yep, it's a matter of adjusting the tie ends... get your dealer to fix it...
should never have passed the PDS like that...

 

[chester]

Thanks for the advice. It had about 150 miles on the odometer
when I picked it up because it had been driven from another
dealership in another city. But I don't think anybody could
have driven it so bad to create this problem during the first
150 miles.

I'll call the dealer tomorrow to make an appointment to
bring it in.

 

[Edward Hayes]

I would first check the tire pressure with a good digital gage. A soft tire
will result in pulling but, not explain the steering of set. Roads have
crowns that can cause drifting. Does the car drift on all roads? Try the
other lane to see if the drifting is caused buy the road. eddie

 

[2 Stroke]

Unless you have one tire (RF) very low on air, I would suspect that
somebody hit something with the left front tire ( curb, rock, center
divider), pushing it rearward. This moves the caster in the negative
direction). If this is what happened, that same rearward motion will
always change the toe settings, which will cause your steering wheel
to be off center.

Unless it was never aligned after manufacture, something is almost
certainly bent under your Forestor. If you're so inclined, get a tape
measure and carefully measure the distance between the front and rear
wheels on each side of the car. I'm sure you will find that the left
side wheels are closer together than the right side wheels. A
difference of 2mm will cause a slight but noticeable pull toward the
side with the shorter measurement. Differences bigger than that will
be pronounced.

Good luck with the dealer. I hope everything works out.

Regards,
Steve Hansen

 

[tonyrama]

Unless you have one tire (RF) very low on air, I would suspect that
somebody hit something with the left front tire ( curb, rock, center
divider), pushing it rearward. This moves the caster in the negative
direction). If this is what happened, that same rearward motion will
always change the toe settings, which will cause your steering wheel
to be off center.

Unless it was never aligned after manufacture, something is almost
certainly bent under your Forestor. If you're so inclined, get a tape
measure and carefully measure the distance between the front and rear
wheels on each side of the car. I'm sure you will find that the left
side wheels are closer together than the right side wheels. A
difference of 2mm will cause a slight but noticeable pull toward the
side with the shorter measurement. Differences bigger than that will
be pronounced.

He didn't say that it pulled to the left, he said the steering wheel was off
kilter. This should be just a tie rod adjustment.
Tonyrama

 

[2 Stroke]

You're right, he didn't. He phrased it like this:

"If I hold the steering wheel straight while driving
on the freeway at 65 mph then the front left wheel
will go into the next lane in about 5 seconds or so."

=============================================

 

[chester]

I went back to the dealer yesterday but the service manager
said that Subaru wants their customers to wait until the car
reaches 1,000 miles (or wait until the 3,000 mile oil change)
because the problem could have been caused by the way the car
was transported and may correct itself after a while.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I really doubt if the problem
will go away by itself but will just have to wait and see.

 

[Andrew Morris]

Unacceptable... Tell them to fix it... if it is pulling to one side, it
hasn't been predelivered properly.

having worked in the tyre industry whilst at university, a wheel alignment
problem will never rectify itself...

 

[F. Plant]

Unacceptable... Tell them to fix it... if it is pulling to one side, it
hasn't been predelivered properly.

having worked in the tyre industry whilst at university, a wheel alignment
problem will never rectify itself...

And depending what is causing it, waiting may be wearing off your
rubber -not the dealers.

F. Plant

 

[chester]

And depending what is causing it, waiting may be wearing off
your rubber -not the dealers.

F. Plant

I don't think it's pulling to one side but will have to
check again.

 

[ed]

A dealer told me the Forester in particular was susseptible to alignment
changes during transport, and they check the alignment on each one during
the pre delivery inspection.
Ed

 

[Colin]

A dealer told me the Forester in particular was susseptible to alignment
changes during transport, and they check the alignment on each one during
the pre delivery inspection.
Ed

I had the same problem with my WRX and the dealer told me that 4WD cars
can be up 7 degrees out!!!.(I said mine was about 5 degrees out). I took
it to a good tyre place and they rectified it by doing a proper wheel
alignment. By the way the car never pulled to one side either.
It will definitely not rectify itself.
You can either push the point with the dealer or pay for it yourself
which I did for $38 (Aussie dollars)
Hope this helps

 

[chester]

I had the same problem with my WRX and the dealer told me
that 4WD cars can be up 7 degrees out!!!.(I said mine was
about 5 degrees out). I took it to a good tyre place and
they rectified it by doing a proper wheel alignment.
By the way the car never pulled to one side either. It will
definitely not rectify itself. You can either push the point
with the dealer or pay for it yourself which I did for $38
(Aussie dollars)
Hope this helps

Thanks mate.

I checked mine out on the freeway yesterday and it pulled to
the right very slowly when I took my hands off the steering
wheel but this could be because the freeways here in the U.S.
are lower on the right side than on the left.

I'll just wait until it reaches 1,000 miles and then get the
dealer to fix it.

 

[Tony Hwang]

Hi,
Wheel alignment and centering the steering wheel is two different thing.
You can have a good alignment with off centered steering wheel.
When wheel alignment is done, you keep the steering wheel centered with
a jig to keep it from moving. Even watched them do it in the shop?
Tony

 

[TM]

If you have access to another dealer take it there.

The wife's Outback is still drifting (pulling) to the right after 10K
miles. I have been a lazy ass in not moving the front tires to the rear.

 

[Edward Hayes]

I would not wait because the "you could have caused it" by hitting
something. ed