Tracking - 2014 - Picked up L&K on July 10th

[SuperbIRL142]

Picked up the car on July 10th.

 

Noticed the car pulling to the left .

 

Notified the garage on Monday 14th

 

Left in today to get it sorted. Wednesday 16th

 

They told me that the back axel was out of alignment and they sorted that. When they sorted that they had to do the front also.  They said that on their machine everything was "green" now. (it was red) and all should be ok.

 

The mechanic that did the job took it on a test drive but said he couldn't test it too much (because of traffic) and it seems fine.

 

I took the car back, I drove 500 mtrs and the pulling to the left is now more severe than it was.

 

I immediately took the car back and they said that they would have to keep it for a day to do more investigations and could not give me a car today. I have to wait till Monday next.

 

I explained this to the salesman and he asked could he drive it, He did and he confirmed that indeed the car is pulling to the left. I informed him about the above and then told him that I would be taking the car to them on Monday morning and I do NOT want the car back until it is sorted.

 

Do you guys have any thoughts ?

 

I will keep ye advised.

 

 

[Superb170]

Oh yes that famous pulling to the left...aaahhhh!  As I've posted before I've had tracking done three times and its been in the garage twice.  I would insist on a proper drive by the dealer - they will fob you off with 'we can't go out of town etc etc'.  I got this from one mechanic but I pushed it with the service manager and they took it for a proper drive on the motorway.  Your dealer isn't too far from a stretch of the M7 so they should do that at the very least.  Driving it around in traffic won't reveal the extent of it.

 

Mine is a little better since they did some adjustments (in addition to tracking).  Not quite sure what they did but it improved handing a little.  I was told that there was an element of pulling due to the natural camber on the road but it shouldn't be overly noticeable TBH.  I'm still not 100% happy though and I'll probably be back again.  Push them hard on this, you've paid €40K for a car so at the very least you want to go in straight line!!

 

BTW any humming or droning noises at speed?

[SuperbIRL142]

thanks for that Superb170

 

Honestly , I can say I have noticed nothing else wrong with the car so far (Touch wood it will stay that way)!

 

In general, I am very happy with the purchase... Its also turning a few heads ... LoL

[Superb170]

I'm beginning to think that the FL L&Ks are giving a bit more hassle than other models??  A good few posts on the Mark II section have involved newish L&Ks :wonder:

[SuperbIRL142]

Update:

 

On night of Sunday 20.07.14 the warning light for the tyre pressure went on. (thought the car was gonna blow up .. LOL)

 

anyway I had it booked into the garage the next day (21.07.14) . The people in the garage couldn't be more attentive.

(possibly because I had contacted SKODA Ireland to let them know my concerns)

 

They gave me a loan of a car and took the car in.

 

I collected the car at 2:45pm and they said drive it and if I was not fully happy to call back. I did and initially I thought all was good. I only went a short distance and I noticed the car pulling slightly to the left again. Now its not bad, but there is a pulling to the left still.

 

I went back to the garage and the a mechanic came out with me and took it for a drive. He said he couldn't feel it pulling to the left. he had his hands on the sttearing wheel all the time and when he relaxed his grip , I as a passenger could feel he was correcting the car.

 

I asked could I drive and I demonstrated to him myself with my hands with a loosened grip and with no hands at all. He said , sure he never drives with no hands ... (lol) , my response  was  that neither do I but I was demonstrating what was happening. He then stated the usual "road camber" etc. but accepted that there is a slight pulling to the left.

 

I wasn't happy, but its only a slight pulling to the left. and he said if I still not happy, he would take the car back in and swap round the wheels etc and see what he could do, but if the electronic tracking machine says that the tracking is perfect, they can do little or no more. (he suggested it could be a tyre)

 

I went back, and was chatting to the sales guy and asked if he would drive it. He noticed it straight away, but stated, it was a lot better than it was and also suggested that it could be road camber etc. We took another superb (NEW unregistered)  (saloon not combi) for a drive and I have to say, that was much much the same as my car. I decided to take my car back and I will have it looked at by another specialist garage.

 

My question's:

 

Is it normal for a new car to pull slightly to the left.?

 

How would you check if your car is pulling to the left or right?

[psycholist]

Mine definitely doesn't do this, nor has any car I've driven that wasn't corrected after the tracking was set correctly. Any chance they're using the tracking settings for continental cars designed to drive on the right?

[mannyo]

Take the car elsewhere for a second opinion, most places (at least across the water) will check alignment for free.

[StuartTunstall]

Must admit, mine seems to drive fine ...

[Superb170]

Same story as mine pretty much. It was fine for a while after getting it looked at in the dealers but seems to be getting worse again. I've just done 600kms over last couple of days mostly on motorways and it's becoming noticeable again. I've had tyres switched a few times too and no difference. Was the unregistered car on 18s or 17s? I also get the TpM light sometimes. BTW make sure to reset yours after changing any tyres around as you will get the warning again simply because it wasn't reset.

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[Superb170]

Not good enough though on a new car. Hope you can find a solution!

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[Too Tall]

Is it normal for a new car to pull slightly to the left.?

 

How would you check if your car is pulling to the left or right?

 

1. Yes. I'm pretty sure it's not possible to have a car be 100% straightgoing. So yes.

 

2. If I would buy a new car, find a stretch of straight road (motorway), and let go of the wheel...if the car seems to stay straight, or only start having a SLIGHT weave after 15 seconds, then it's either bang on, or "slightly" off. If you can FEEL the car turning on it's own, the tracking is off. And I would take it back.

 

I guess the thing is, practically no car is going to be 100% straightgoing. The Superb is a big car, the roads are crap, it can be windy, etc. But there is a definate difference between a car that's "slightly" pullling, or a car with bad geometry. Only you can decide if it's still within the "normal" tolerances.

Edited 22 July, 2014 by Too Tall

[JakeBlade]

Same story as mine pretty much. It was fine for a while after getting it looked at in the dealers but seems to be getting worse again. I've just done 600kms over last couple of days mostly on motorways and it's becoming noticeable again. I've had tyres switched a few times too and no difference. Was the unregistered car on 18s or 17s? I also get the TpM light sometimes. BTW make sure to reset yours after changing any tyres around as you will get the warning again simply because it wasn't reset.

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I had problems with the TPM light coming on when the tyre pressures were absolutely fine.  My local dealer traced it back to the default TPM setting had not been changed at the pre-delivery inspection, so it was triggering at the equivalent of 3 bar iirc, rather than 2.2 bar.

[Mph25]

Take the car elsewhere for a second opinion, most places (at least across the water) will check alignment for free.

Indeed they will - as it's always found to require adjustment........................................... 

[100andthirty]

Left Hand Drive cars should be set so that they drive straight on a "normal" cambered road. However what is "normal"?  If the car were to be set to drive straight and true on a flat road, then it would pull to one side or the other on a cambered road.Mine drive straight and true when I bought it, except on roads that don't have a normal camber. Driving abroad where they have this rather odd idea of driving on the right, the steering pulls a little to the right as those clever foreigners have their camber going in the opposite direction.

 

Then there's the hypersensitivity of a proud new owner who has noticed something not quite right - I've been there myself and caused endless problems for the tyre station!!

Probably best to drive something else for a journey or two and then return to the Superb. Then see whether the pull is as bad as you think it is.

 

Good luck in solving the problem

[SuperbIRL142]

there are developments on this .

 

I will post in the next few days

 

[Raptor]

Superb L&K jan 2014, definitely not noticed any pulling to the left and I have a very relaxed style of driving with hands resting the steering wheel rather vice like grip.

[jonathan.tong]

L&K 170 CR for the last three weeks. Seems to drives straight with no input on a flat road.

Interestingly I mentioned this to our dealer *before* collection and he did say that he'd seen cars from the factory that were badly set up.

[SuperbIRL142]

update:

22.07.14

 

Took the car to and independent garage. They confirmed that the car was pulling to the left.

The tracking needed to be done again (after it was done twice by the main dealer) , The car was still pulling to the left, The independent garage then swapped the front wheels, The car was now pulling to the right ! Process of elimination, the tires had to be the problem. 

 

I returned to the main dealer and the salesman was great, and aranged for the service manager to talk to me. However this guy was very defensive and argumentative. I had to tell him the story again. I stated that I took the car in as it was pulling to the left. He stated they had FIXED it twice within 10 days..... (but it was stilling to the left) .... Emmm ????

 

Anyway, I informed him what we had done with the independent garage and he agreed to change the front tires. They had to order them. In the meantime, after driving the car for a day, the car stopped pulling to the right and was dead straight.

 

I decided to let them change the tires anyway, (basically because of all the hassle) The tires were changed today 24.07.14. Took 1.5 hours. ... They must have done the tracking again because guess what , the car is now pulling to the left again (but only slightly) . I haven't told them yet. I will bring it back to the independent garage again for them to re-check / re-do the tracking to see what happens.

 

I suspect that there was definitely a problem with the original tires but I also know that their tracking process is not what it should be.

 

(Car is now 15 days old) 3200kms

[Superb170]

Well you're making some progress anyway even by the process of elimination. What tyres did you have and did they order the same?

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[SuperbIRL142]

Original tires = Continental 225/40 R 18 Y  Sport contact 2 (Still on the back)

 

replacement tires as above but Sport Contact 5 (on the front)

 

they look different

 

The back tire is "chunkier" than the front. Think it just looks a bit off having different looking tires on the front and back

 

Side view

 

front new tires

 

Back - Original tire

[Twelvebears]

Mine definitely doesn't do this, nor has any car I've driven that wasn't corrected after the tracking was set correctly. Any chance they're using the tracking settings for continental cars designed to drive on the right?

 

I wouldn't be surprised if this could be the case. All roads except motorways tend to have some kind of camber to shift water, so some slight tracking 'tweak' would make sense, presumably in the direction that works for the side of road the car would be driven on.

 

Logically a EU car would most often be driven on the right, so a slight left-handed tracking adjustment might make sense. You'd have though any geometry differences would have been set right for the destination market, but who knows.

 

I'm now thinking if I've ever noticed any specific 'pull' on mine or not.....

[JakeBlade]

I had the tracking on my 2012 RHD GB-spec estate done a couple of weeks ago. I'll stick a pic up on here later so that you can do a compare / contrast.

Edit: with pic of the tracking geometry. As you can see it didn't actually need doing, but you don't find out until it's all set-up on the machine, and there's always room to tinker.

Edited 26 July, 2014 by JakeBlade

[ILOVEMYSUPERB]

I had the tracking on my 2012 RHD GB-spec estate done a couple of weeks ago. I'll stick a pic up on here later so that you can do a compare / contrast.

What did you pay for tracking Jake?

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[JakeBlade]

What did you pay for tracking Jake?

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£55 + VAT on a special rate.

[Superb170]

£55 + VAT on a special rate.

That's a lot for tracking! I pay €30 (£25) max for a full four wheel alignment

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