Ours wants to turn left rather than pull left :S

TP

It is not weird that people with experience of cars have different experiences or ideas of what is acceptable from what other people who are experienced drivers mean when the enquire about cars handling differently or oddly.

But, Dealers and Skoda are approving changing/replacing tyres,

having suspension adjusted and corrected.

Recent new owners have received cars that were faulty, and badly faulty.

If some owners accept how their car and other cars behave that is their affair, it does not mean others experiences and cars bought recently are not doing something wrong.

If something can be correctly set up and most are likely to be,

and some others only slightly wrongly set up,

then some can equally be very badly set up.

george

Ours wants to turn left rather than pull left :S

TP

I let go of the wheel and it turns left

It is not weird that people with experience of cars have different experiences or ideas of what is acceptable from what other people who are experienced drivers mean when the enquire about cars handling differently or oddly.

But, Dealers and Skoda are approving changing/replacing tyres,

having suspension adjusted and corrected.

Recent new owners have received cars that were faulty, and badly faulty.

If some owners accept how their car and other cars behave that is their affair, it does not mean others experiences and cars bought recently are not doing something wrong.

If something can be correctly set up and most are likely to be,

and some others only slightly wrongly set up,

then some can equally be very badly set up.

george

George finally we can agree; I in truth was just trying to make the point a v slight left pull in these vehicles is quite the norm and really nothing to worry about; of course if Skoda have dished out a load of wonky Fabias in recent months that could take 90 degree left handers all on their own thats not good and agree I wouldnt be happy with having to hold the wheel hard in order to go straight on a new car.

I let go of the wheel and it turns left

Under acceleration, or at a constant speed? If the latter on a straight, flat road, then there is definitely something amiss that needs dealer (or independent garage) attention.

PMSL.

Accepting that that is how the cars you drive is,

is very different from 'All VAG cars do that and it is OK.

They do not all do that in the UK and Owners do not have to accept it is how all cars bought should behave.

?? Are you saying the cars that do not run in towards the nearside are in the wrong and not as safe as ones that drive up the road without drivers always having to correct the steering input to carry on going straight.?

george

Hi George, I don't think either me or pipsyp are suggesting that people should just accept their car pulls to the left.

My point was that its far more likely that a pulling to the left problem is down to poor alignment than it is about tyres (especially if they're new tyres). Only a decent wheel alignment place should be trusted to give a proper answer and fix. Most just mess things up further, and dealerships especially (in my experience at least).

That said, any car with 17" wheels is far more likely to tramline than one with 15" wheels and narrow tyres... And if that's what you're used to, then it can take a while to adjust to 17s...

L

Edited 29 June, 201313 yr by louisv6

Some people drive several different cars or types of cars each week or even each day,

different wheel and tyre sizes and are quite used to differences. Some people are even trained as Motor Mechanics.

It is not Rocket Science, it is not even high technology Motor Vehicle Engineering, it is just passenger cars and VAG have been at it for enough decades to be able to get it right, every time, not almost every time.

It is a good idea when talking or using terms like Tramling to understand the principles.

http://homepage.ntlw...-tramlining.pdf

With a 'New Vehicle', or a car with 'New Tyres', it costs nothing to look and check the 'Run Out Stripes',

if you know what they are, and the effect they can have and the tyres fitted can have.

http://www.wheels-inmotion.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=165

george

Some people drive several different cars or types of cars each week or even each day,different wheel and tyre sizes and are quite used to differences. Some people are even trained as Motor Mechanics.It is not Rocket Science, it is not even high technology Motor Vehicle Engineering, it is just passenger cars and VAG have been at it for enough decades to be able to get it right, every time, not almost every time.It is a good idea when talking or using terms like Tramling to understand the principles.http://homepage.ntlw...-tramlining.pdfWith a 'New Vehicle', or a car with 'New Tyres', it costs nothing to look and check the 'Run Out Stripes',if you know what they are, and the effect they can have and the tyres fitted can have.http://www.wheels-inmotion.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=165george

Theres a grumpy tone to this, and I'm not sure why. I'm aware of what tramlining is, but this makes no great difference. I think you and I are roughly in agreement but coming at it from different angles.

My belief is that there's little to no point trying to get the dealers to sort issues like this because they just don't have a clue (in general). The link you posted to Tonys topic about run out stripes highlights this perfectly - he makes the point of mentioning that most tyre fitting places won't know what they're all about either - and they're specialist tyre fitters, not general sales-oriented dealerships.

It's absolutely not acceptable for vw group to be delivering cars like this, but either you reject the car, or you take it to a specialist. I've never had any luck going to a dealership or generalist garage. That's not to say that some can't get it right, but there are safety risks involved, and I wouldn't want to take the chance (not given personal experience of these issues anyway).

No grumpy tone to it. Other than i am a grump.

 

The car/s are bought new from Skoda

& it is the Skoda Factory putting out cars behaving not as they should in many cases.

(Some people here think that is OK & are saying, thats normal, without knowing how the other Owners car actually behaves, but they know how their cars behave and accept that.)

 

There are people saying that Tyres do not have the effect and alignement needs changing,

yet Skoda are approving Fitting new tyres.

*When,

as there have been reported here by members, they received vehicles with Steering incorrectly Set or adjusted.

when that should be being picked up at the PDI, then on the first Road Test by a Dealership Technician, then sorted & Skoda pulled up on that.*

 

It so happens that the new tyres are have a differing behaviour, in cases reported here sorting the problem and yet no Alignment or mechanical changes were required.

SKODA and VAG do have a problem and their Customer Services just saying it a problem with Dunlops is not helping.

They sling tyres on rims in the factory then these are on the new cars,

and some are having handling effects on vehicles that are easily effected by the tyres and they type and way they are fitted.

 

They also have poor quality control on the suspension and suspension components on their new builds.

That is 2 major problems on some cars. Tyres, Suspension, some cars may have both problems.

 

george

 

PS,

Anyone can and does set up Specialist Tyre & Alignment business's and because they have Fancy Websites or premises and equipment it does not automatically mean you should trust your nearest and dearest's safety to these places.

Just checked mine into Robinson's in King's Lynn for them to try and resolve the pull to the left.  It's definitely there as it still pulls to left on a flat surface.

 

Dunlop tyres, VRS.

 

Let's see what happens...

Mine spent 5 days at the local dealers..

 

First problem was the car pulling to the right and the steering wheel not stright..

They resolved the issue with a full Hunter 4 Wheel Laser Alignment..

 

great car came back,,

 

Only issue then was the car started to pull to the left,, was not happy.. Car went back and now its fine,,

 

just clocked 2000 miles seems ok now, i have Conti Sport Contact 2 tyres.

Mine went in three times sent to a tyre fitter with laser was spot on. Dealer was told to swop wheels front to back now no pull or steer to the left can let go of the wheel now and goes in a straight line. Asked dealer if i had a defective tyre he said no we will look in 3000 miles if any wear 

Apologies for dragging up this old thread but I wanted to post hopefully a final update on our Monte, which we left with the dealer while away on our hols to sort out the constant desire to turn left.

 

They have replaced the Dunlop Sport Maxx tyres with Pirelli P Zero Nero (same as with Carlo diesel), recentralised the steering and carried out another 4 wheel alignment. This apparently is the recommended fix issued by Skoda, even down to the brand and model of tyre to use as a replacement.

 

Driven about a 100 miles now on the new rubber and so far the MC feels much improved; fingers x it stays that way.

 

 

TP

I fail to understand why they did not first centralise the steering and do the alignment and not change the tyres.

 

Then if still wrong change the tyres.

 

They supply and sell the cars still with Dunlop Tyres on as standard, and with Continentals,

Not seen any new with the Pirelli Zero Nero fitted.

(100 miles is maybe not enough yet, but please report back if you notice a drop in the MPG with the Pirelli fitted.)

 

george

How's it going Rachel.

 

Seems like we are getting somewhere now.

My Monte is great since the new tyres, & re-re-re aligned.

I did not want to start again. but same problem  pull to left had a long run to skegness and by the time i got there my hand and wrist was hurting due to the down pressure

I fail to understand why they did not first centralise the steering and do the alignment and not change the tyres.

 

Then if still wrong change the tyres.

 

They supply and sell the cars still with Dunlop Tyres on as standard, and with Continentals,

Not seen any new with the Pirelli Zero Nero fitted.

(100 miles is maybe not enough yet, but please report back if you notice a drop in the MPG with the Pirelli fitted.)

 

george

 

They have rebalanced the wheels, swapped the wheels round, then the tyres round, centralised the steering and 4 wheel aligned it a couple of times before replacing the tyres and then checking the steering and alignment again.

 

Dealer tells me they are following the procedure given to them by warranty, even though it appears to duplicate itself if the fault is not cured on the first visit.

 

Agree it does seem odd that replacing the tyres for another non factory fit tyre brand is the solution to the problem given by the manufacturer.

 

Oh I noted that the Nero has a higher fuel consumption rating than the Dunlop but both our current and previous TSI Fabia have struggled to get anywhere near the official combined figure (unlike the Yeti), so I don’t expect it can get much worse.

 

 

TP

You might find that you get an indicated lower 2-3 MPG over a prelonged period of time, Doing the very similar longer trips and knowing how much fuel it normally takes.

But the 205/40R 17 P Zero Nero are a bit bigger in total Diameter than the 205/40R 17 Dunlops.  So Mileometer is a little off

as well. (actually nearer to accurate speed shown rather than the slighty higher than you are doing it might have been before)

 

The P Zero Nero are actually physically bigger than 215/40R 17's i fitted this week.

 

george

You might find that you get an indicated 2-3 MPG over a prelonged period of time, Doing the very similar longer trips and knowing how much fuel it normally takes.

But the 205/40R 17 P Zero Nero are a bit bigger in total Diameter th\n the 205/40$ 17 Dunlops.  So Mileometer is a little off as well.

 

george

 

Interesting you say that, as I thought it was an optical illusion but yes the Italian tyre does appear to have a deeper side wall :wonder:

 

 

TP

The garage took mine away and loaned me a new VRS until they had it sorted.

 

Apparently, they tried a few things as directed by Skoda UK until I got a call asking if they could borrow the spare VRS to swap the wheels over.

 

Swapping the wheels from the spare VRS onto mine DID resolve the issue.  

 

So, eventually, Skoda UK agreed to replace the tyres, which were by now noticeably scuffed on the edges (I had done 7000 miiles pulling to the left -I wasn't surprised they were wearing unevenly!!) 

 

Oh - Skoda UK only agreed to replace TWO of the tyres, not all four.  Luckily, the garage stepped in and offered to replace the others.

 

ANyway, all four tyres are now Conti Sport Contacts and the car goes in a straight line at last!!!  If anything, there is a *tiny* pull to the left but I can live with that.  Will see what it's like at 10000 service.

Sounds good. Keep positive.

CD

Hi All, it was interesting reading through the thread and I've recently had the same issue which was very quickly resolved by my local dealer, i'm therefore a little shocked to see this issue has seemingly been known about for some time! 

 

I recently purchased a Monte Carlo tech and found it was also pulling to the left. After a few phone calls to the local dealer they took the car back, ran a series of tests and got in touch with Skoda HQ who confirmed it they've been having issues with the side walls and treads on the Dunlop tires. They've now replaced the tires with 4 new Pirelli Nero's and the issue seems to be fixed. The service manager also informed me that Skoda do not approve Dunlop tires for Fabia's any longer and they can't be ordered on Skoda's system for the car. He suggested in the future i stick with Pirelli or continentals.

 

Skoda seem to acknowledge the problem and so i would suggest anyone having this issue asks for the tires to be replaced and the alignment to be re-done. 

How Dunlop as a company feel about all this would be interesting to know.

 

Perfectly good 'Take Off tyres' must be going someplace, or are they actually faulty and scrapped?.

Or possibly just being mounted correctly onto rims with the correct 'run out', & used for long enough.

 

Surely no new Skoda cars will be getting sold with the Sport Maxx on.

Dunlop share prices going through the floor, factories closing, jobs lost etc.

Or are Skoda just at it yet again.?

 

There are owners of cars on here reporting problems and their car did not have Dunlop Tyres fitted when they had the problem.

 

george

Some tyres and some rims just don't want to assemble correctly when done through automated machinery as is used on production lines (I spent 4 years working with them for the machine builder) - and Dunlops are normally at the head of the "problem" list due to very stiff sidewalls.  When they are fitted on a production line, they are inflated through the gap between the rim and tyre, not through the valve which means the sidewall needs enough flex to "pop" up the rim edge to seal.  Some tyres don't fully pop and in some cases a "bead massager" is needed to fully seat the bead (but they are rarely used; an optional extra that few manufacturers like to pay extra for).  Only seems to affect certain combinations; perhaps the Monte rim and the Dunlop tyre are just one of those combinations?

They don't use the valve to inflate tyres on the production line? That has got to be the best bit of automotive trivia I have ever heard - love it!!

 

Rachel