Brand new tacoma drifting to the right

First off, brand new here, so take it easy.

Bought a brand new 2013 Tacoma PreRunner SR5 TSS edition about 3 weeks ago. After driving it for a while, I noticed it was pulling (drifting) to the right.

Brought it in, they did an alignment, and said all set. Drove it to work, still felt it pulling, it was no better.

Brought it in again, they said the road force balance was out on the tires (and asked me if I would rather have different All-terrain tires than the rugged terrains. I told him that they were out of their mind). Drove it off, still pulling, no change.

Brought it in for a third time, they kept it for 7 days, said that they loosened the leaf springs (which they did bc I can see them shifted). Drove it off, much better, but still has a small drift.

Question is, how bad is what they did to the leaf springs down the line, and what else do you guys think it might be?

Short version: Bought new truck, pulling to right, dealer having problems fixing it.

 

Did they give you an alignment print out?

 

Yes. Asked for it every time. It was dead even basically. And when they loosened the leaf springs, it made the rear basically even also. This is why I am confused.

Forgot to mention, they also brought it to another alignment shop to check, and they came back with the same figures. They also indicated that they "checked the frame" and that there was nothing wrong there.

 

I assume they drove it and felt it was pulling to the right as well so that's why they keep trying to fix it? The rear spring sits on the axle perch so there's really not much movement from left to right. Check if one of your rear wheel stick out more than the other and if the wheel well spacing is equal on both sides. I just did this a few days a go and it could be adjusted a little bit but I didn't have any pulling issues.

 

They did drive it and feel it also. But of course, they will give it back to me, say it is fixed, then when I bring it back in again, they will feel it too.

 

If it makes you feel any better, my '09 pulled to the left for the entire time I owned it. Had it aligned multiple times, never fixed it.

 

LOL, maybe it does make me feel better. But the question is, did your tires receive excessive tread wear?

 

Have you tried rotating the tires to see if the drift changes?

Have you measured the frame to ground on each of the four corners? (On a level surface)

Have you measured hub to hub on each side?

Have you had someone follow your truck to see if it tracks straight or diagonally?

This should help to see if it is tires, suspension, or alignment.

 

I had the same issue also but it was after my lift wheels and tires were put on it would pull to the right. The dealership checked my alignment said everything was good. So they thought the tires were the issue. Took my pickup to les schawb had them do an alignment fixed the problem it's like my dealership didn't know how to do an alignment.

 

Take it to a different dealership and take a drive with their mechanic. Make sure he notices the problem. Let them try to fix it. If that doesn't work, call Toyota corporate to open a case on it. They should notify a dealership of the problem and have them work on it. If that still doesn't fix it, you may have yourself lemon law situation.

 

If your numbers are to neutral it could cause this. What are your alignment numbers

 

Rotate the tires and see if the pull changes. A friend of mine busted a belt in a front tire and his truck pulled hard to the right. It is possible.

 

I put a new set of BFG AT 285's on a couple days ago, to replace some 275' s that rode perfect. After putting the 285's on, the truck would pull right hard . Took it back to the shop, and all we did was recheck the balance, RoadForce, no problems, so we moved the tires to different axles. It completely solved the problem and it tracks true now. I am a little concerned about what is going to happen when the first rotation comes due. Not sure exactly what was causing it.

 

It's confusing to me that the alignment was good, they shifted the springs, alignment still good and the pull lessened. Maybe they did a rotation at the same time, then it would make sense. A tire defect can create a pull. If rotating them cures the pull it is a diagnosis NOT a cure. The bad tire needs to be identified and replaced or replace all 4. It could be the beginning stages of a lemon replacement so keep after them 'till it's right. Tho it seems like a relatively easy thing to identify and cure, I've seen dumber things go unsolved and result in a lemoning. Also, mark all 4 tires so if they rotate and say it's cured you can rotate back to their original position and confirm.

 

So what part of new tires was a sticking point? I've had a similar problem on the Elantra Touring. As long as the tires aren't moved from their non pulling position it's fine. Road force was OK, alignment spot on, one tire was very slightly smaller in circumference than the other three.

 

That means you can never do a rotation, more importantly you're rolling on a defective tire with no clue what the defect is or when it's going to fail.

 

Caster...sometimes it has to be adjusted to compensate a drift, you may want to find a shop that will experiment with the caster...

 

hows air pressure in tires

 

When I had the front lift spacers removed on my 5 lug to go back to stock diameter wheels...




...I had the front end aligned by a very experienced guy who explained that the our roads are crowned in the center to make water drain off. So he set the front end up to compensate for that very slight slope. You're truck pulling to the right might be because of that subtle slope.

My truck drives dead even.

 

My truck tracked straight as an arrow on freshly paved roads but pulled to the left on others. When a sevice guy drove it it pulled to the right... ended up being the ruts in the roads. The reason it pulled to different sides was because i tend to drive closer to the center line and the service guy drove closer to the shoulder. Anyway, alignments didn't do much to cure the problem. What really helped was going to E rated BFG A/T's from the pos P rated rugged fails.