260 miles and back to the dealer.

Between 62 and 75 MPH the car pulls to the left and to get it to go straight I need to tilt the wheel to the right slightly.

Also....the steering wheel shakes.

I told the salesman while I was driving it home it did that and he said to drive it for a bit and also check the tire pressure. Neither helped.

I just hate bringing my car to the dealer.

Is it ok to say "please verify the car is flawless with not a single nick, scuff, scratch and the rims are 101% perfect"?

I just get this feeling they don't care as much as I do about my car.

Advice?

DBLXX said:

Between 62 and 75 MPH the car pulls to the left and to get it to go straight I need to tilt the wheel to the right slightly.

Also....the steering wheel shakes.

Advice?

Click to expand...

I suspect you have a wheel alignment and wheel balancing issue. A diligent dealer should have checked wheel alignment and wheel balancing as part of pre delivery inspection as you can never trust what have happened to the wheels during transport.

Let's hope that it is simply alignment and balancing. The symptoms could also be that the Alloy Wheel is warped during transport due to rough handling or wrong method of securing the car.

Yes. It is annoying when the dealer is not being more diligent.

I hope it's that simple. Appreciate the input.

I have/had the same problems with my 2014 GT. Initially, it was hard to keep the car centered when driving, as you described and the steering wheel shook at highway speeds. I got an alignment and that helped it go straight with ease.

However, I am still experiencing the steering wheel shake - I had the original TOYO tires road forced balanced on my own at an independent shop. This did not help. After, I chose to replace the tires completely and have them road force balanced on my own dime. Shaking still exists. The dealers have been less then helpful. They say it is road conditions, or the tires being 19''. They tell me since they are 19s, they do not track as straight since they are tall & they are more susceptible to bumps/potholes/ruts in the road.

I am just learning to live with the shake unfortunately.

edit: I am about to take a ~1000 mile (round trip) road trip, starting this Sunday. Should be fun. :-\

DBLXX said:

Between 62 and 75 MPH the car pulls to the left and to get it to go straight I need to tilt the wheel to the right slightly.

Also....the steering wheel shakes.

I told the salesman while I was driving it home it did that and he said to drive it for a bit and also check the tire pressure. Neither helped.

I just hate bringing my car to the dealer.

Is it ok to say "please verify the car is flawless with not a single nick, scuff, scratch and the rims are 101% perfect"?

I just get this feeling they don't care as much as I do about my car.

Advice?

Click to expand...

Well, they aren't paying for it, so no, they don't care as much as you do. That's a foregone conclusion.

That said, sometimes this happens. Just take it back and have them align it and re-balance the tires. See if that fixes it.

SomeGuyFromNYC said:

I have/had the same problems with my 2014 GT. Initially, it was hard to keep the car centered when driving, as you described and the steering wheel shook at highway speeds. I got an alignment and that helped it go straight with ease.

However, I am still experiencing the steering wheel shake - I had the original TOYO tires road forced balanced on my own at an independent shop. This did not help. After, I chose to replace the tires completely and have them road force balanced on my own dime. Shaking still exists. The dealers have been less then helpful. They say it is road conditions, or the tires being 19''. They tell me since they are 19s, they do not track as straight since they are tall & they are more susceptible to bumps/potholes/ruts in the road.

I am just learning to live with the shake unfortunately.

edit: I am about to take a ~1000 mile (round trip) road trip, starting this Sunday. Should be fun. :-\

Click to expand...

Shaking is not normal. If wheel balancing does not fix the problem then it could be an inherent problem with the alloy wheel. ie. the wheel is warped / uneven and normal wheel balancing does not work. I have 19 inch OE Toyo wheels and the car does not shake and can track straight.

SomeGuyFromNYC said:

I have/had the same problems with my 2014 GT. Initially, it was hard to keep the car centered when driving, as you described and the steering wheel shook at highway speeds. I got an alignment and that helped it go straight with ease.

However, I am still experiencing the steering wheel shake - I had the original TOYO tires road forced balanced on my own at an independent shop. This did not help. After, I chose to replace the tires completely and have them road force balanced on my own dime. Shaking still exists. The dealers have been less then helpful. They say it is road conditions, or the tires being 19''. They tell me since they are 19s, they do not track as straight since they are tall & they are more susceptible to bumps/potholes/ruts in the road.

I am just learning to live with the shake unfortunately.

edit: I am about to take a ~1000 mile (round trip) road trip, starting this Sunday. Should be fun. :-\

Click to expand...

Yeah. Uh-huh. BS. My Z06 had 19" tires, and I think my 370Z might have, too, or maybe they were 17's? Anyway, both were glass smooth up to 150mph. I wouldn't accept "It's a 19 so it's wobbly".

I used to have a Trans Am that was a real PITA to get the tires balanced on, back when I was in highschool. Finally, I just took it to Wal-Mart of all places, where some guy named "Cayo" spent like 2 hours working on it. When he was done balancing the tires, that car was glass up to 120ish (as fast as I took it). I don't know what he did, but that Wal-Mart had them a real artist on their hands!

I must add though, that I believe some of the vibration is from road surface conditions. The roads in the tri-state NY area are generally poor. The vibration I notice does increase and decrease depending on how well the road is paved. However, even on freshly paved roads (which they are repaving quite a few in my area), I still feel the slightest of vibrations. I do not think this is normal, but like I said, I am just living with it for now.

Unobtanium said:

Yeah. Uh-huh. BS. My Z06 had 19" tires, and I think my 370Z might have, too, or maybe they were 17's? Anyway, both were glass smooth up to 150mph. I wouldn't accept "It's a 19 so it's wobbly".

I used to have a Trans Am that was a real PITA to get the tires balanced on, back when I was in highschool. Finally, I just took it to Wal-Mart of all places, where some guy named "Cayo" spent like 2 hours working on it. When he was done balancing the tires, that car was glass up to 120ish (as fast as I took it). I don't know what he did, but that Wal-Mart had them a real artist on their hands!

Click to expand...

I agree that their answer is BS. But what more can I do? They literally refuse to contemplate any other possibility. Also, I changed my tire size slightly when I replaced the tires, so now they really won't touch it since its not OEM spec. But like I said, they refused to do anything even when I had the original Toyos anyway.

They even refused to check the alignment because when they test drove it they said it was good and tracked straight - but I paid them to check it on the alignment machine and, wow what a shock, it was slightly off. I can't remember exactly what was off - but it was. After they corrected it, the car drove nice and straight..but the vibration continues.

I know your next suggestion might be to call mazda corporate. Well I have a long history with calling corporate (Ford) over a 2012 Focus I bought brand new that had a ton of problems. Going through corporate with them was a huge waste of my time. Nothing was accomplished - I ended up selling the Focus (at a huge loss) for the CX5. I am glad I traded to the CX5, as it seemed to have the least amount of problems in the CUV market. Even with the slight shaking, I am still overall happy.

I have '19s and no shake at all and our highways and freeways here in WA state are generally in very bad shape.

I wonder if one of the Toyo's had a belt defect issue of some kind in the tire


Not sure if this would show up on a balance or not

I was just told that it's possible to have a permanently bad rim.

Not likely.....but definitely possible.

DBLXX said:

I was just told that it's possible to have a permanently bad rim.

Not likely.....but definitely possible.

Click to expand...

I would think this should show up during a Road Force Balance. I had my Toyos balanced twice, months apart before swapping them out. First time, they balanced with no issue, second time, one of them could not be road forced balanced for an unknown reason. This is when I decided to buy new tires. When the new tires were mounted, they were also Road forced Balanced and there were no problems.

Took it to the dealer today.

First - road force balance. All were within spec but off a touch.

Tech drove it and he felt nothing.

Insisted on a alignment (see below) and the numbers were off but again not enough to feel a difference.

Maybe it's me. I drove it with the tech after the roD force but BEFORE the alignment and here is how it went :

Just went and asked for the print out of the before and after and really just to confirm they know I know about it.

Mechanic said he drove it and couldn't feel anything. So the service writer asked me to go for a drive with him. Before we left I said to the service writer "so an alignment would be the next item to check" and he says "yes, but if the mechanic doesn't feel anything why would you want to pay for that?"

LMFAO and here we go. I kept my cool and just said "let me go for a drive with the mechanic"

So, on I-84 and we hit 72 MPH and the steering wheel starts to shimmy. I ask him to touch the steering wheel and he says "you are worried about that?"

Again - LOL

Then I am in the left lane cruise control set to 72 and he says "you are in the left lane, it's going to naturally pull to the left based on the crown in the road" So, my set up worked perfectly. I get into the right lane and it PULLS TO THE LEFT LANE ALL BY ITSELF. So I ask "would the right lane be crowned to the left too?" I kind of played dumb car owner at this point.

Then I get in the middle of the 2 lanes and put the steering wheel perfectly straight and yep, now we are pulling to the left hard.

He says "do you have the cruise control on?"

Me "I do"

Him "Oh, that's going to cause torque steer - that's your problem."

OK - let's try all of this over without the cruise and I don't need to type out what happened. You already know.

So - back at the service counter again and the writer says "I need to check to see if a alignment is under warranty?"

I say - how many years have you worked here? He says 6. I said "You need to check? I'd like to now speak to someone who knows everything because I am not going to debate this with you - and I am about to call a cab home and you can deal with the bank when I don't pay the first payment"

He says "you have a while to hang around"

I say "until it's fixed and delivered like a new car - I've got until the 1st payment is due on September 1st

__________________

So....drive it home and absolutely nothing improved. It was exactly the same. I have been told to drive it and after I change the oil rotate the tires back to front and front to back and see what happens.

Thoughts???

Hi DBLXX.

Your dealer is less than helpful.

Dealers are usually not tyre specialists. They can do simple alignment and balancing but probably not experience or knowledgeable enough to troubleshoot deeper problems with alloy wheels or tyre.

My recommendation is to go to a specialist tyre outfit in your area and let them do the trouble shooting. Personally I cannot tolerate shaking and car not tracking straight. Certainly not on a new car. If the specialist can find something then you can argue it is a warranty issue.

That before alignment is within specifications. I can understand the dealers reluctance to correct this because it's not out of spec.

Are you being a bit oversensative, maybe because of your experience with the Ford?

I'm not the Ford Focus guy - but yes, it could definitely me me, the roads I happen to have driven the last 300 miles.

So to that end - I'm going to drive it until I do the first oil change when I would naturally rotate the tires. Then I will see.

V8toilet said:

That before alignment is within specifications. I can understand the dealers reluctance to correct this because it's not out of spec.

Are you being a bit oversensative, maybe because of your experience with the Ford?

Click to expand...

Are you asking me or the DBLXX? I was the one who mentioned the issue with Ford, not him (he posted his alignment specs).

That is another thing, I MAY be oversensitive to the steering, but then again, my steering wheel, shifter, and gas pedal literally start to vibrate as soon as the cx5 hits 40mph. It only gets worse from there. I have never driven a car where this has happened on EVERY ROAD. I have had a 2002 Explorer, 2007 Escape, and even my problems with my 2012 Focus did not include any vibrations. The steering wheel does not visibly look like its shaking, but if you rest your hand on it, you can feel it. Same goes with the shifter and gas pedal.

This is very strange indeed. I really don't want to buy new wheels out of my own pocket (they would be aftermarket wheels) and still have this problem continue. I don't know how else to troubleshoot the vibration. When I had my car in for its annual inspection I asked them specifically to check the suspension components and they said everything was good. That was from an independent shop.

The only "gray" area is the wheels/tires. I am already on my second set of tires and the vibration continues. This would leave the wheels being the only question mark. However, the wheels/tires were able to be road forced balanced perfectly. I had them balanced twice from 2 different shops AND rotated front to back. Does that mean my wheels are truly round/ without defect? I don't know.

DBLXX said:

Between 62 and 75 MPH the car pulls to the left and to get it to go straight I need to tilt the wheel to the right slightly.

Also....the steering wheel shakes.

I told the salesman while I was driving it home it did that and he said to drive it for a bit and also check the tire pressure. Neither helped.

I just hate bringing my car to the dealer.

Is it ok to say "please verify the car is flawless with not a single nick, scuff, scratch and the rims are 101% perfect"?

I just get this feeling they don't care as much as I do about my car.

Advice?

Click to expand...

I'm sensitive to car pulling and steering wheel position too. These led me bringing back every new car we bought, other than CX-5, back to dealer for warranty service. Every time the alignment was off and needed adjustment. The worst experience was our BMW 528i which was pulling to the right as soon as the car was up to a speed. The tech was helpful enough who spent 2 full days to diagnose the problem. After many times of alignment with different load by sand bags, he even tried to adjust Caster a bit although it is not adjustable, but the problem persisted. He finally decided to replace steering rack, which actually resolve 80% of the pulling. But unfortunately this refurbished OEM steering rack started leaking after 5 years and the car of course out of warranty.

I can feel your pain and I admire your persistence with the service department. You've done what people could do but I might be able to give you 2 cents on this issue.

One thing from your alignment sheet (again, I applause you asking for a before/after alignment copy many people may ignore), your dealer for some reason (laziness?) didn't do caster check as there is no data. Caster and camber are two major factors affecting car pulling, not much by total toe. I don't have alignment specs for CX-5 but your camber at front should be within specs as the printout shows green, But with -004' front left and -042' right front on cambers, it does make your car pulling to the left ever slightly! Due to right hand traffic here we'll get some slight pull to the right based on the crown in the road. Some car manufacture may put different camber between left and right a bit like yours to compensate this. But difference on your left/right cambers may just a little too big. I know most new cars, including CX-5, can only make toe adjustment, so this is something the body/frame specialist may have to get involved.

Your steering wheel shakes at 70 mph should be a separate issue. Most likely caused by imbalance of tires/wheels. Road forced balance should be able to fine the culprit. The other cause could be your electric steering rack which may also cause your pulling. But this should be unlikely. I don't know why SomeGuyFromNYC put smaller tires on its 19" wheels as smaller total diameter tires may throw off the speed reading from speed sensors hence screws up many calculations by different computers.

As I said, I'm sensitive to car pulling and steering wheel position (better right on the center when go straight). I wouldn't take this CX-5 if I aware this issue during the test drive. Someone might have hit the big pothole or curb and slightly changed the camber or caster. That's why we ordered our CX-5 to make sure the minimum mileage on the car as you'll never know if someone did an aggressive test drive hitting potholes and curbs!

. I don't know why SomeGuyFromNYC put smaller tires on its 19" wheels as smaller total diameter tires may throw off the speed reading from speed sensors hence screws up many calculations by different computers.

Click to expand...

What? when did I ever say this? I actually put LARGER diameter tires on, the stock Toyos are 225/55/19 - I put on Nokian WRG3 235/55/19.

DBLXX said:

So to that end - I'm going to drive it until I do the first oil change when I would naturally rotate the tires. Then I will see.

Click to expand...

Why don't you just rotate your tires now? If this was happening to my brand new car, the last thing I'd want to do is wait. Who knows, first oil change is at 7500, what if they claim that you must have hit something by then?


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