Vehicle Pulling

[SoulJacker]

Hello all, I'm the second owner of a 2020 kia stinger gt2 rwd which I got back in May '22. I've noticed ever since I owned it, the car always pulled to the left. I've had it aligned three times with one being at the kia dealership lol. The first and third alignment were at Big Brand Tires which they were friendly and knowledgeable from what I could tell.

The first time I got it aligned was at Brand Brand Tires. The mechanic told me, "it's still pulling to the left after the alignment, if I had more time I could try to find out why." The third time I got it aligned I ran into him, which I was hoping to, at a different branch. He mentioned, "Front left camber and caster are out, unadjustable, caster is causing the car to pull to the left." From what he saw, there was no structural damage but advised me to take it to the dealer to have them look at the suspension components closer. I declined to the continue with the alignment because he mentioned it might not fix the problem.

I've got an appointment with the kia dealership this week to have them inspect. The car only had 11k miles when I got it. Now it has 19k, so the warranty is still good. I bought it at an independent car dealer and there was no red flags on the carfax report. No salvages, accidents, etc reported. Would anyone care to chime in?

 

[oddball]

¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Post the actual alignment numbers. You got printouts each time, right?

The top mount for the strut does a lot of functions, and it can wear/fail. IF (and it's a big IF) Kia does anything they'll likely say it just wore out and it's a wear item - not covered by warranty. I'm struggling to think of any warranty-covered action that could possibly cause this. So from a warranty perspective you're almost certainly SOL. Same with control arm bushings and balljoints. But usually when those things fail they become loose - things can wiggle and move. They don't just shift to a different position.

Someone could hit a curb and bend a control arm or tweak a mounting point, and it could be difficult to tell immediately. A suspension guy should be able to notice though.

Another fun option - swap front tires (even if they're directional). I've had a bad run of tires where one causes a slight pull. Alignment guy said it happens every once in a while and can be tough to track down. In my case it's a very slight pull. I think of the car as slightly drunk and lazily wanders off to the left. Depends on speed and road grade.

 

[SoulJacker]

¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Post the actual alignment numbers. You got printouts each time, right?

The top mount for the strut does a lot of functions, and it can wear/fail. IF (and it's a big IF) Kia does anything they'll likely say it just wore out and it's a wear item - not covered by warranty. I'm struggling to think of any warranty-covered action that could possibly cause this. So from a warranty perspective you're almost certainly SOL. Same with control arm bushings and balljoints. But usually when those things fail they become loose - things can wiggle and move. They don't just shift to a different position.

Someone could hit a curb and bend a control arm or tweak a mounting point, and it could be difficult to tell immediately. A suspension guy should be able to notice though.

Another fun option - swap front tires (even if they're directional). I've had a bad run of tires where one causes a slight pull. Alignment guy said it happens every once in a while and can be tough to track down. In my case it's a very slight pull. I think of the car as slightly drunk and lazily wanders off to the left. Depends on speed and road grade.

Thanks for the insight regarding the warranty. We'll see what happens this week lol. Here's the first alignment few days after I got the car. I'll post the other two once I get off work lol.

 

[Snicklefritz]

are you on the original wheels? if there is no curb damage to the rim it is unlikely that the previous owner hit anything hard enough to cause suspension damage. besides, you'd have a bent wheel before you suffered suspension damage. I like @oddball 's suggestion about checking for a bad tire, that would be my first check after what you have already experienced. good luck!

 

[Thomby]

Thanks for the insight regarding the warranty. We'll see what happens this week lol. Here's the first alignment few days after I got the car. I'll post the other two once I get off work lol.

Front right and back left tire pressures are odd, did they just put junk values in (22psi, 7psi)?

I'm far from a suspension expert, but I'm surprised they didn't try to match the front right to the front left more. For example, if -0.1 is the furthest they could get the front left camber, why push the front right all the way to -1.0 instead of leaving it closer to 0? And if front left caster is stuck at 6.2 with a min of 6.5, why have front right up at 7.1?

I'm guessing as a rule they try to hit middle of spec to minimize the likelihood of going out, but they didn't do that on camber.

 

[JSolo]

^^Camber/caster not adjustable on the front.

 

[SoulJacker]

are you on the original wheels? if there is no curb damage to the rim it is unlikely that the previous owner hit anything hard enough to cause suspension damage. besides, you'd have a bent wheel before you suffered suspension damage. I like @oddball 's suggestion about checking for a bad tire, that would be my first check after what you have already experienced. good luck!

I believe the front tires are original not sure. The left tire did have chunks and rubber peeling on the outside tread. I always thought it was because of the PS4S being soft and turning the wheel without letting the car move caused it like reverse parking or coming out of a parking spot. The tires were rotated last Saturday but the pull is still present so I guess that rules out tires?

 

[SoulJacker]

Front right and back left tire pressures are odd, did they just put junk values in (22psi, 7psi)?

I'm far from a suspension expert, but I'm surprised they didn't try to match the front right to the front left more. For example, if -0.1 is the furthest they could get the front left camber, why push the front right all the way to -1.0 instead of leaving it closer to 0? And if front left caster is stuck at 6.2 with a min of 6.5, why have front right up at 7.1?

I'm guessing as a rule they try to hit middle of spec to minimize the likelihood of going out, but they didn't do that on camber.

Yea front caster and camber are unadjustable. They are set from factory in these vehicles.

 

[Thomby]

^^Camber/caster not adjustable on the front.

Oh I see, I misread the front right's before/after as being adjusted from +1.1 to -1.0, instead of -1.1 to -1.0 (ie basically the same).

 

[SoulJacker]

¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Post the actual alignment numbers. You got printouts each time, right?

The top mount for the strut does a lot of functions, and it can wear/fail. IF (and it's a big IF) Kia does anything they'll likely say it just wore out and it's a wear item - not covered by warranty. I'm struggling to think of any warranty-covered action that could possibly cause this. So from a warranty perspective you're almost certainly SOL. Same with control arm bushings and balljoints. But usually when those things fail they become loose - things can wiggle and move. They don't just shift to a different position.

Someone could hit a curb and bend a control arm or tweak a mounting point, and it could be difficult to tell immediately. A suspension guy should be able to notice though.

Another fun option - swap front tires (even if they're directional). I've had a bad run of tires where one causes a slight pull. Alignment guy said it happens every once in a while and can be tough to track down. In my case it's a very slight pull. I think of the car as slightly drunk and lazily wanders off to the left. Depends on speed and road grade.

Here's the alignment sheets in order, reposting the first one:

 

[GT Elite]

The cross caster can cause the car to drift to the left. For areas where we drive on the right side of the road (left hand drive), this is a normal alignment practise as the slight drift to the left counteracts a drift to the right caused by the crown in roads. Of course if you drive primarily on the left side of the road (right hand drive or fast lane) the drift to the left will be even more pronounced due to the cumulative effect of road crown and alignment setup.

 

[SoulJacker]

Thanks for the insight on that. I feel like that may not be what's causing the the pull to the left. I'm more concerned why the front left caster and camber are out of spec, they're also set from factory so unadjustable.

 

[GT Elite]

Thanks for the insight on that. I feel like that may not be what's causing the the pull to the left. I'm more concerned why the front left caster and camber are out of spec, they're also set from factory so unadjustable.

Good point. I think you may be dealing with a bent control arm or strut. In an Eagle TalonTurbo AWD I once drove over a curb (snow covered street) without damaging the wheel or tire but it did bend a strut

 

[SoulJacker]

Good point. I think you may be dealing with a bent control arm or strut. In an Eagle TalonTurbo AWD I once drove over a curb (snow covered street) without damaging the wheel or tire but it did bend a strut

Yup, the car got dropped this morning at the dealership. Ultimately, I was given a loaner car because their specialized suspension tech couldn't find anything. They even had another tech look and found nothing. My service advisor, guy I've been going to for years said they have all the parts but they just want to make sure because at the end of the day someone's money is being spent whether it's the delear, kia, or myself.

 

[Snicklefritz]

why do you have two threads going on this?

 

[SoulJacker]

why do you have two threads going on this?

I posted a thread and it didn't get uploaded. I didn't know I had to post a hello thread first. So here I am thinking my first post got automatically deleted so a made a new one. Hence why there are two threads lmao

 

[Snicklefritz]

you do? I never posted a 'hello thread', just a first post. well, thanks for the explanation. I'll ignore the other thread.

 

[SoulJacker]

you do? I never posted a 'hello thread', just a first post. well, thanks for the explanation. I'll ignore the other thread.

Yea I guess so because when I tried to post I couldn't see it in the topic thread. Checked my profile and it was crossed out. Noticed when I scrolled up there was a message saying to say hello lol

 

[Rodtheviking]

Sub frame shifted?

 

[SoulJacker]

Sub frame shifted?

Not sure, it's still at the delearship. A suspension tech/specialized tech has to look at it due to the concern. Those techs are usually in weekdays and it was brought in Friday morning.