Aurion 'Pull Left' Issue Explained

[Arsalan]

The bush kit. I already got the 4 wheel alignment done at kmart but nothing changed...

if installing the bushkit resolves the issue, i would definitely go for it.

[jeffy]

Try Pedders in South Melbourne.

[prometheus]

The bush kit. I already got the 4 wheel alignment done at kmart but nothing changed...

if installing the bushkit resolves the issue, i would definitely go for it.

Yes, same here.

Anyone recommend a place in Melbourne close to the CBD or in the inner west?

I'd be prepared to travel a bit further for someone really good and reasonably priced.

I'm actually getting my car serviced today at Toyota and told them about the steering issue again.

Last time they looked at it, tried to correct it and did manage to improve the steering issue but it's still not 100% right.

I can't see them fixing it frankly.

By the way, took my car in as booked for 10am and have been told it will be ready at 4pm because they are "busy".... hmmmm ok.

Luckily I am on holidays and can wait. Still, not the best way to pass the day.

[the drake]

i had the camber pin installed a few months back at Pedders, cost me $350 or so inc part ($120), and took around 1 hour or so

it solved the pull left issue, haven't had any dramas yet.

I have found that the steering can be a bit loose, a bit of play. could be to do with the steering rack being worn over time or something and not related

[tifosi]

For Sydney owners...

my car was so bad, I replaced 6 tyres in 2 yrs - Bridgestone Turanza ER300 at jobson Kensington, bunch of crooks .. I even purchased their lifetime wheel alignment package, etc, etc... still same.

The last 2 only last about 9month.. btw, this is our family car, so my wife does all the driving during the week and I drive in weekends, it does about 12K per year. I tried complaining.. but its like talking to the hand.

The even had the courage to tell me to replaced another 2 more tyres... I told them to get stuffed!! and took the car back.

i now have 4 new Korean Nexen tyres... seems to run pretty well and very happy with it..

but I haven't run them in the full wet yet.. but suppose to be pretty good.

anyway, i end up taking my car to Heasman, down Sydenham, they end up fixing it for $180 (about $90 for alignment and $90 to adjusting my N/S CV joint). The manager told me it should fix it, otherwise i may need to bring it back to adjust the ball joint, but he would only do this as a last resort and he would credit me back for the adjustment, which I thought was very sincere & not rip you off or anything. The car now drive a lot better and stays on the road.

They been in business for 50yrs and do alot of nice cars. All they do is alighment and suspension.. my pink slip was about to run out, so I ask him if he did pink slip and he said NO!

Worthwhile to check them out..

http://www.heasmans....site3/main.html

just want to share my experience.. good and bad..

Goodluck.

Edited January 12, 2013 by tifosi

[prometheus]

The bush kit. I already got the 4 wheel alignment done at kmart but nothing changed...

if installing the bushkit resolves the issue, i would definitely go for it.

Yes, same here.

Anyone recommend a place in Melbourne close to the CBD or in the inner west?

I'd be prepared to travel a bit further for someone really good and reasonably priced.

I'm actually getting my car serviced today at Toyota and told them about the steering issue again.

Last time they looked at it, tried to correct it and did manage to improve the steering issue but it's still not 100% right.

I can't see them fixing it frankly.

By the way, took my car in as booked for 10am and have been told it will be ready at 4pm because they are "busy".... hmmmm ok.

Luckily I am on holidays and can wait. Still, not the best way to pass the day.

At the abovementioned service, I mentioned the steering issue again. They had looked at it last time and spent quite some time on it but hadn't corrected the problem completely.

After I got the car back from it being serviced they said that the steering issue had been "fixed" (or looked at).

I had a feeling there were shenanigans at play being that I had waited so long for the car to actually get serviced and the relatively short amount of time that it took from when the car was actually driven into the workshop (I saw it go in).

So, when I got home, I checked all the tyre pressures and found that the tyres on the drivers side were both a few psi less than the tyres on the passenger side. LOL ... seems that their "fix" to the car pulling to the left was to let down the right hand side tyres, thus creating more drag/friction on the right hand side so as to counter the pull to the left.

I check my tyre pressures at least once a fortnight and keep my front tyres at 36psi and rears at 38psi and I have never had a difference in pressure between the driver and passenger side.

I will be taking the car in to a specialist shop this Friday for it to be looked at and hopefully fixed.

Will let you know how it goes.

[prometheus]

Well, I took my Aurion in to a well regarded suspension specialist in North Melbourne, I explained the issue and he had a look at it and did a wheel alignment; charged me a damn good amount for it too (expensive).

Apparently I can take it in after 5000klms for a free check ... will see about this. I am hesitant to do any more work through this guy as my wallet can take only so much of a beating.

The ride under acceleration does seem less "squirelly", so I guess the alignment did help in some respects.

What I am finding is when I am on a flat road, the steering seems fine; BUT when the road drops off on the left (to the gutter for rain to wash off the road) then I am driving with the steering wheel tuned to the right; and this is on a straight road.

Frankly I am getting really over this crap and I am tempted to write a letter to the owners of the dealership that I bought the car from; particularly as their last "fix" to the problem was to reduce the tyre pressures on the drivers side a few psi lower than the tyre pessures on the passenger side. Yeah ... great fix that is.

I took the car to the mechanic that used to service my old Camry and he suggested I try Pedders.

Another thing that has been annoying me about the car lately is the fairly tight headroom.

I am 6ft tall (182cm) and I guess I have a fairly long torso.

If I sit straight in the car, the top of the windscreen seems almost at eye level and my hair (whats left of it; I have most of it actually) is touching the head liner.

Anyway, might be giving Pedders a shot, I live in the inner West of Melbourne and work just to the North of the CBD; so if anyone can recommend a Pedders, or any other place that CAN fix this damn steering problem, please let me know.

[prodigy 07]

Prometheus, take it back to them. If they have a reputation to uphold (and you paid good $ for them to fix it) they will have a closer look. Why is this a recurring problem? I don't know a damn thing about setting up a suspension but surely the guys that do can notice something different about our cars compared to the others that track straight after putting it on the machine. I got no probs paying to correct a fault, but don't d&@ck around and tell me an alignment will fix it if it won't. Dropping tyre pressures on 1 side is just ludicrous and tells me the shop you went to had no idea.

[prodigy 07]

On a side note, have Toyota rectified this problem with the new aurions?

[prometheus]

I got no probs paying to correct a fault, but don't d&@ck around and tell me an alignment will fix it if it won't. Dropping tyre pressures on 1 side is just ludicrous and tells me the shop you went to had no idea.

They knew exactly what they were doing in that they were running late, rushed and tried to give it a quick fix until I noticed and then hopefully it would become someone elses problem on a different day.

If anyone wants to know the dealership, message me and I will let you know.

[Silver-Aurion]

I spoke to the guy at pedders. He says that there are two ways to adjust the suspension for these cars. You either have it so the car won't slide into the camber of our roads which is sloping left which by doing this you eat away at your front tyres or you can have it done another way which will slide more into the left but save your tyres.

He also recommended that bushings which would help even out everything.

So yeah not sure what to do.

[fretlix]

hi guys and gals,

ive had an aurion touring for about 6 months.i like it.plenty of power and handles well.it is a little lacking in headroom as im 6'2.i do find however it will pull left or right, though mostly left under decent acceleration.it also does it on some bumps.i find it a little unnerving.i tend to drive very conservatively because of this.does anyone know why?is there a way to make the steering heavier?

on a side note also can you fold the rear seat down?it seems theres only a very small hole which you can open for what i dont know as its so small.thanks in advance

jason

[hixsta]

fretlix most front wheel drive cars with a few kilowatts will kick the steering around under heavy acceleration. They say the reason they stopped TRD production because it is too hot to handle for the average (non-racing) driver.

As for headroom, I'm 6'4" and drove a 2003 V6 Camry for years, never had to use the sun visor but ultimately you have to drive with the seat further back, teenage style! Oh, and double check that blind spot behind the rearview mirror when pulling out into traffic ...ooops sorry, didn't see you!

Back to "pulling-left"... I'm a new Aurion owner (pick up my 2008 tomorrow-excited!) I drove about 10 over the last 2 weeks and found that most have this problem. Some worse than others and one 2010 ATX seemed to have very little. For the most part if you are on a piece of road that has no camber, it generally does not pull. However I did find it annoying as my '03 V6 Camry was always straight as a die. The Aurion I have bought the problem seemed fairly minimal, but it has only done 19,000kms. My question to everyone is:

Does it get worse over time? As tyres and bushes wear?

Edited September 30, 2013 by hixsta

[Bangtown]

I have owned 3 aurion in the last 5 years.

2007 SX6

2009 SX6

2010 ZR6 current.

All pull left. All have torque streer under acceleration over big bumps. The 2007 was really bad until poly bushers installed

Kinda learn to deal with it, I mean 1 annoying con, out of what I think is one of the nicest all round cars in production.

I have had

The ZR6 for ages now and have put 70 k on it myself. Doesn't feel any worse but saying that I could just be complacecent.Its just one of those thing that I worth living with just to drive a top ride. For me it's kinda good in a way because I drive 6 hours at a time, sometimes after a 12 hour day, the pull makes me concentrate a little more on the highways

My opinion anyways

[Dale Kelly]

Hi guys n gals,

My AT-X has had this pulling left issue and it has worn my tyres prematurely, also my mechanic reckons I should run my tyres at 40psi.

It has a "slight pull" and i'm wondering if anyone has had success with the cheaper bushings?

[Noodle Boy]

Whoever is from the north can give Centreline Suspension a go. I had then give my Aurion a wheel alignment back in January. Given their experience and knowledge, they performed an extensive wheel alignment which got the car to drive straight now. They aligned the upper control arms and strut towers to adjust the camber and caster, which is never done during a wheel alignment at a normal tyre shop, before adjusting toe. Priced at $100 which a bit steep compared to a simple wheel alignment, it's for all 4 wheels and I'd say its worth every cent. Has lasted me for 3000 km so far and saved myself from forking out more money for offset bushes or camber bolts.

[jeffy]

Whoever is from the north can give Centreline Suspension a go. I had then give my Aurion a wheel alignment back in January. Given their experience and knowledge, they performed an extensive wheel alignment which got the car to drive straight now. They aligned the upper control arms and strut towers to adjust the camber and caster, which is never done during a wheel alignment at a normal tyre shop, before adjusting toe. Priced at $100 which a bit steep compared to a simple wheel alignment, it's for all 4 wheels and I'd say its worth every cent. Has lasted me for 3000 km so far and saved myself from forking out more money for offset bushes or camber bolts.

anyone specific to look for ?

or anyone there in general would be okay.?

[Noodle Boy]

You would want to speak to either Greg or Chris. I remember dealing with Chris-great guy. The boys there are very knowledgeable and honest. For those who don't know exactly where it is, its located at 72 Lipton dr, Thomastown.

[Dale Kelly]

Thanks for the replies.

I am south of Geelong so I am going to give my local Pedders a call to see if they are familiar with the issue but just knowing what the problem is exactly is a big help.

Cheers.

[zedder]

had the same issue with my jeep. fixed it with adjustable upper and lower control arms and set the ones on the left 10mm longer to counteract the factory length arms for american road camber.

[Arsalan]

Hi,

Any suggestions for getting this issue fixed in Sydney?

Thanks for your help!!!

[Arsalan]

Hi DJKOR

Any suggestions on getting this fixed in Sydney?

[07Prodigy]

I have the same problem, I had been told that Toyota has a repair bush for the issue but hadn't checked it out for myself.

Do you think I could just go to a suspension place and get them to supply and fit the parts?

[nvrau]

Can someone suggest a place in Brisbane to try?

[nvrau]

Can someone suggest a place in Brisbane to try?

Scratch that, I see Pedders is in the Brisbane area and several of you have had success with them.