'06 Caravan "Drifts" to the right

[Straightup]

I bought this van with 27K miles. Is real nice, but drifts to the right terrible. Dealership did an alignment and says everything is in spec -and they won't take it out of spec. They said if they could have it for a day they would check tires and all.

Also, they said that all '06's did this. I know that is pure baloney because my dad has an 06 with wheelchair conversion and it has no drift. Also, I went out and drove an 06 at another dealership and it had no drift.

It has 3 Goodyear Integra tires that I assume are OEM. They look fine and appear to have the mileage of the van. It has one oddball Bridgestone tire that looks brand new. That one is on the back passenger side.

I'm taking them up on their offer to have it another day. Just curious if anyone else heard of this?

Jeff

 

[xtraham]

Re: '06 Caravan

Re: '06 Caravan

it has a problem, make the dealer repair it,
alignment,
brakes,could be a caliper or hose
tire pressure,
may have been wrecked,
have the dealer give you a car fax report, and ask for info to contact the previous owner if they do not repair to your liking.......

 

[Straightup]

Re: '06 Caravan

Re: '06 Caravan

I will have them check those things xtraham.

On the CarFax, I did that myself before I signed on the bottom line and it came back clean.

Jeff

 

[xtraham]

Re: '06 Caravan

Re: '06 Caravan

it's seems strange to me that you have one mismatched tire, that's why I say contact the previous owner, does not take much anymore to do suspension parts damage, just hitting a curb to hard is enough to cause major damage to late model frames, and you can not unless you measure the frame X dimension, the dealer you purchased it from could have repaired it and no report would have been filed,

 

[bjcsc]

Re: '06 Caravan

Re: '06 Caravan

xtraham was pretty thorough. Only thing I'd add is you also may want to check the oddball tire's actual circumference (listed on many web sites). Some tires in the same size categories vary. An easy experiment would be to swap the oddball tire onto the drivers side and see if anything changes...

 

[puddle jumper]

Re: '06 Caravan

Re: '06 Caravan

Just a thought but when thay do the alinment make shure it is an 4 wheel alinment and you may want to get it done at another shop for an second opinion.Anyway an 4 wheel alinment will tell you if you van is square.I would suspect the oddball tire or a tire pull.Try swaping tires left to right on front and rear.
Not trying to be silly but make shure all the weight is ballanced in the van not all on one side.
Like xtraham said a brake draging front or rear could have the same effect.Let us know what you find.
pj

 

[jimr]

Re: '06 Caravan

Re: '06 Caravan

check your tire pressure then swap your front tires side to side and see if it pulls to the left. I would bet its a bad tire.

 

[technostingray]

Re: '06 Caravan

Re: '06 Caravan

My wifes 06 Grand Caravan came with Bridgestone tires. Let the dealer make it right.

 

[Drrockter]

Re: '06 Caravan

Re: '06 Caravan

It might not hurt to check what the tire pressure should be on the "oddball" tire. I bought new tires for my Wrangler and the pressure on them is 52 PSI cold. Same size as my old tires but they only required 32 PSI. Besides, if one tire is replaced than it will have more tread on it than the others, throwing off the balance.

 

[Straightup]

Re: '06 Caravan

Re: '06 Caravan

I appreciate everyones comments. It will be going in next week. I'll keep everyone posted.

Thanks again..

Jeff

 

[DJ]

Re: '06 Caravan

Re: '06 Caravan

It has 3 Goodyear Integra tires that I assume are OEM. They look fine and appear to have the mileage of the van. It has one oddball Bridgestone tire that looks brand new. That one is on the back passenger side.

There you go. Oddball tire on side of drift. That's where I'd be looking.

Easy enough to check. If the tires aren't directional, put the oddball on the left. I'll bet the drift follows the tire.

 

[ob]

Re: '06 Caravan

Re: '06 Caravan

There also may be a reason that there is an oddball tire on that side.As in collision or curb mishap.If a dealer rep told you that the alignment was within spec and sent you away with a late model vehicle pulling to one side with no further investigation,I'd look for a second opinion.
Otherwise,the tire could also be the sole culprit.

 

[Straightup]

Re: '06 Caravan

Re: '06 Caravan

Problem is fixed. They had the van for 2 days. They said the alignment was OK and they checked it again. They said the odball tire had no effect. It is still in the same place on the van that it was. They said that they checked a few things and swapped the two front tires around. It steers perfectly now. Still has me wondering if they didn't fix something major. Thanks again for all the responses. Jeff

 

[xtraham]

Re: '06 Caravan

Re: '06 Caravan

glad it's fixed but I can tell ya swaping the front tires did not fix it they had to do something else, just keep a close eye on your tire wear on the steer axle, rub them from time to time to feel for cupping and watch for wear on inside or outside of tread, BTW you really are not supposed to rotate radial tires from side to side only front to rear........

 

[Straightup]

Re: '06 Caravan

Re: '06 Caravan

I'll keep an eye out for wear. Also, I forgot to mention that I checked the tire pressures when I got home. The 3 OEM tires had 37 PSI and the new tire had 35. Doubt the 2 lbs pressure makes any difference, but that's what I'll keep them at since it works. Jeff

 

[BF]

Re: '06 Caravan

Re: '06 Caravan

The used van I bought pulled to the right since the day I got it.. I figured OK, needs an alignment. You could tell by looking at it that it was toed out quite a bit. But before I took it in for that I put in new ball joints and struts. Shop did a 4 wheel alignment, and had to adjust all 4 wheels. When they finally got all the wheels right, it still pulled to the right. They claimed to have put it back in the alignment rack and re-check everything. Next, they rotated the tires from left to right and the pull moved to the left. So, they said I had a tire issue, and that was the best they could do. I was somewhat sceptical, thinking they just didn't get the alignment right. It pulled a bit, and the steering didn't self center at all. Anyway the tires were near the end of their life anyway, so I got a new set of 4 put on the next week. Mostly so when it still had a pull, I could go back within a week and make them to re-do the alignment. Well, they were right. With the new set it drives perfect. Go figure.

Being a skeptical sort, when they told me they had it the best they could do and it still had a pull, I checked the tire pressure to see if they had "accidently" put uneven tire pressure in the front tires to compensate for the pull. They hadn't. Not like the shop that pulled the CEL bulb when they couldn't fix the underlying problem. :^

 

[BF]

Re: '06 Caravan

Re: '06 Caravan

oops double post

 

[Aquaman]

Re: '06 Caravan

Re: '06 Caravan

Problem is fixed. They said that they checked a few things and swapped the two front tires around.

Q. How can you tell a dealer is lying?
A. His lips are moving.