TXjeepTJ

iTrader: (8)

If I am driving down a straight flat road, but the road has an angle that is so small it isn't even noticeable, my vehicle will turn itself. I have to hold the steering wheel straight, if I left go of the steering wheel it immediately turns itself towards the downward of the slope. Example, if you are driving straight into the screen and the road is sloped like this \ my steering wheel will constantly want to turn to the right

It is insanely annoying, and has done it since the vehicle was brand new.

This is for a 2016 Ford F-150.. I took it to the dealership 3 times, they aligned it twice, it still does it. They say "this is how the truck is supposed to drive". If so, I will never ever buy another Ford again. I've drove about 5k miles since alignment and noticed the outer edges of the tires wearing very quickly also.

It also handles very poorly, steering always feels loose, and it also has very bad bump steer

I checked on the Ford forums, but those people literally know NOTHING besides "take it to da dealership". Trying out Chevy guys. Could this be a simple suspension/steering geometry problem?

Anything I can check on my own?

ss55539

i have two f150s an 08 and a 15 granted both are on 35x12.50s but both trucks do this to a degree, and the alignments are spot on i do them myself with a new hunter machine. both of them did it to an extent before the bigger tires. ford calls for 0 degree of toe if a guy puts a little toe in it will help but increase tire wear. what i do is find a deserted highway and go down the middle of both lanes and see if you still have a pull, mine track straight on a level road but any crown and it feels like a pull.

taman86

iTrader: (19)

So presuming that your tires are the same size and equal pressures, the vehicle will always pull to the side with the most positive camber and/or negative caster. So if you get a good alignment tech, he can set the alignment up to help offset that pull caused by road crown to some degree by giving the left side my positive camber and the right side more negative camber so that when the vehicle slants from the road crown the tires should have more equal contact

8.Lug

taman86

iTrader: (19)

yes physicist

8.Lug

LLLosingit

iTrader: (4)

You are truly an idiot lol, As taman86 said...If he takes it to a knowledgeable alignment shop they can compensate for the crown in the road, Some already do this and some don't you need to ask. None of my vehicles have a noticeable pull because of the crown of the road but they are all Chevy's!

pdxmotorhead

I used to take care of a fairly large fleet of trucks, all the fords did that. no amount of screwing with alignment would fix it, the F250's with the solid front axle and leaf springs were the worst, the "i" beam trucks a close second, and why the A-arm trucks do it is a freeking mystery, The GM and Dodge trucks didn't do it. I even tried the alignment specs from teh heavy GM trucks that didn't have the problem on the F250's,, no help. It got worse when towing.

8.Lug

Sam Strano

iTrader: (41)

No, not really. This whole comment is confusing to me.
First of all, Caster lead can hugely change how a car tracks. Adding caster lead (more positive in the RF vs. the LF) can kill a lot of the pull to the right on a crowned road, if you are in the right lane. But makes it worse if you are in the left lane on a crowned road. Because not all roads are crowned, or crowned the same way I just tend to match the caster and if it pulls a little to the right on road X, so be it.

Now to the statement about base geometry and cars that handle aren't stable at speed. Basically that's all not correct. I mean you could have a crappy geometry, but this car doesn't have a terrible setup in general. And Corvettes and Porsche's and lots of cars track like freight trains at speed, even with even more aggressive handling alignments on them... if they aren't just some guess. My C7 Grand Sport has a very aggressive alignment in it for my Autocrossing and track use, and it's dead stable @ 140.

LS6427

iTrader: (2)

Every single road in Florida that is only TWO LANES....ONE LANE going-ONE LANE coming. Has slope purposely built into them so if someone falls asleep the car will not cross the centerline and it will instead go off to its own side of the road. Been like that forever.

All highways with multiple lanes do not have slope built in.

ALL cars and trucks, if you let go of the wheel, will immediately start to go right and go off the road to the right if you drive on a two lane road....at least here in Florida. I would assume roads all over the USA are built the same.

.

LLLosingit

iTrader: (4)

Actually the reason they have slope is for water runoff and yes even multilane roads going in the same direction slope but it's just not as noticeable because it's only a slope in one direction and it's spread over wider area.

TXjeepTJ

iTrader: (8)

I've had 5 vehicles before this one, and none of them did what this truck does. I know manufacturers purposely put a little "pull to the right" in the alignment for safety reasons (falling asleep), but this is way different, it will go hardcore LEFT into on coming traffic if the road is sloped that way, it seems very dangerous and unpredictable

I have to drive in Downtown Houston everyday for work, and those roads are horrible there. If I let go of the steering wheel, and I **** you not, the wheel will turn from 12 o'clock position to 3 o'clock position. With the constant changes in the road, I'm constantly feeling the wheel wanting to go to either 3 oclock or 9 oclock, I'm white knuckling that bitch the whole time hoping I don't run into cars next to me lol. I never ever had an issue with the Silverado I had before the F150

TXjeepTJ

iTrader: (8)

Thanks for posting this, I will definitely take it to a non-dealership shop and talk to a tech, but what it sounds like from other Ford owners - this is just 'how it drives' unfortunately lol

taman86

iTrader: (19)

oh this is priceless, nobody literally can make up the crap that comes from your brain. If only natural selection still existed in this world, what a shame. So where did you learn that from, playing gran turismo?

the funny thing is that once Sam chimed in you have nothing else to say?

from my EXPERIENCE as a trained and certified suspension and steering tech, fords are more notorious for having soft steering causing unpredictable bump steer. It's usually compounded with worn components and bushings. When they went to a more modern setup with a arms it helped a lot. It's usually not a cheap fix, cuz it usually entails a complete rebuild of the front end including shocks to get back to factory specs.

taman86

iTrader: (19)

You nerve mentioned what year the truck is? That could give more insight into the design.

Spartan7

iTrader: (7)

Yikes, that sounds like more than an alignment issue, possibly bent/damaged front suspension or maybe a bent rim. I'm in Houston too, and the shop that aligned my truck after I rebuilt the whole front end was B&B Automotive on Hempstead. They actually know what they're doing, and mine drives straight as an arrow. I'm not familiar with Fords, but they might be able to help you figure out just what's going on.

TXjeepTJ

iTrader: (8)

Oops, it is a 2016 model. Lariat

Yeah, I'm starting to wonder if the dealership I took it to didn't know what they were doing (1st time I got it aligned the steering wheel was crooked, they told me the "rookie" did the alignment and that's why it was off - they then did the 2nd one, which straightened the wheel)

Sam Strano

iTrader: (41)

Typical response from an internet warrior these days.

I'm busy, I have far more to do than to hang on LS1tech.com all day. But let's touch on some details. The crap that comes from my brain is pretty well proven to work, and work well. Also we are not talking about a Ford here, are we? Even if we were you are still wrong.

Geometry. Guess what, it has no idea if you are on a crowned road or not, that doesn't magically change when the road surface changes. Your claim that GEOMETRY being the cause is just plain old wrong. Maybe you think the alignment changes geometry? Again you'd be wrong. Geometry is set by the mounting locations of the control arms. Even if you are the world's best alignment tech, you can't change that on a car without some trick parts. AND then you seem not to understand that because Geometry is difference on all cars and truck that are not of the same model exactly. I.E. the geometry of a Corvette is not the same as a Camaro, a Gen 5 Camaro not the same as a 4 or 6. BMW vs. Mustang, different. I guess because it's a geometry problem all those cars but one would yank off the road.