DKS Posted August 11, 2010 Report Share Posted August 11, 2010 I just last week purchased a 2008 AWD Limited with 25,000 miles. I told the salesman the tires were out of balance on the test ride. The steering wheel was bouncing typical of a front tire out of balance. I wanted that fixed before purchase. The saleman promised me he had taken care of it. Not true. It also pulled to the right badly and quickly if I released pressure on the steering wheel. I took my front wheels off to install splash guards and the left front was scuffing badly on the outside. The right front was doing the same but not as badly. I returned to the dealer who balanced, rotated, and aligned. It still pulled to the right. I took it to a local alignment shop who has been doing it for a very long time and is known to be very good. He has done great work for me for many years. He said it was out but not terribly. That was troublesome since the dealer aligned it yesterday. I did not trust the dealer to mess with it again. It still pulls to the right if I am not coasting and release pressure on the wheel. It is better but not gone. Has anyone else dealt with something like this on an Edge? Is it something to do with the FWD when the AWD is not engaged? It does not seem to be as bad if I am coasting as when I have my foot on the accelerator. The scuffed tires are now on the back and on the opposite side. I am coming from a RWD Envoy so FWD may just be different. Great vehicle, but this has me concerned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted August 11, 2010 Report Share Posted August 11, 2010 I just last week purchased a 2008 AWD Limited with 25,000 miles. I told the salesman the tires were out of balance on the test ride. The steering wheel was bouncing typical of a front tire out of balance. I wanted that fixed before purchase. The saleman promised me he had taken care of it. Not true. It also pulled to the right badly and quickly if I released pressure on the steering wheel. I took my front wheels off to install splash guards and the left front was scuffing badly on the outside. The right front was doing the same but not as badly. I returned to the dealer who balanced, rotated, and aligned. It still pulled to the right. I took it to a local alignment shop who has been doing it for a very long time and is known to be very good. He has done great work for me for many years. He said it was out but not terribly. That was troublesome since the dealer aligned it yesterday. I did not trust the dealer to mess with it again. It still pulls to the right if I am not coasting and release pressure on the wheel. It is better but not gone. Has anyone else dealt with something like this on an Edge? Is it something to do with the FWD when the AWD is not engaged? It does not seem to be as bad if I am coasting as when I have my foot on the accelerator. The scuffed tires are now on the back and on the opposite side. I am coming from a RWD Envoy so FWD may just be different. Great vehicle, but this has me concerned. Try swapping the tires around. Could just be a bad tire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyerjmr33 Posted August 11, 2010 Report Share Posted August 11, 2010 Get on a completely level road with no crown Normal, is when you accelerate, torque steer will make the vehicle pull to the right, when off the gas and coasting, it will either go straight or slightly pull to the left. If you have alredy rotated the tires, they are not the problem. Did they do a full 4 wheel alignment or simply check the front? Rear alignment is very critical on any vehicle with independant rear suspension. What were the alignment readings? I can tell more from them than just hipshooting like I'm doing now. Have them print out the alignment readings---- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
igcitng Posted August 11, 2010 Report Share Posted August 11, 2010 I purchased my 2008 new in 2009. It was fine until I had the tires rotated for the first time. It pulled to the left really really bad. Apparently a little bit of lot rot going on with the tires. I had them rotated differently and it has been fine. I got the speech about the crown in the roads but it was way beyond it being that, I could hardly keep it straight using both hands on the wheel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DKS Posted August 13, 2010 Author Report Share Posted August 13, 2010 Get on a completely level road with no crown Normal, is when you accelerate, torque steer will make the vehicle pull to the right, when off the gas and coasting, it will either go straight or slightly pull to the left. If you have alredy rotated the tires, they are not the problem. Did they do a full 4 wheel alignment or simply check the front? Rear alignment is very critical on any vehicle with independant rear suspension. What were the alignment readings? I can tell more from them than just hipshooting like I'm doing now. Have them print out the alignment readings---- They did a full 4 wheel alignment at the dealer and then I actually had a local shop do it again. The local shop is very good. Then I found the TSB for the pull and had the dealer do that as well. It is better but still drifts off to the right if I release pressure on the steering wheel. I think they just rotated front to rear on the tires. I believe I am going to flip the rear ones side to side. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
igcitng Posted August 13, 2010 Report Share Posted August 13, 2010 They did a full 4 wheel alignment at the dealer and then I actually had a local shop do it again. The local shop is very good. Then I found the TSB for the pull and had the dealer do that as well. It is better but still drifts off to the right if I release pressure on the steering wheel. I think they just rotated front to rear on the tires. I believe I am going to flip the rear ones side to side. There is a TSB for it? Where can I find that? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyerjmr33 Posted August 14, 2010 Report Share Posted August 14, 2010 They did a full 4 wheel alignment at the dealer and then I actually had a local shop do it again. The local shop is very good. Then I found the TSB for the pull and had the dealer do that as well. It is better but still drifts off to the right if I release pressure on the steering wheel. I think they just rotated front to rear on the tires. I believe I am going to flip the rear ones side to side. Did they give you a print out of the readings?--- If not, can you get one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DKS Posted August 20, 2010 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2010 Did they give you a print out of the readings?--- If not, can you get one? I did not get a readout from the dealer, but I can get my hands on one for the local shop. The TSB I found right here on this forum. The car seems to be better than it was. Tire pressure seems to be very, very sensitive on this vehicle. I still plan to rotate the rear tires side to side. I am interested to see if the poor wear from the first alignment is causing some of the issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyerjmr33 Posted August 20, 2010 Report Share Posted August 20, 2010 I did not get a readout from the dealer, but I can get my hands on one for the local shop. The TSB I found right here on this forum. The car seems to be better than it was. Tire pressure seems to be very, very sensitive on this vehicle. I still plan to rotate the rear tires side to side. I am interested to see if the poor wear from the first alignment is causing some of the issue. Get the readout from the local shop. I can tell you from that if you will have any issues with alignment. If not, tires are the culprit. Tire pressure is a factor , but a tire that is worn from a previous problem could be the trouble also. Once a tire wears a certain way, you cannot ever make it normal again without shaving the rubber. Get the readouts ---- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curlysir Posted December 30, 2010 Report Share Posted December 30, 2010 (edited) Have a 2011 with less then 2000 miles with pretty much the same symptoms. Dealer did a 4 wheel alignment and it helped but did not eliminate the pull to the right. Talked to the Service Manager and agreed to drive for awhile and then bring it back if it was still a problem. It is and I intend to take it back shortly. Pull is not bad but is noticeable. Does anyone know if the TSB still applies? Or did they make changes it the suspension in the later models? FYI: The TSB has been updated to TSB 08-7-3, the only change is in model year included. Edited January 15, 2011 by curlysir Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Depiry Posted December 30, 2010 Report Share Posted December 30, 2010 Check the Owners Manual,I believe the tire rotation is in reverse of what I always have been doing,Fronts straight back,rears foward X,Marty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curlysir Posted January 15, 2011 Report Share Posted January 15, 2011 (edited) Have a 2011 with less then 2000 miles with pretty much the same symptoms. Dealer did a 4 wheel alignment and it helped but did not eliminate the pull to the right. Talked to the Service Manager and agreed to drive for awhile and then bring it back if it was still a problem. It is and I intend to take it back shortly. Pull is not bad but is noticeable. Does anyone know if the TSB still applies? Or did they make changes it the suspension in the later models? FYI: The TSB has been updated to TSB 08-7-3, the only change is in model year included. Update: Took it back it in and they had it on the alignment machine for over 2 hours. Never got a straight answer about what they did, but it is fixed. I no longer have a pull and the Edge steers and drives better then it ever has. The only compliant I have is that I had to be a major pain in the ass to the the Service Advisor and Service Manager to get them to do anything. They kept trying to tell me that everything was within specifications and there was nothing they could do. I kept after it and fortunately the day I took it in for something else there was a Ford Engineer there and she drove it. I was going to escalate it to Ford if they did not want to do anything. The pull was very noticeable and I had to keep a steady pressure to the left of the steering wheel independent of the slope of the road. Now the Edge will track straight and will drift slowly in the direction of slope of the road like most vehicles do. Hopefully the detail service order they send out will have some more information about what they did. I had previously swapped the front tires without any improvement and I can tell that they did not rotate the tires front to back so they had to change something on the front end I just don't know what. For some reason this dealer seems to think that letting the customer know what they do would be revealing a trade secret. Edited January 15, 2011 by curlysir Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyerjmr33 Posted January 17, 2011 Report Share Posted January 17, 2011 Update: Took it back it in and they had it on the alignment machine for over 2 hours. Never got a straight answer about what they did, but it is fixed. I no longer have a pull and the Edge steers and drives better then it ever has. The only compliant I have is that I had to be a major pain in the ass to the the Service Advisor and Service Manager to get them to do anything. They kept trying to tell me that everything was within specifications and there was nothing they could do. I kept after it and fortunately the day I took it in for something else there was a Ford Engineer there and she drove it. I was going to escalate it to Ford if they did not want to do anything. The pull was very noticeable and I had to keep a steady pressure to the left of the steering wheel independent of the slope of the road. Now the Edge will track straight and will drift slowly in the direction of slope of the road like most vehicles do. Hopefully the detail service order they send out will have some more information about what they did. I had previously swapped the front tires without any improvement and I can tell that they did not rotate the tires front to back so they had to change something on the front end I just don't know what. For some reason this dealer seems to think that letting the customer know what they do would be revealing a trade secret. More than likely, they finally did the rear alignment. If they said the front was in specs, the only other place to fix would have been the rear. Improper rear toe in could cause a pull. Anyway, whatever they did, you now have a decent driving vehicle. When something is wrong, a little bitchin' to the right person goes a long way! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curlysir Posted January 17, 2011 Report Share Posted January 17, 2011 More than likely, they finally did the rear alignment. If they said the front was in specs, the only other place to fix would have been the rear. Improper rear toe in could cause a pull. Anyway, whatever they did, you now have a decent driving vehicle. When something is wrong, a little bitchin' to the right person goes a long way! They claim they did a 4 wheel alignment the first time :angry: But who knows! I could not tell any difference after the first time they supposedly did an alignment. But as you said, it is now fixed, I just wish I knew what they did. Asking the service advisor is a waste of time as he is more BS then anything and condescending in his attitude. The Service Manager is too busy to talk to you most of the time and will not return phone calls. I made up my mine after this I will try another dealer and see if their attitude is any better. Will go back to the original dealer for electronic work as the Tech that does their work appears to be pretty good and up on the latest technology. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverknight Posted May 21, 2011 Report Share Posted May 21, 2011 So a pull to the right when accelerating is normal? Geez, sounds like something dangerous as mine does this. Hard acceleration and it really wants to go right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edgieguy Posted June 26, 2011 Report Share Posted June 26, 2011 My 2011 sport went back 3 times for this. The finally rotated the left strut assembly 180*. That was the fix from a Ford tech who drove the car around a few days. I read it was an improperly machined bearing seat. So even though you are within factory specs you are still out of spec because everything is based on a wrong machining Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyerjmr33 Posted June 27, 2011 Report Share Posted June 27, 2011 So a pull to the right when accelerating is normal? Geez, sounds like something dangerous as mine does this. Hard acceleration and it really wants to go right. It's called "tourque steer" and seems to be really prevalent in the Edge-- when Ford came out with the original Taurus back in '86, they engineered "torque steer" out. I owned an '87 Mercury Sable and never had any torque steer symptoms ---I figured that they had kept the same axle engineering and passed it forward to the Edge--- not my first ever mistake about engineers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted June 27, 2011 Report Share Posted June 27, 2011 It's called "tourque steer" and seems to be really prevalent in the Edge-- when Ford came out with the original Taurus back in '86, they engineered "torque steer" out. I owned an '87 Mercury Sable and never had any torque steer symptoms ---I figured that they had kept the same axle engineering and passed it forward to the Edge--- not my first ever mistake about engineers! Umm.....did the 1987 Sable have 263 hp? Probably more like 163. Hard to torque steer without any torque. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cal3thousand Posted June 27, 2011 Report Share Posted June 27, 2011 Umm.....did the 1987 Sable have 263 hp? Probably more like 163. Hard to torque steer without any torque. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyerjmr33 Posted June 27, 2011 Report Share Posted June 27, 2011 Umm.....did the 1987 Sable have 263 hp? Probably more like 163. Hard to torque steer without any torque. It's still a function of crappy engineering of the front axles---- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torque_steering Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted June 28, 2011 Report Share Posted June 28, 2011 It's still a function of crappy engineering of the front axles---- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torque_steering No it's not. It takes EXCELLENT engineering to control torque steer. It's very difficult and gets harder as power increases. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyerjmr33 Posted June 28, 2011 Report Share Posted June 28, 2011 No it's not. It takes EXCELLENT engineering to control torque steer. It's very difficult and gets harder as power increases. And it obviously is NOT EXCELLENT on the Edge--- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted June 28, 2011 Report Share Posted June 28, 2011 And it obviously is NOT EXCELLENT on the Edge--- Exactly. Torque steer in a high power FWD vehicle is normal and it takes a lot of engineering work to minimize it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cal3thousand Posted June 28, 2011 Report Share Posted June 28, 2011 I've driven a bunch of FWD vehicles and the Edge's torque steer is relatively minimal and only occurs for an instant. Unless you are in the habit of punching it while doing a no-hander, it's a non issue in this car. At least that's how it feels in my Edge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AXCL Posted June 29, 2011 Report Share Posted June 29, 2011 It's still a function of crappy engineering of the front axles---- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torque_steering Perhaps torque steer is for some, but its already been pointed out that there is a TSB for this issue that has recently been updated for the 2011. In fact, I think there is a special one just for the Sport with the 22"s. Those big fattys tend to amplify any minor alignment issue. I just had mine done a couple of weeks ago and its much better now. My steering wheel wasn't even lined up. I was 2-5deg off to the right, even though I was fighting the wheel from going even further right, but not from torque. **Note** If you think you have this issue in an 11' get it reviewed ASAP!, I know in Canada, alignment is only covered for the first 20-25K (don't remember exactly), don't know what the US has. Even though its a TSB, it is only covered under the alignment warranty. I was over by 3K I think and had to fight about it. The service adviser was really good about thought. As soon as he saw I was pissed, he started looking for a way around it. I think since my steering wheel was off as well, he could put it under a different category, I didn't care, as long as I didn't have to pay for it. They did a 4 wheel alignment and adjusted a few items based on the TSB. I wouldn't say its perfect now, but much better then before and the steering actually feels lighter, I guess since I'm not fighting it since its balanced correctly. Someone else mentioned air pressure, I notice that big time with the 22's. I've played with that a little and I'm getting to the point where I can even tell what tire is low based on what the steering wheel is doing. I generally ride a pound or 2 high, which makes low tires even more obvious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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