badboyeee

My car only has 1250 miles and it already has an alignment problem! Yesterday I was driving straight on the freeway, I let go the steering wheel, and after 3 seconds it starts pulling to the right! I would probably be able to change 4 lanes in 5 seconds!
Then I tried again today at a different spot of the freeway, and its the same thing!
It's no wonder I had a tendancy to keep holding the steering wheel still to go straight.

What could be the problem here? This could be fixed under warranty right? Is this something I should be worried about in the long run?

badboyeee

Im pretty sure that the roads are flat. When I drove my old car to school (on the same roads), I didnt notice any pull to the right...

But just to make sure, I'll run more tests. I'm also gonna get a chance to drive my bro's 1991 integra tomorrow on the same roads, so I'll be comparing my car to his.

Thanks for bringing this to my attention

nightowl

bring it in to your dealer...i had the same problem a while back, hit a nasty pot hole on a off ramp. I got the dealer to fix it for free cause it was still under worenty

ZoomZoomH

take it to the dealer for a re-alignment, Mazda has a 12 month, 12,000 mile 'adjustment period' for all of its new cars, in which they will adjust your alignment, headlight aims, rotors, and any other 'adjustment' issues free of charge.

don't worry that the car's misaligned when it's still new, alignments does and will change just through normal use, some faster than others, depending on the road condition you're usually traveling in...

go get it aligned and you should be fine

badboyeee

okay thanks for the info everyone. yah i just looked through my warranty book and i see the adjusment warranty thing

im jus a lil worried cuz i thought i've been driving this car pretty easy and its still new (less than 1300 mi). there were a couple of times i took turns hard, but isnt what this car made to do? oh wellz

js1

I also thought I had a pull to the right. I have a little over 1k miles. The road I was testing it on was fairly level. But when I drove it on another stretch of the freeway that is much more level and straight, I didn't notice any pull. Try it on a lot of different roads and road surfaces. My P5 seemed to pull on concrete surfaces more but on the asphalt it was driving straight. Concrete freeways usually have a lot of grate marks cut into them. Uneven tire wear can also mean an alignment problem. Check tire pressure first though. Alignments are normal for a car. Don't be too worried about it.

KillahPro

Mine was mis-aligned at 26+K and it f'd up all my tires.

"Let's go TERPS!"

Protege ES 2.0

Yeah I have 10 K on mine and I just had the tires rotated and they are all warped. I really think that Mazda should by me some new rubber.

pro5girlie

I thought I had that problem too. Took it to the dealer twice. Try driving it in both lanes of the highway. you'll probably notice that in the left lane it pulls to the left, and vice versa. The roads are usually sloped to allow rain run-off. It's not really noticeable. If it's really bad, take it in just to be sure. But I wasted 2 trips just for them to tell me that. But hey, once they washed my car for me!

kc5zom

Not to sound like a jerk or anything but did you check your tires? Most alignment complaints are really tire problems. If not, then by all means take it to your dealer.

macklum

I had a similar problem when I first got my 2001 Lx ,Had dealer realign the car ,problem solved . I have noticed that Protege's ,at least 1st and 3rd gen need to exactly the same tire pressure in both front wheels or the pulls in the direction of the lower pressured tire . I currently run 32 psi in the front and 30 in the rear tires . This gives me better handling in general .

tester

I had an alignment problem also.

Ended up they had to replace the steering box.
Wow was that ever an expensive bill to mazda warantee.