I have had my Durango Heat for about ten months, and about three months ago I noticed that the steering wheel was shaking at 65 mph, so I got the wheels balanced this Monday. After I got it back the shaking stopped, but the steering wheel started favoring the left, so I had to compensate to the right, and also there is a weird thump noise and feel when making sharp turns. I called the dealership and they told me that the vehicle's suspension is such that it will "hug the road and go to which ever side it feels the road is tilted to," and with the thump noise and feel they said that it is bumps on the road. Can someone tell me if their Durango does these things as well, or if the techs at Dodge messed up my Durango?

 

the latter.

 

The "hug the road crap" is called "road crown". The roads are purposely made this way so that water rolls off to the side of the road during rain or melting snow instead of pooling in the middle of the road. Typically, the car will pull left in the left lane, stay straight in the center lane, and pull right in the right lane. Not all roads are like this, but most are. A lot of car shops will try to pawn a ****ty alignment off on road crown, and other times, road crown does cause the vehicle to pull.

However, in your case, being that you are complaining about pulling and a thumping noise when turning, it sounds like you may have a possible bad tire, maybe with a shifted belt. You can try getting a road force balance at a shop that has one of these balancers to check for this problem. Another possibility is a bad or loose wheel bearing. This is not likely to be the issue because the vehicle is so new, but it is a possibility. I'd get the tires road force checked to start. Also, try driving in the center lane and see if you experience pulling.

 

I have high perf. 22" Proxes ST2's on my heat and it does the same thing on certain highways. No bumps etc though when turning

 

I drove on the highway today from the far left lane to the far right lane, and on the left lane it pulled a lot to the left and I had to overcompensate to the right, on the middle two lanes it was still still pulling to the left, it was a smaller amount the further I got the the right lane. When I was on the right lane, it pulled only a small amount to the right, but when I compensated it felt that the rear of the Durango was still pulling to the right. The Durango just feels weird, I also called the service department again today to make an appointment for them to check it out, and the service guy asked me what it was doing, I told him, he said before I waste my time and bring it to the shop to do a test to get on strait road (he told me which road the use to do their own test) and see if the durango stays straigt for six seconds, and if it does then there is not problem with the alingment, or anything else. I tried the test and the Durango stayed straight for over 10 seconds. So know I am thinking that maybe it is the road that is the problem and that the durango suspension is really "special."

 

I had a similar issue with my 2012 Citadel, after a few months the steering started feeling lighter and it would track to one side of the road or the other very easily. I also felt a small pop whenever I hit a pothole or hit the brakes very hard and it felt really weird. I initially tried to get the dealership to do the TSB that was out for the intermediate shaft but my truck was just outside the window for applicable vehicles. They continually tried to tell me that it was normal but after several visits and alignments I managed to take out the head suspension and alignment tech for a test drive and he also felt the small pop and the "weird" steering. After the test drive he ordered the intermediate shaft and rack and pinion. Once they replaced those components my truck felt just like the day I drove it off the lot, no pops, no loose steering and no pulling. Not sure if any of this will help but it sure shows you that the dealerships first assessment isn't always the right one. If it feels weird then keep bugging them, it will pay off.