Koliva- I'm taking my RT in for an alignment check with my next oil change. It has 5k miles on it and there is feathering occuring on the outside of the front tires...they haven't even downloaded the alignment specs for the Magnum yet, so I'm kinda nervous about the outcome. Can you give me any helpful hints as to the fix to the problem?

My RT doesn't pull too much one way or another...although it definitely follows the road. I think it's just part of the touchy supspension, and I don't really mind it. What I do mind is the fact that my tires are feathering badly!

 

Forgot to come back and let you know the status. After the alignment was done my my local alignment shop via the dealer my pull is more of a drift and is what should be expected from any car now. I was able to run down the highway with my hands off the wheel for a bit. I'm glad they got that taken care of.

 

My SXT had a very bad pull to the right...at 80 to 90 clicks and take your hand of the wheel and she goes off the road within 100 yards of distance. 1 st time I took it in the dealer rotated and alligned the tires front end etc. etc and told me to come back and they would have to fix the steering wheel that was off centre..but not before they ordered special camber bolts.....2nd time they performed another alignment ...said they adjusted toe in & toe out and did not have to use the camber bolts.... 3rd time in they took a test drive and the car proved to not be one of the theory's....Dodge expert engineers are thinking that alot of Magnums and 300's have this problem due to the a chassy imprint being stretched and widened...and cobined with the large tires allows them to inherently follow the imperfections in the road and cause them to inherently have problems drifting to the right and in some cases to the left. This was not the case with mine where they have now ordered a new Rack & Pinion steering assembly to see if this works..mileage 3600 kms...I have nothing but good to say about the excellent service & every attempt being made to solve this problem.

 

Just testing to see if my picture displays

 

Wish I had the specs for you, but what they did to my Magnum was, they loosened the bolts that support the front and rear suspension crossmembers, or cradles, then performed a four-wheel thrust alignment, then tightened everything back up. Apparently there's some adjustment there (kind of scary). I haven't even looked under the car to see where these bolts are, and when I picked up the car from the dealer, the mechanic had already left for the day, so I was unable to get specifics. It cured the drift to the right for sure, but afterward it seemed more sensitive to road crown, in other words, it would veer slightly in the direction the road sloped, be it left or right, but if the road was flat, like a highway, it goes dead straight. Now I don't even notice it, so I must be happy with the results, or I just got used to it. Definitely better than it was before.

 

Magnum Force,
I too have the same 'Sensitive Steering' issues. I account this as the Touring Suspension, not a defect. Just like you said, I can feel all the creases in the pavement, right crown road goes to the right, left crown road goes to the left, flat road goes dead straight. I like the Steering in the Magnum. What was your guys' build date? Past 11/05/04?

 

I didn't have the "pull" problem, but did have a little feathering. Since many were having trouble with dealers, I took mine to my local, knowledgeable alignment center, where I could talk to the guy, watch what he did and get logical, informed explanations, rather than, It's within specs." from the dealer. They did the 4 wheel thrust alignment WITH ME IN THE CAR. (He said BMW is the only mfg. that calls for "loading" the vehicle before aligning.) You would be surprised how much the alignment changes with car empty vs. when loaded the way you normally drive....especially if you're a big guy like me. He showed me in tolerance empty, and when I got in, it was out of specs. Also these cars are very crown sensitive, no matter what you do. The alignment guy also told me to run 40 PSI in the tires, which I have for about three months now. Mileage is slightly better, as is cornering. More tire/road noise and rougher ride quality are the downsides of this, but not a problem, in my opinion. He also rotated the tires, and said that if you do a lot of in town driving with lots of turning, you're going to get some feathering, even with the alignment being perfect. Cost of not having to go back several times and no dealer hassle was around $40. Well worth it.