Help. Brand new 18 STI – pulls to the right under acceleration

[SnowmanCT]

They should be checking for anything loose in the front suspension (ball joints, endlinks, etc.)... and if it moved when they swapped wheels - it could be a wheel (sounds like they only replaced the tires).

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[Cliff000]

After going over every thing and going to 4 different dealers. My problem has been fixed. I had week 23 production tires and they were all bad. I now have 4 new ones on and car is no longer pulling or drifting. Must be a Yokohama problem! Hope this helps!

[Norskie]

Originally Posted by Cliff000

Must be a Yokohama problem! Hope this helps!

I too have had problems with Yokohama (not on a Subaru). 2 of 4 tires bad. Just as bad as my track record with Avon motorcycle tires (3 of 6 bad), but doesn't beat Cooper, 3 of 5 bad.

[zzpatzz]

+1 I would take it back to the dealership, but I always hate taking my car to the dealership...

[IanManger]

Originally Posted by IanManger

I picked up my 2018 STi in early October and had the same issue. This will be long, but I want to share my full experience in detail to hopefully save other people time and energy of making multiple trips to the dealership. My car pulls to the left when under even the slightest bit of acceleration. Driving on the interstate I also notice the steering wheel is off center. I am turning the wheel about 5-10 degrees to the right to keep the car driving straight. I am sure some of this is caused by the crowing of the road, but I am always having to pull the steering wheel to the right. I can never just relax my arms and cruise on the high way I have to always be "driving" the car.

Took the car to the dealership 4 times.

1st visit to dealership - they double checked the alignment and it was out slightly but not a lot. The issue was still present.

2nd visit to dealership - This time the service manager went on a test drive with me. He also verified that he felt the issue (now I know I was not being paranoid). They swapped the two front wheels. The issue was still there but reversed this time. This means that the issue should be in the tire. They ordered two brand new yokohamas.

3rd visit to dealership - Replaced the two tires with the new ones they ordered. The issue is still there pulling right still. They ordered another two Yokohamas to replace all four tires now.

4th visit to dealership - Replaced rear two tires with new. The car now has all new tires. The issue has moved back to the left and feels almost exactly the way it did in the beginning.

The dealership has told me they don't know what else could be causing the issue and they have done everything that they can under warranty to address the issue. I don't know if this is just the nature of the car or if these Yokohama tires are just complete crap. When I buy a 40k high performance car, I expect it to have precise steering. I am planning to buy some winter wheels and tires here soon and I will then see how the car drives after that. If this fixes the issue then I know that these tires are junk.

That is my experience and I hope this helps anyone who is also having this issue. I love everything else about the car and am still very happy with my purchase, I just wish I didn't have to make so many trips to the dealership after buying a brand new car.

UPDATE:
I got my winter wheels and tires and put them on yesterday. The issue seems to have completely gone away now. The car no longer pulls to the right under acceleration. The issue definitely is in the tires or wheels. My bet would be the tires since multiple people that have had this issue are claiming after getting new tires that the issue has gone away. In my experience, even after getting 4 new tires the issue is still present. I must have gotten 4 more bad tires put on. These Yokohama tires are junk. Subaru needs to address this issue with a recall and get good tires to dealerships and start replacing them on customers cars. I am afraid that there just is not enough complaints yet.

I will be contacting Subaru of America directly instead of going through the dealership. The dealership I have been going to has told me they can do nothing else for me under warranty (they don't believe the tires are the issue). Good luck to all that have this problem.

[Obviously Tyler]

I don't know why Subaru still bothers with the Yokohamas. Nearly everyone takes them off and goes with different tires or to all seasons. Mazda loves the Yokos too, and they're just as bad on them.

If they want to keep up with the competition they should just slap pilot super sports on at least the STi.

[KidWitDaSTI2017]

I bought a 17 sti last nov and have had no issues till now. I will be posting up after I get my first 3 posts up. This being number one I run continental dws 06 they are awesome but don’t stick as well as the Dunlop sport max did in the summer obviously but snow and rain are amazing.

[Erv813]

Originally Posted by IanManger

I picked up my 2018 STi in early October and had the same issue. This will be long, but I want to share my full experience in detail to hopefully save other people time and energy of making multiple trips to the dealership. My car pulls to the left when under even the slightest bit of acceleration. Driving on the interstate I also notice the steering wheel is off center. I am turning the wheel about 5-10 degrees to the right to keep the car driving straight. I am sure some of this is caused by the crowing of the road, but I am always having to pull the steering wheel to the right. I can never just relax my arms and cruise on the high way I have to always be "driving" the car.

Took the car to the dealership 4 times.

1st visit to dealership - they double checked the alignment and it was out slightly but not a lot. The issue was still present.

2nd visit to dealership - This time the service manager went on a test drive with me. He also verified that he felt the issue (now I know I was not being paranoid). They swapped the two front wheels. The issue was still there but reversed this time. This means that the issue should be in the tire. They ordered two brand new yokohamas.

3rd visit to dealership - Replaced the two tires with the new ones they ordered. The issue is still there pulling right still. They ordered another two Yokohamas to replace all four tires now.

4th visit to dealership - Replaced rear two tires with new. The car now has all new tires. The issue has moved back to the left and feels almost exactly the way it did in the beginning.

The dealership has told me they don't know what else could be causing the issue and they have done everything that they can under warranty to address the issue. I don't know if this is just the nature of the car or if these Yokohama tires are just complete crap. When I buy a 40k high performance car, I expect it to have precise steering. I am planning to buy some winter wheels and tires here soon and I will then see how the car drives after that. If this fixes the issue then I know that these tires are junk.

That is my experience and I hope this helps anyone who is also having this issue. I love everything else about the car and am still very happy with my purchase, I just wish I didn't have to make so many trips to the dealership after buying a brand new car.

I just replaced mine and put all seasons on it. It's still pulling to the left and my steering wheel is cocked to the right. This super frustrating I feel like next step is somehow get in touch with Subaru of America.

[lightop]

Originally Posted by Erv813

I just replaced mine and put all seasons on it. It's still pulling to the left and my steering wheel is cocked to the right. This super frustrating I feel like next step is somehow get in touch with Subaru of America.

This seems to be a somewhat common issue with these cars. My 17 STi Limited has had the same problem from day one. It’s had 10 alignments done on it at three different dealerships over the last year. Dealership always confirmed the problem but never could fix it and always claims that it’s torque steer. The car even does it with my winter wheels/tires.

Subaru of America will also be little to no help. Typical response from Subaru is to take it back to the dealership (where you will be turned away).

I bitched enough and SoA sent a field engineer to look at my car. He said it pulls to the right by design. So lame.

[rtv900]

Originally Posted by lightop

I bitched enough and SoA sent a field engineer to look at my car. He said it pulls to the right by design. So lame.

what the?

my 16 is fine.
what on earth did they change after the 16's so that everybody has this
mine tracks perfectly

[zavier]

Originally Posted by Erv813

I just replaced mine and put all seasons on it. It's still pulling to the left and my steering wheel is cocked to the right. This super frustrating I feel like next step is somehow get in touch with Subaru of America.

I've been having that same issue since I picked mine up as well. I switched to winter tires back in December and it is still doing it. I'm not sure if an alignment issue or a steering wheel problem but I can confirm it is not the wheels since I replaced the rims and tires when I switched to winters and had everything rebalanced just in case. At this point I'm going to have to take it back to the dealership and see if they can find anything (which I don't think they will)

[Chuckd876]

Originally Posted by lightop

This seems to be a somewhat common issue with these cars. My 17 STi Limited has had the same problem from day one. It’s had 10 alignments done on it at three different dealerships over the last year. Dealership always confirmed the problem but never could fix it and always claims that it’s torque steer. The car even does it with my winter wheels/tires.

Subaru of America will also be little to no help. Typical response from Subaru is to take it back to the dealership (where you will be turned away).

I bitched enough and SoA sent a field engineer to look at my car. He said it pulls to the right by design. So lame.

I too have the same issue and no longer want the car. This is a serious safety concern and the car is not predictable. I've taken the car to the dealership to which they couldn't figure it out. With me doing the research I told them it was the tires. They did confirm one tire was bad and replaced all 4. No results at all when they replaced them. Now they are getting a field engineer to come out and look at it next week. This is just crazy! I've lost all confidence is this car. I'm in the process of going thru the lemon law process. It's going back to Subaru.

[relative4]

Class action time...

[projectp11]

Mine did it since brand new, I put different wheels with winter tires on it and it doesn't do it at all now. Still shakes at 75mph though. Ill see if it pulls again when I put the summers back on.

[2toxic]

check 4 wheel allighnment , if that didnt fix it, the tires are most of the time bad

[macnab]

I wonder if the front diff has any influence here, as some are seeing issue even after complete wheel replacement, and the note above about the issue being less when set for max RWD.

[OhSweetYams]

Owner of a new 2018 sti checking in...I got it this past January.
Mine has unpredictable steering at highway speeds. so far I haven't noticed any pulling under acceleration but the car just seems wobbly (steering wise) and it feels like it's floating across the freeway lanes. This issue JUST started today, and the odometer read 914 miles.

[spericas]

Hey guys. Picked up my 2018 STI Limited about a month ago. Have had the issue of it pulling to RIGHT since day one. Took it to dealership where they checked alignment, torqued some bolts and adjusted tire pressure.

Problem still persists. This past weekend I rotated the two front tires, and car now pulls to the LEFT. Clearly a tire issue IMO. Contacted Subaru but they claimed not to know anything about it, of course.

Will continue reporting as this goes on ...

[spericas]

Forgot to share my tire dates, which may be useful to do here. I have 3 4417 and 1 4317. My rotation pattern seems to indicate that some 44***8217;s are bad.

[BeantownWRX18]

Also had the tire problem. Car pulled to the right, dealer replaced tires and problem is gone.

Also experiencing the shaking at 75/80mph and wobbly/drifting feeling on the highway, and a clunking from the front end when hitting bumps on slow speed turns. Planning to take it to the dealer soon.

[shadowsports]

Since the thread has expanded into more than 'MY 2018..

My 2017 Limited with the Dunlop SportMaxx RT (Summers) was perfect from the start.

I wore them out in 24k and put Conti DWS06's on. These are great tires as well, A/S with treadwear 560.

I run Potenza'a RE960s on my LegacyGT. Also great tires, A/S but only 400 treadwear.

I've been running Potenza's on the LGT for 10 yrs... 760s > 960s.

I ran Yokes on my VW's for 10 yrs. but thinking back now, they were always plagued with quality issues. Funny alignment things, a few sidewall bubbles, etc. While I always got them replaced, they were a pain to deal with.

The Conti's are my new go to tires. The LGT is driven less than 3k a year now, so it will be sold before it ever needs new tires again.

[IamShawn]

So I ordered my 2018 sti limited mid january2018. I just received it 3 days ago and didn’t test drive it before purchasing. As soon as I left the dealer I felt it pulling to the right like everyone else in this thread (also my steering wheel is cocked to the right/not center). I took it to a dealer today (one closer to my house) and they did an alignment and yet the car was still pulling right. So I brought it back and a mechanic rode with me and said “yea, that’s what I hate about these things” “that’s just what they do”. So he looked at it again when we got back to the dealer and they said they found nothing and that nothing is wrong. So tomorrow I will be dropping it off at the dealer I bought it from. Will keep everyone posted on what happens. After reading everyone’s experiences I’m not feeling too confident on it being corrected. Fingers crossed

[spericas]

Quick update on the issue. After taking my car for the second time to the dealer, they performed another alignment (different technician) and this time the problem was fixed. So in my case the car was improperly aligned from the factory and after two tries it was fixed, tires appear to be fine.

[IamShawn]

Originally Posted by spericas

Quick update on the issue. After taking my car for the second time to the dealer, they performed another alignment (different technician) and this time the problem was fixed. So in my case the car was improperly aligned from the factory and after two tries it was fixed, tires appear to be fine.

Glad to hear your car is fixed! It gives me hope they can fix mine when I’m able to bring it in. Was your steering wheel “cocked” and if so is it straight now?

[spericas]

Originally Posted by IamShawn

Glad to hear your car is fixed! It gives me hope they can fix mine when I’m able to bring it in. Was your steering wheel “cocked” and if so is it straight now?

No, my wheel was always straight, car only pulled under acceleration. I suspect that in my latest visit they rotated the tires as well, which probably helped too. The problem you describe also seems related to a bad alignment. Good luck.