Pulls hard right on acelleration

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Gregorio

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Well, I just got back from the dealer where 3 out of 4 LR4s I drove all pulled hard to the right under accelleration. Chalk this up to a horrible and unsafe design.

BTW, the RR Sport HSE they loaned me did too but not nearly as bad.
 

Count Laszlo

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Hey Gregorio,

I don't gun my LR4 much, but lately I have, to see if I could produce this oddity... and low and behold, mine also does this... but it doesn't bother me at all, doesn't feel dangerous either, it just feels normal for such a heavy vehicle. What type of car did you own before your LR? I came from two BMW M3s, that of course drove like race-cars... and when I test drove and bought the LR4, it drove exactly how I would expect it to drive. Maybe you were/are expecting too much from this truck?

Hope this makes you feel better about your LR.
 
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suvowner

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it sounds like torque steer is what you are feeling.....all front wheel drive vehicles have this to a degree..... most fwd don't have near the torque the lr4 has.......i don't know the front/rear power split on the lr4, but prob atleast 60/40 or less.......

i would try and escalate it to a land rover drivetrain engineer....atleast you could get their perspective on this phenomena

how many miles on your LR4 ? could be that as the driveline line gets more miles, and more broken in all the diffs and cv joints might move a little free-er and this will become less noticeable ?

maybe a friction reducing additive to the front diff would be helpful.......
 

Gregorio

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I've had owned a variety of vehicles over the years, most of them high performance and a few were front wheel drive like my tuned Volvo 870R. Even with unequal half shafts and boatloads of torque, it did not pull like this. My previous car was a GMC Yukon Denali that is roughly the same size, weight and power yet it tracks straight down the highway even under full throttle. I also currently own a BMW X5 and a VW Touareg which are also only slightly smaller than the LR4 and they track straight down the highway under full throttle. The difference between these vehicles that might contribute to the pulling in the LR4 is that it uses 50/50 torque split where the others shift more than 50% of the torque to the rear wheels.

While the LR4 is a better off road vehicle than any of the others I own, it is the worst of them on the road. Unfortunately, that is where it spends more than 99% of its time.
 

Count Laszlo

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I've had owned a variety of vehicles over the years, most of them high performance and a few were front wheel drive like my tuned Volvo 870R. Even with unequal half shafts and boatloads of torque, it did not pull like this. My previous car was a GMC Yukon Denali that is roughly the same size, weight and power yet it tracks straight down the highway even under full throttle. I also currently own a BMW X5 and a VW Touareg which are also only slightly smaller than the LR4 and they track straight down the highway under full throttle. The difference between these vehicles that might contribute to the pulling in the LR4 is that it uses 50/50 torque split where the others shift more than 50% of the torque to the rear wheels.

While the LR4 is a better off road vehicle than any of the others I own, it is the worst of them on the road. Unfortunately, that is where it spends more than 99% of its time.

Land Rovers in general, and my family have owned many generations of them, are built for farms/estate/road and off-road use and all drive this way (minus the RRS.) They are engineered to have softer tolerances for off-road use and will never drive like a car on pavement. They are built for a purpose and those who purchase them know this before purchasing them. And the general play/softness (no steering wheel kick-back for example) is important for off-road use, because if the steering/suspension/etc. is too tight/taught, it will break. There is a real reason behind the engineering.

And I personally thank Land Rover for not throwing out these philosophies, because it's what makes Land Rover, well, Land Rover. I use my Land Rover for camping in Death Valley with my Son, taking on complex back-trails, going up to Lake Tahoe, hauling around a family of 7 when the visit, and as an occasional work horse for the home. And this is the reason why I purchased a Land Rover to begin with, for these needs. Not for commuting or doing some errands around town. And best of all, and just like the Land Rover "Go Beyond" ads, "Dirty is better than Clean."

Anyway, most of the SUVs/cars you mention are really pavement going cars which can be used for some very light off-road use. Even the Denali you mention is mostly engineered for pavement use. And if any of these were ever taken off-road at Land Rover levels, they would break quickly. Because they're engineered with less off-road tolerances, taught and tight for street use, and don't have much or any play. Maybe the Land Rover LR4 wasn't the best fit for you and your needs.

If I was you, and taking into considering that you need something that's going to be 99% on road, I'd keep the LR4 for a while, and after you've outset your depreciation, trade it in for an Audi Q7. To me, that sounds like the perfect SUV for you, it is highly engineered, very executive, drives superbly on pavement, can tackle some light off-road situations, and provide the luxury and comfort of a true European brand.
 
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suvowner

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I've had owned a variety of vehicles over the years, most of them high performance and a few were front wheel drive like my tuned Volvo 870R. Even with unequal half shafts and boatloads of torque, it did not pull like this. My previous car was a GMC Yukon Denali that is roughly the same size, weight and power yet it tracks straight down the highway even under full throttle. I also currently own a BMW X5 and a VW Touareg which are also only slightly smaller than the LR4 and they track straight down the highway under full throttle. The difference between these vehicles that might contribute to the pulling in the LR4 is that it uses 50/50 torque split where the others shift more than 50% of the torque to the rear wheels.

While the LR4 is a better off road vehicle than any of the others I own, it is the worst of them on the road. Unfortunately, that is where it spends more than 99% of its time.
denali has all power to the rear until wheel slip, as does the x5 and not sure on the toureg ,but i think it is almost all rear as well.......

press land rover to let you talk to an engineer and let us know what they say .....
 

Gregorio

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denali has all power to the rear until wheel slip, as does the x5 and not sure on the toureg ,but i think it is almost all rear as well.......

press land rover to let you talk to an engineer and let us know what they say .....

No. X5, Denali and Touareg all send 60% to the rear initially and can vary it as needed.

I would love to talk to a LR engineer.
 

Gregorio

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Land Rovers in general, and my family have owned many generations of them, are built for farms/estate/road and off-road use and all drive this way (minus the RRS.) They are engineered to have softer tolerances for off-road use and will never drive like a car on pavement. They are built for a purpose and those who purchase them know this before purchasing them. And the general play/softness (no steering wheel kick-back for example) is important for off-road use, because if the steering/suspension/etc. is too tight/taught, it will break. There is a real reason behind the engineering.

I generally agree with this but the RRS and LR4 have the exact same drivetrain. The Land Rover off road mystique is all but lost on the LR4.
 

lrovy

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Hi Gregorio,

Hope you got your problem with car pulling to the right solved.
You've mentioned under the thread that drove other LR4 which showed similar behavior.
Did you get it solved or improved at the end somehow?

I've same issue, it started to happen after replacing front bushes, or at least was discovered then. I've acquired this LR4 only recently and knowing bushes were to be replaced, didn't really care earlier but also didn't notice the problem. Once bushes were replaced, wheel alignment was to be performed and then it was discovered.

It can't be "works as designed" as it happens even under very small acceleration, literally just touching the pedal and even from the stop.

Spoke with LR specialist, they say have checked everything and can't find a source of the problem. With that said he also said that haven't seen any other LR4 (Discovery 4) or any other Land/Range Rover exhibiting same issue with just one exception and under very strict condition - supercharged range hammered to death was pulling a little bit bit, but only when hammered like mad. This was put on tires/bushes squeeze under extreme conditions, but not under such light conditions as in my case.

Any help would be more than welcome.

Thanks!
 

ktm525

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The Denali's AWD system is abysmal (left me stuck in a greasy field and wasn't able to lock the center diff). In my 11 years of LR3/4 ownership never noticed a pull. I'll look for it next time I hammer on the poor thing.
 
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