Car drifts slightly on highways at high speeds especially on cement roads

My car drifts slightly on high speeds(70-80mph) especially on cement roads. When I let go of the steering to see if the car remains in a straight line, it feels as if the car is being pulled left and right very slightly. This does not happen often but I don't want any issues later. Is it just me?

Could it be a wheel alignment issue? Can anyone help. I will be going to the dealer in the next couple of weeks.

Start by checking to make sure all of the tire pressures are set correctly

Could be the crown of the road. Does it only do it on certain roads?

GT Pony said:

Could be the crown of the road. Does it only do it on certain roads?

Click to expand...

Yeah i agree, must be the road surface. My car does it too when driving over parallel cracks on concrete surface. But who knows, check tire pressure and alignment to make sure :shrug:

I always make sure the tire pressure is correct. So don't think that's the issue.
Also, its not on a specific road. I know what you mean by the crown of road. But it doesn't behave like other cars do.
I highly suspect its the alignment. But could there be alignment issues right from the beginning( when it was in the plant)?
What affects the alignment of the tires? I've never changed my tires and haven't had the first service yet. Odometer has around 8000 miles.

If it's not a specific road I think it is an alignment issue. Good luck.

Isn't there 'smart steering' for 2015 Mustang? I remember seeing a Ford 'internet commercial' which stated that when the car would consistently pull to the side, for example, a steep crown... that the electric steering would compensate for the side pull.

I've also had tires that have a broken belt drift like that also... usually it's one side or the other

tsunami said:

Isn't there 'smart steering' for 2015 Mustang? I remember seeing a Ford 'internet commercial' which stated that when the car would consistently pull to the side, for example, a steep crown... that the electric steering would compensate for the side pull.

Click to expand...

Never heard anything about. I think the 'smart steering' is coming from the person in the driver's seat.

The cement roads around here have grooves. That can affect the feel of tires tracking. If it only happens on cement surface roads (overpasses are usually cement around here too) and not on asphalt, then that is most likely the culprit. The random pattern of the asphalt surface does not align with tire treads like a 'grooved' road surface can.

I experienced the most extreme example of road surface not playing well with tire tread in a very scary way. In my youth I was driving away from the Kawasaki dealer grinning ear to ear on my shiny new 175cc enduro (knobby trials tires) and one block from the dealer in Alameda I am on the steel grate surface bridge... :eyebulge: Boy did my eyes get BIG and another part pucker up as I felt the knobbies tracking in the steel grates. I had visions of going down with my skin AND my shiny new bike being grated away by the road. I was able to maintain a straight line and make it across, but boy was that experience burned into my memory! :lol:

I finally found the information about what I termed "smart steering". The following is from the Ford Website about the 2015 Mustang: Ford's electric powering steering system is called EPAS. EPAS includes "Pull Drift Compensation"...which senses such things as crown angle or side-winds. It will eventually adjust the steering angle to compensate for the right-or-left pull caused by road crown or stiff cross wind.
Ford doesn't mention how much compensation is applied or how long the PDC runs...from this thread I was wondering how much drift compensation is applied if one of the front tires' pressure is low enough to try to pull the car to the side.

davekro said:

... In my youth I was driving away from the Kawasaki dealer grinning ear to ear on my shiny new 175cc enduro (knobby trials tires) and one block from the dealer in Alameda I am on the steel grate surface bridge... :eyebulge: Boy did my eyes get BIG and another part pucker up as I felt the knobbies tracking in the steel grates.

Click to expand...

Off topic... by any chance was that an F7? That was my first bike, too, and boy was it fun! I had some similar puckers on grated bridges.

Finally said:

Off topic... by any chance was that an F7? That was my first bike, too, and boy was it fun! I had some similar puckers on grated bridges.

Click to expand...

I don't remember the model #. It was bright orange somewhere around 1974 model . But my first street vehicle at age 16 was a used Honda 305 Scrambler (65-66 IIRC). For a Po' kid I was on cloud nine. One kid at school got the brand new just released 750 Honda. Now he was a God! ;o) I had a few Honda twins until I graduated to to a 1976 Kawasaki 900 (in about '78). Those were fun times. :cheers:

I think you're just experiencing tramlining. From Wikipedia:

Tramlining is the tendency of a vehicle's wheels to follow the contours in the surface upon which it runs. The term comes from the tendency of a car's wheels to follow the normally recessed rails of street trams, without driver input in the same way that the train does. The same effect is sometimes called Nibbling.

Tramlining can usually be blamed on tires, and its incidence depends greatly on the model of tire and its state of wear. Although not normally dangerous, at very high speeds it can become a source of instability.

Vehicles with large and wide low profile tires are more prone to the effects as well as vehicles which have wheels fitted that are larger than the manufacturers recommendation or have reinforced sidewalls. People who are relatively inexperienced with driving with this tendency will feel that they have to make continual course corrections and it is very easy to overcompensate the steering, which could potentially lead to veering off the road especially if the road is a narrow track/country road.

The effects of tramlining can be eased by subjecting the vehicle to an inspection and calibration of the wheels (i.e. a full geometry check) or replacing the tires with non-reinforced (soft sidewall) tires.

Okay guys, So I took my stang to the dealer for her first oil change. While at the dealer, I asked to check the wheel alignment (Note: Wheel alignment is free for the every 12000 miles). The alignment was slightly off, almost negligible. After picking up my car and driving back home, I still felt the slight drifting (It was a cement road). So I've come to the conclusion that its the road crown that's causing the issue.
But its great that this discussion stirred some interesting stories and topics like the 'smart steering'