Steering issues - Who do you trust with your GT350 in the Asheville/Western NC Area?

[traumkommode]

Howdy folks. Last fall I bought a pretty well babied 2020 GT350, and a couple issues popped up. Some of them have been sorted out, but I'm having ongoing issues with steering. There's nibble/wiggle back and forth at highway speeds like you'd expect with out of balance wheels, but the wheels are perfectly balanced, and tire defects have been ruled out. I'm also getting drift mostly to the left, sometimes to the right, but pretty reliably to the left. Alignment has been done 5 or 6 times and is dead nuts. A strut was replaced, but I've even gone to a frame repair shop and had them put it on the rack and the frame is straight. I'm suspecting EPAS given these symptoms.

Anyhow, I'm wondering if anyone in the Asheville/Western North Carolina area has a dealer they'd like to recommend? I just moved back here from Kansas City where I bought the car. The KC dealers took a long time and a lot of trips, but finally got the driveshaft and shifter sorted out. They were still scratching their heads about the steering though. I have an open case with Ford with additional technical assistance on standby once I choose a place to bring it.

Thanks for your input!
- Andrew

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[65CrownV8]

Just so I/we have an idea of where you're coming from, do you have prior experience driving performance cars with a wide contact patch? If not, these tend to be quite a bit more sensitive to road conditions than most typical automobiles. If so, then you need to find someone with experience in high performance cars. I'm thinking someone a little further east . . . like north Charolette area. I would look for an independant.

 

[traumkommode]

Just so I/we have an idea of where you're coming from, do you have prior experience driving performance cars with a wide contact patch? If not, these tend to be quite a bit more sensitive to road conditions than most typical automobiles. If so, then you need to find someone with experience in high performance cars. I'm thinking someone a little further east . . . like north Charolette area. I would look for an independant.

I do. I've driven several PP1/PP2 Mustangs and several 7Th gen Corvettes. This isn't tramlining and it's not wide contact patch dartiness. It's drift like you'd feel if the alignment were out, but it's not out. 90% of the time it's to the left, and it'll even pull itself up over a road crown.

Charlotte is an hour and 45 mins from here, and if the car gets fixed right that's worth a drive for me. Do you have any establishments you can recommend?

 

[65CrownV8]

Unfortunately, I'm about an hour and a half south of you. I can put some feelers out in that area for you.

 

[skinnyb]

If you are willing to drive to Knoxville (I am a native of WNC, moved here 4 years ago), I am a member of a rather large group over here in East TN (Smoky Mountain Stangs on FB), there are several folks over here I would definitely recommend to look at your ride. Really good aligment shop I would recommend is to go see Doug Smith at Eurospec (3301 Louisville Rd Louisville, TN 37777) (865) 324-4690. He will not just make sure the boxes are in the "green" but align to match whatever driving style you have whether daily driving, track, etc. As far as mechanical work, I highly recommend Austin at Wicked Performance TN, (865) 347-4295.

As for a dealer, I haven't had any service work done at a dealer but have heard great things about Rocky Top in Sevierville. I know several of our FB members take their 350's there.

 

[Postal Bob]

If you're willing to drive to Statesville, there's Randy Marion Ford just off of Rt 77. I stopped by them on my way down to Charlotte after finding a nail in one of my tires. It was 6pm, and the service dept stays open until 8 or 9pm. I was super paranoid about anyone touching the car, especially those without experience working on GT350's. They told me they do plenty of work on these cars. And I nervously watched them fix my tire. They did everything by hand: floor jack lift, removing and installing lug nuts. They removd the tire from rim, cleaned and patched on the inside, put back on rim, rebalanced the tire, and retorqued the lug nuts. When finished, they cleaned and detailed the door/door handles where they touched the door. I was amazed by their service. And all this only cost me $21. So for the way they respect and treat these cars, I would give them a call.

 

[traumkommode]

If you're willing to drive to Statesville, there's Randy Marion Ford just off of Rt 77. I stopped by them on my way down to Charlotte after finding a nail in one of my tires. It was 6pm, and the service dept stays open until 8 or 9pm. I was super paranoid about anyone touching the car, especially those without experience working on GT350's. They told me they do plenty of work on these cars. And I nervously watched them fix my tire. They did everything by hand: floor jack lift, removing and installing lug nuts. They removd the tire from rim, cleaned and patched on the inside, put back on rim, rebalanced the tire, and retorqued the lug nuts. When finished, they cleaned and detailed the door/door handles where they touched the door. I was amazed by their service. And all this only cost me $21. So for the way they respect and treat these cars, I would give them a call.

Thanks for this, I would totally drive over there. I have been to Morganton a few times, so somewhat familiar with the area. I'm going to need to go sooner than later, too... Just had to get a jump in a parking lot and when I went to Autozone, the scanner said the batter and alternator were good but the starter was low... Ugh. Ford has had my car a long time these last few months and I'm looking forward to it being finally settled.

EDIT - Called Randy Marion's service center and they confirmed they have lots of experience with Shelbys, so since I'm coming from about 90 minutes away they told me they've got me on the waiting list for when a loaner comes available and that way they can keep me on the road while they're looking at my car. Outstanding service so far based on that first call. If any other recommendations pop up that are closer in between now and then I'll check them out, but hopefully this will pan out and the service will remain top notch.

 

[Postal Bob]

Thanks for this, I would totally drive over there. I have been to Morganton a few times, so somewhat familiar with the area. I'm going to need to go sooner than later, too... Just had to get a jump in a parking lot and when I went to Autozone, the scanner said the batter and alternator were good but the starter was low... Ugh. Ford has had my car a long time these last few months and I'm looking forward to it being finally settled.

EDIT - Called Randy Marion's service center and they confirmed they have lots of experience with Shelbys, so since I'm coming from about 90 minutes away they told me they've got me on the waiting list for when a loaner comes available and that way they can keep me on the road while they're looking at my car. Outstanding service so far based on that first call. If any other recommendations pop up that are closer in between now and then I'll check them out, but hopefully this will pan out and the service will remain top notch.

Glad you got that same great first impression that I got for just a simple tire repair. These guys are also so upstanding, that even when I offered to give the service tech a $50 tip for bailing me out of a tight spot, they refused to take it. I even went back the next morning to tell the service manager how well I was pleased with the service I received. And then left a great review online for them.

 

[RTR077]

I can't vouch for them, but these guys seem to have their stuff together. They do a lot of heavy mechanical work on Mustangs, are a growing business and have plenty of posts on Instagram to get a feel for what they do.

https://www.sigspeed.com/

Lenoir is close to Morganton

 

[traumkommode]

I can't vouch for them, but these guys seem to have their stuff together. They do a lot of heavy mechanical work on Mustangs, are a growing business and have plenty of posts on Instagram to get a feel for what they do.

https://www.sigspeed.com/

Lenoir is close to Morganton

Oooh, thanks for the tip. Gonna bookmark this one... I finally got Ford to replace the noisy/clunky driveshaft under warranty, and even though it sounds and operates as it should now, I'm still thinking I want a one-piece shaft instead of this two-piece nonsense. Might hit them up for that.

 

[traumkommode]

Wanted to finally update, I'm going to make a separate post about the tires... After a month or so of fiddling around, Randy Marion Ford (which I will recommend to anyone with a Shelby, that was the best service I've had at a dealership ever) got ahold of a set of wheels with factory spec tires on it, and to my pleasant surprise it was simply the tires that were causing the pull.

I was running Michelin Pilot Sport All Season 4 tires in 285 section width - common size alternative that I've seen people using for an all-season in this model for winter driving. I read no other reports about the tires causing a radial pull. I even had Discount Tire try an entirely different set of these tires and it still pulled left. I'm going to chalk it up to the steering/handling/suspension on the car being engineered so precisely that the tires just didn't have enough grip to make the car happy.

The FP Michelin Sport Cup 2s (which make the car feel like a different animal in the best way) are outstanding. Car tracks straight (as straight as it will allowing for tramlining, meaning it no longer drifts).

Ford did right by me, too, and I got the tires at a more-than-decent price through Ford Corporate since it took so long to get to the bottom of this. If you're anywhere from Western NC to the Charlotte area and need work done on a Shelby, you're in good hands at Randy Marion in Statesville.

 

[Postal Bob]

Glad to hear that my experience at Randy Marion Ford wasn't just a one time fluke. I'm still amazed at their service, especially as I come from NY, and such service here is not the norm.

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