Question> if you drive on a completely flat surface (parking lot)...and let go of the wheel, does it go straight? If not, then ask the dealer why it does not track straight on a flat surface with no road crown? Nursing a car to stay straight is an infuriating way to drive so I feel your pain. It could be hidden tire damage (inside the tire) or even a rim that is out of round...I like the suggestion of having the dealer swap out the wheels from another car and see how it feels. Please report back your progress.

 

Article on a NY couple leasing a lemon here:

According to this news spot you are "Entitled to a refund or replacement" in NY. This couple had leased a Maserati that was a lemon.

For full lease refund you need:

1) less than 16K on the car
2) Your vehicle had to be taken into the dealer at least three times for the same issue, and the issue is not resolved and poses a safety hazard.

here is the news report based in NY.

Leasing a Lemon - NBC New York

Finally, if you are not getting satisfaction from the dealer and you have given them fair chance to remedy the situation, contact Jaguar USA Corporate's senior customer liason Pianca Vazquez, here:


Pianca Vazquez <pherna35@jaguarlandrover.com>

 

My buddy returned a Mercedes CLS on a Lemon Law in MA several years ago. The process was pretty straightforward. They gave him another CLS that ended up being fine. Same color and spec car.

 

Thanks guys, Ive contacted the dealer and they have made an appointment to bring the vehicle back in. Not that I am excited about, yet another, trip back; however, I hope they do get the issue figured out and resolved once and for all. I hope its not some structural issue but rather a tire issue or something less complex.....

 

The continental GX tires are also CRAP. Car is limited to 120 cuz of these stupid tires.

 

The XE doesn't go much faster than that either way.

 

Every variation of XE sold in the US is limited to 124mp/h

Regardless of tires. Even 20'' P-Zero R-Sports are limited

Continental GX are not great in terms of dynamics but they seem to be rugged and reliable so far. Not too bad in snow either. My only complaint is the lack of grip and feel in high-speed corners

 

Hi folks, thanks to everyone for your insightful input. I apologize it took me a little while to report back, but here it goes:

The dealer took the vehicle back and had it for several days. Upon dropping it off, they suggested that a tire replacement was approved by their higher ups, but made it sound like they didn’t believe the vehicle had any issues given the previously completed alignment, roadforce balance, and within spec adjustments of toe, camber, etc. I do have evidence that all those have been completed which had led me to believe that it may be a tire issue.

Few days later I return to pick up the car and am informed they replaced the front two tires and not all four (not an issue for me per se), but made me wonder. How did they determine it was the fronts and not the rears that’s the potential problem. I had hoped they would work to isolate the issue to a problematic tire and not simply swap tires to appease me. I had suggested to them upon dropping the car off that it may be a rear tire since I had noticed the pull is more pronounced with acceleration when the vehicle is in rwd mode (from what I see on my all surface mode screen). In fact I could go across two or three left lanes by simply accelerating and increasing speed. They made it clear to me the new tires were a customer satisfaction thing approved by higher ups and that they had several mechanics drive the car and it drove perfectly straight and even put down on the paperwork that they videotaped it. Seemed to me they were doing this to cover themselves in case I came back with the issue yet again.

Upon getting the car, I eagerly hopped in and went home looking forward to finally enjoying it. Needless to say, the excitement was short lived......it felt marginally better, but if you let the hands off the wheel, it would drift left in the left lane. Over the last month and a half, it’s become so obvious again that at speed the vehicle doesn’t feel stable in the left lane and I have to hold the wheel firmly to keep it straight. Any momentary release of pressure on the wheel, and I am going right at the left jersey barrier. I also notice the strength of the drift/pull varies in intensity from road to road surface. I also recently stumbled across some articles on “tramlining” and this made me wonder if that’s what I am experiencing, particularly given the staggered tire setup.

With that said, I think I’ve given up on the dealer, and sadly this my be my first and last Jag. After this lease, I will likely return to an S4 like I had previously. In the meantime, however, I have been reading horrific reviews on the Cinturato P7s, particularly in snowy conditions. It makes me cringe at this with the winter approaching. I also checked my tread depth and found the tires to be at 8/32nds all around with approximately 8,000 miles on the rears and 1,500 on the fronts. Not sure if this is normal amount of wear for the car and tires given the mileage. With that said, I am contemplating switching to a set of Continental Extreme dsw06 all seasons since I can get them for under $700 for a set of 4.

Feel like it would be wasteful to just remove the Cinturatos, but the prospect of poor snow traction and the negative reviews of the tires make me uneasy about keeping them. In addition, I may harbor secret hopes that a better tire would also help eliminate the frustrating pull that the car suffers from. Any thoughts and input is welcomed and would be much appreciated. I did have these Continentals (2 sets) on my previous S4 and the handling and traction were superb year round, not to mention that the vehicle tracked perfectly straight for 3+years without any alignments and going through 3 harsh New England winters and potholes galore. But then again, the S4 didn’t have a staggered tire setup. Maybe I am dreaming that a tire switch would improve this car’s feel, but then again, I fear I’d be kicking myself for missing out on a deal for the Contis right now, and especially so when the snow comes....

 

If I can throw some help in the pot, I have today just joined the forum, and noticed your alignment thread. My XE was delivered in July, and the alignment was hideously wrong on all four wheels. I can only assume someone in manufacturing the car at Castle Bromwich has taken leave of their obligations at their work place. I worked there briefly when Ford set up the plant for Jaguar assembly, and processes were meticulous, and still are at other Ford plants. Resolving the misalignment was a pretty hopeless affair at the retailer, until, with advice from a colleague at work, I asked to speak directly to a master technician at the Jaguar garage. This appears to have resulted in not only the master technician carrying out and re-setting the alignment, but the service manager got involved too. It just goes to show the RIGHT amount of action gets the results. The higher up the scale you reach, the more you get listened to, but in addition, the service manager must have lots to do on other things, so down the scale the master technician is all hands on, but he is being paid an awful lot of money, and wheel alignment they would rather delegate to lower echelons. Too low down the scale, and all they do is talk about road conditions and different tyres do this, and others do that....Anyway, I fully commiserate with you. I hope the weak human link in the Jaguar Factory is rumbled and found. Technology is only as good as the Human in charge, and I hope your master technician sorts matters. From my angle, my gnawed front nearside tyre is wearing in, gradually allowing the steering to respond better and better. Above all, it now centres, but can show temperament to certain cambers at certain times, but it gets better and better. What is generally not allowed for, is significant steering behaviour, and direction change, comes from rear wheel alignment, not front. The notion that Pirellis or whatever are rubbish/unsuitable etc etc , sounds a lot like rear wheel alignment out .

 

Did they check the differential?

I think the most likely culprit is the rear alignment, but the fact that it pulls when you start to put power down makes me think the differential could be locking up or is otherwise malfunctioning.

I'm not a mechanic, but I'd have them look at it.

 

You definitely make some very good points, but unfortunately, I have dealt with the sales manager, the service advisor who got the GM involved, and they've had their Foreman/Master tech work on the car the last two or three times. I have gotten the sense that they don't want to deal with me anymore, yet remain polite. The master tech had suggested that they've had complaints about the Pirelli tires on the Xe's and even some of their SUVs, but stopped short of suggesting they put on a different brand, etc....I will say the master tech seemed to be knowledgeable and patient with me, but ultimately his allegiance is to his service department and he can't go around buying different tires and likely doesn't want to spend unpaid time swapping wheels and test driving after each switch....

As a side note, the tire pressures are entirely spot on according to spec. Ive tried the light load and normal settings for the car. I must say the light load setting made the car drift even more, so I went back to normal mode tire pressures which makes it more bearable. Not sure if that has any bearing on the effect.

 

I don't see why they think tires would have anything to do with your problem. Jag has been running those same tires on thousands(?) of XE's without issue...

Unless one of them has so much less tread that they're spinning at different speeds, it can't really be the tires. And you said the tread depths were fine.

 

I have had sooo many misalignments done on a variety of cars lately. On each occasion, I have taken the car straight back and asked politely for a further check of the work they have done, and the places I have been to have admitted their mistake on each occasion. In the UK the system is called Hunter Pro-align, but it is only good if the operator has the full inclination....! In the case of the Jaguar retailer, the first botched attempt was done by a nice personable technician, and he left the front nearside two or three times the margin of tolerance..quite a lot, in toe out, hence the steering pull to the curb. All this wasted time caused by him, after booking in, test driving, rhubarb, rhubarb...! As I mentioned, 3000 miles misaligned, and further patience to let the tread 'key in' to the new tracking. Incidentally, Pirelli have good expertise, Chinese part owners, and all OE manufacturers put in huge effort to develop synergy with end user product.

 

You make a good point. That was how the issue started initially, the car was not balanced and misaligned when I got it new. The first tech swapped one front tire with another car and aligned it with balancing. The vehicle was largely unchanged except that the vibration went away. When i brought it back, the master tech immediately found that the rear was misaligned and fixed that along with toe. Since then, they've checked and rechecked the alignment and claim its within spec. and I have the paperwork verifying that. I'll have to take another look during daylight today, but last night I believe one rear tire was at 8/32nds while the other rear tire may have been closer to 7/32nds, although it was dark and difficult to discern. However, this may not be a signifiant enough of an issue, I guess.

I think overall, its disappointing that such a fun vehicle would be like this. Honestly, I can't imagine returning for the 6th time and having them roll their eyes behind my back, smile at me, and make me out to be crazy (in their super polite way). I also feel like they don't want to do anything further as its probably more of a cost for them (I am mindful that its a cost for me too being out of work and driving an hour to drop the car off and then fighting traffic for an hour and half to get the car back).

Reading about the P7's in any kind of snow conditions has now scared me to the point where I feel like spending $600-$700 on the Contis DWS06, a tire I know is solid in our New England Winters is feeling like more of a prudent thing than taking my chances with these in the snow. My s4 with the DWS06' was virtually bulletproof in the snow and even in some pretty bad blizzards when I had to reach my elderly parents and only a few trucks were on the road. As long as I had enough clearance over the semi plowed snowy road, they gripped and kept me going (even beyond the point where I thought I would be stuck in some snow bank, yet they never failed).

I know the XE and s4 are different awd systems, but I also understand that tires are critical since they are the only thing making contact between the car and the road....

If anyone has had experience in the winter/snow/slush with the P7's on their XE, I am very eager to hear their experience.

 

The 20" Pirellis on my XE sport are useless in any snow or ice. I swap out wheels for Coventry 19" for the winter and a taller snow tire to equal the same circumference as summer.

I use the snows with the so called 'ground walnut technology' (l think they are called Toyo's) and they are really good in snow/ice. Lots of good brands of snow tires available that have the 'snow flake' symbol that show they have decent snow lugs and soft compound.

Regarding alignment; with others trying to tell you the car is fine, consider having a friend drive the car and thus provide a fresh unbiased opinion. In my own experience, on a two lane road the car should steer straight in the right lane as it is aligned to include the center peak in the road. In the left lane it might wander slightly left as there is no center peak for it to climb.
Lawrence

 

The vehicles wheels are untethered in loose dishes in a flat level plane when aligned , to full and complete symmetry . Modern Jaguar suspensions are partly cast hollow aluminium and horrendously stiff, rigid and complex designed components, and they pretty much round off the whole picture stability and feel wise. Tyres and road camber's effect is more mythology I'm afraid !

 

Incidentally, Pirelli winter tyres are what Jaguar are using sometimes at their winter testing facility in Northern Sweden, without studs I might add . Combined with the Jaguar's unique snow setting button, plus also 'All Surface Progress Control' button, which incidentally includes hill descent control (as on Land Rovers) for descending low grip inclines, winter journeys should be a breeze.