08 Prius: Pulls to the left when braking.

Not normal. No way. Ask to test drive other Priuses on the lot.

 

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Definitely something amiss. On my car, I can take my hands off the wheel and apply the brakes. The car slows on a straight line. Have the mechanic @ your dealership drive it with you in the car, and see what he says.

 

My '07 did the same thing. Most of it went away after I got an alignment. The first alignment (within 12K miles) should be no charge on the warranty. At least, they were doing it for the 07 model.

Like I said most of it went away, but it still has a slight tendency to pull to the left when braking. I guess, it's the nature of the beast.

 

I had this problem when I first got my car. My car was out of spec for rear toe-in and front cross camber (difference in camber side to side). The dealer actually made the camber problem worse. I was able to fix the rear with shims. Fixing the cross camber helped to get rid of the pull.

My ugly saga in this thread:

http://priuschat.com/forums/care-ma...3-2007-model-alignment-issues.html#post440934

BTW, there is a TSB for the dealer to use to diagnose this problem. It could be alignment or a tire problem. I posted the TSB in this thread:

http://priuschat.com/forums/toyota-prius-service-bulletins-tsbs/30286-pull-left-problem.html

 

Some Honda's are also prone to a PTTL (Pull To The Left) at least according to a co-worker of mine. Apparently, most of the Honda dealers around here invested in a Hunter GSP 9700 Road Force Balance tire balancer to aide in diagnosis

Hunter GSP9700 Wheel Vibration Control System

THe GSP 9700 will easily find tire/rim problems that are impossible to find with conventional wheel alignments or static tire balancing. I've never had a problem with my Prius, but have had issues with my FJ Cruiser

My FJ came from the factory with awful Dunlop Grandtrek tires that would hydroplane on dew. Well, almost that bad anway. The FJ has a tall tire, P265 70 17, so any issue will become very apparent

I had a slight pull to the right, which alignment did not fix. Also a slight vibration in the steering wheel and in my butt, despite repeated static balancing

Found out about the Hunter Road Force machine, drove over to a Honda dealer, and they claimed they had already seen a few FJ's come in with vibration and pull problems on aftermarket tires.

It took them 4 hours. The machine suggested what tire go with what rim, a lot of dismounting involved. One tire was considered "bad" - despite having less than 200 km on it (Ply pull ??) - and they had to get another one from the tire dealer

So after all that, went out on the Trans Canada. At speeds of 80-90 km/h the problem was the worst. No more problem. Smooth, tracks straight, one finger on the wheel. A huge day and night difference

So when I got the steel rims and Toyo winter tires, I didn't even hesitate. Dropped them off at the Honda dealer and let them mount and balance the tires. They claimed it took 3 hours to properly match the tires to the rims.

IMHO the cost is worth it, if you already have an issue. I expect vehicles to track straight, and not to have any vibration. If you have a pickup or SUV with tall tires, you will probably experience pulling or vibration problems that conventional static balancing and wheel alignment cannot resolve