Technical Bulletin
Model(s)

Year

Eng. Code

Trans. Code

VIN Range From

VIN Range To

Passat

2013-2014

All

All

All

All

Condition
44 13 07 December 9, 2013 2031087 Supersedes T.B. V441306 dated November 22, 2013 to change Service
Number from 4440 to 4405. For information on Alignment, please see Tech Tip 44 13 03 – Alignment Overview.
Vehicle Drift-Pull
This Technical Bulletin provides information on improving vehicle drift/pull using selective tire placement. The
information provided is based on the Hunter GSP9700 with StraightTrak® (VAS 6230x ) and John Bean RFV2000
with OptiLine® (VAS 6311A) diagnostic balancer. The diagnostic procedures for selective tire placement, to
improve vehicle drift/pull, will require the use of one of the diagnostic balancers previously mentioned.
The Service Information in This Technical Service Bulletin is divided into Three (3) Sections:
Section 1: Pre-Delivery Inspection (PDI), vehicle drift/pull concerns.
Section 2: Customer concerns for vehicle drift/pull
Section 3: Using Volkswagen approved diagnostic balancers to address vehicle drift/pull

Technical Background
The information provided in this bulletin is intended to assist technicians maximize the use of the approved
diagnostic tire balancers to improve vehicle drift/pull.
Note:
The repair procedures outlined in this bulletin, to address vehicle drift/pull will be covered ONLY ONCE
under warranty, within the first 3 Months/3000 miles of the warranty in service date.

Note:
Email a scanned copy or a picture of the tire net pull information to VWGoA.Chassis@vw.com, and file the
printed copy with the Repair Order. If a Volkswagen Technical Assistance (VTA) ticket was opened, the
tire net pull information should be attached, before the VTA is closed. Please note that this is standard
procedure for all warranty repairs.

Page 1 of 13
© 2013 Volkswagen Group of America, Inc.
All rights reserved. Information contained in this document is based on the latest information available at the time of printing and is subject to the copyright and other
intellectual property rights of Volkswagen Group of America, Inc., its affiliated companies and its licensors. All rights are reserved to make changes at any time without notice.
No part of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
otherwise, nor may these materials be modified or reposted to other sites, without the prior expressed written permission of the publisher.

Technical Bulletin
Email must include the following information:
• VIN
• Repair Order (RO) Number
• Mileage (from RO)
• Dealer Code

The tire net pull data must be a legible scanned copy of the original print or screen capture (picture). The
recommended formats are PDF or JPEG.
Below are examples of acceptable attachments:

Example 1. Hunter GSP 9700 Gen 3.

Page 2 of 13
© 2013 Volkswagen Group of America, Inc.
All rights reserved. Information contained in this document is based on the latest information available at the time of printing and is subject to the copyright and other
intellectual property rights of Volkswagen Group of America, Inc., its affiliated companies and its licensors. All rights are reserved to make changes at any time without notice.
No part of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
otherwise, nor may these materials be modified or reposted to other sites, without the prior expressed written permission of the publisher.

Technical Bulletin

Example 2. Hunter GSP9700 Gen. 4 Touch

Example 3. John Bean RFV2000
Page 3 of 13
© 2013 Volkswagen Group of America, Inc.
All rights reserved. Information contained in this document is based on the latest information available at the time of printing and is subject to the copyright and other
intellectual property rights of Volkswagen Group of America, Inc., its affiliated companies and its licensors. All rights are reserved to make changes at any time without notice.
No part of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
otherwise, nor may these materials be modified or reposted to other sites, without the prior expressed written permission of the publisher.

Technical Bulletin
Production Solution
Extensive analysis was conducted by Volkswagen for concerns of vehicle drift/pull and it has been determined that
this condition is NOT caused by any production issues with the vehicle’s steering or suspension systems. The
main contributors for concerns of vehicle drift/pull are tire pull and road surface tilt (road crown). The information
provided in this bulletin will assist the technician optimize the straight ahead tracking of the vehicle for customer
satisfaction.

Service
SECTION 1. Pre-Delivery Inspection (PDI), vehicle drift/pull concerns
If it has been determined that a vehicle has a significant drift/pull on the PDI test drive, test drive a like vehicle on
the same route and compare the drift (see test drive tip under section 2, step 2). If the drift is similar, no further
repair is necessary. If it has been determined that the drift is excessive compared to the like vehicle, perform
StraightTrak® or Opti-line®, open a Volkswagen Technical Assistance (VTA) ticket with the tire results attached
and contact the Volkswagen Technical Helpline at 800-678-2389.

SECTION 2. Customer concerns for vehicle drift/pull
Vehicle drift/pull diagnosis

Note:
Many conditions related and non-related to a vehicle’s suspension and/or tires can cause a vehicle to drift/pull.
The tilt of the road surface (Road Crown) will have the most significant effect on the time it takes for a properly
aligned vehicle to drift out of its lane. Always test drive the vehicle to determine that the vehicle drift is excessive
before making any repairs or adjustments.
For customer concerns of vehicle drift/pull on vehicles that falls within the warrantable repair period, follow the
steps below to optimize the vehicle straight ahead tracking performance.

Step 1
Check and adjust tire pressures to the specified pressure on the driver’s side “B” pillar trim label.
Tip:
Hand held tire pressure gauges are most times not as accurate as the calibrated gauges on the tire balancer or
the Alignment equipment. Check the accuracy of hand held gauges on a regular basis by comparing the reading to
the reading taken on the tire balancer or alignment equipment.

Page 4 of 13
© 2013 Volkswagen Group of America, Inc.
All rights reserved. Information contained in this document is based on the latest information available at the time of printing and is subject to the copyright and other
intellectual property rights of Volkswagen Group of America, Inc., its affiliated companies and its licensors. All rights are reserved to make changes at any time without notice.
No part of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
otherwise, nor may these materials be modified or reposted to other sites, without the prior expressed written permission of the publisher.

Technical Bulletin
Step 2
Test Drive the vehicle to determine the drift/pull.
Tip:
Test drive should be performed on a fairly flat road surface. If test drive is done on a crowned road, switch lanes to
check if the vehicle will follow the crown in both directions. A vehicle that has a significant drift/pull will tend to pull
against the direction of the road tilt.

Step 3
Selective tire placement to improve vehicle drift/pull
Use the Hunter GSP9700 Balance with StraightTrak® or John Bean RFV200 with Opti-line® to determine the best
tire placement to improve vehicle drift/pull.

Note:
If you are unable to improve the vehicle drift using selective tire placement, open a VTA ticket and contact
the Technical Helpline at 800-678-2389.

Page 5 of 13
© 2013 Volkswagen Group of America, Inc.
All rights reserved. Information contained in this document is based on the latest information available at the time of printing and is subject to the copyright and other
intellectual property rights of Volkswagen Group of America, Inc., its affiliated companies and its licensors. All rights are reserved to make changes at any time without notice.
No part of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
otherwise, nor may these materials be modified or reposted to other sites, without the prior expressed written permission of the publisher.

Technical Bulletin
Section 3. Using Volkswagen approved diagnostic balancers to address vehicle drift/pull

Hunter GSP9700 with StraightTrak®
Tip
For details of using StraightTrak® on the Hunter GSP9700 please reference the operation manual. A copy of the
document is located in Service Net under Workshop Equipment > Instruction Books > Hunter GSP9700 Road
Force Wheel Balancer Operating Instructions.

Figure 1

When the suggested tire placements are displayed (Figure 1), select the combination that will best suit the vehicle
driving conditions and then test drive the vehicle to check vehicle drift/pull.

Page 6 of 13
© 2013 Volkswagen Group of America, Inc.
All rights reserved. Information contained in this document is based on the latest information available at the time of printing and is subject to the copyright and other
intellectual property rights of Volkswagen Group of America, Inc., its affiliated companies and its licensors. All rights are reserved to make changes at any time without notice.
No part of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
otherwise, nor may these materials be modified or reposted to other sites, without the prior expressed written permission of the publisher.

Technical Bulletin
Tip:
The highest net pull is not always the ideal placement for the tires. A high net pull could cause the vehicle to start
pulling in the opposite direction.
It is always best to select the tire placement that will place a tire with high Road Force Variation (RFV) to the rear
of the vehicle. For example, in figure 1 the tire placement to achieve -7 lbs net pull to the left will put tire # 4 on the
left front of the vehicle. This may cause the customer to complain of vibration.

John Beam RFV2000 with OptiLine®
The information below is a guide on how to use the Opti-line® feature on the John Beam RFV2000 balancer.
Please refer to the operation manual for more information about the equipment.

Make sure balancer is setup in 3D Diagnostics mode
and that Opti-line® is enabled.
Tip:
Enabling 3D Diagnostics – From the home screen
press F3 and select 3D Diagnostics.

Figure 2

Page 7 of 13
© 2013 Volkswagen Group of America, Inc.
All rights reserved. Information contained in this document is based on the latest information available at the time of printing and is subject to the copyright and other
intellectual property rights of Volkswagen Group of America, Inc., its affiliated companies and its licensors. All rights are reserved to make changes at any time without notice.
No part of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
otherwise, nor may these materials be modified or reposted to other sites, without the prior expressed written permission of the publisher.

Technical Bulletin
Enabling Opti-line® – From the home screen press F6 and
select settings

Figure 3

Select -> Optima Settings, -> tire pull measurement ->
enable (Figure 4).

Return to the Home Screen and press F1 to go into the
balance screen, then F3 to go into the optima screen. Press
F5 to open the Opti-line® menu and select Enable Optiline® (only option).

Figure 4

• Label wheels location on the car before removing. For example, LF (Left Front), RF (Right Front), etc.
• Mount the tire on the balancer using the flange plate with stud kit. Please note that in the Opti-line® function the
balancer will number the wheels sequentially based on the order mounted.
• Balance each tires and add the tire to the wheel set.

Page 8 of 13
© 2013 Volkswagen Group of America, Inc.
All rights reserved. Information contained in this document is based on the latest information available at the time of printing and is subject to the copyright and other
intellectual property rights of Volkswagen Group of America, Inc., its affiliated companies and its licensors. All rights are reserved to make changes at any time without notice.
No part of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
otherwise, nor may these materials be modified or reposted to other sites, without the prior expressed written permission of the publisher.

Technical Bulletin
Adding tires to wheel set

To open Opti-line® from the balance screen press F3 to
open the Optima screen.

Figure 5

Press F5 to bring up the Opti-line® menu and select open
Opti-line® screen.

Figure 6

Page 9 of 13
© 2013 Volkswagen Group of America, Inc.
All rights reserved. Information contained in this document is based on the latest information available at the time of printing and is subject to the copyright and other
intellectual property rights of Volkswagen Group of America, Inc., its affiliated companies and its licensors. All rights are reserved to make changes at any time without notice.
No part of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
otherwise, nor may these materials be modified or reposted to other sites, without the prior expressed written permission of the publisher.

Technical Bulletin
First wheel balanced automatically selected as wheel # 1.

Figure 7

Press F3 to add the tire to the wheel set. Label the wheel #
1 (use chalk or accessory tags provided with the balancer)
and repeat the process for the remaining wheels.
Tip:
Labeling the wheels is very important for further diagnosis.
When the wheel set is completed each wheel should have
two (2) labels. The wheel location on the car (LF,RF, LR &
RR) and the wheel position in the wheel set (1,2,3,4)

Figure 8

Page 10 of 13
© 2013 Volkswagen Group of America, Inc.
All rights reserved. Information contained in this document is based on the latest information available at the time of printing and is subject to the copyright and other
intellectual property rights of Volkswagen Group of America, Inc., its affiliated companies and its licensors. All rights are reserved to make changes at any time without notice.
No part of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
otherwise, nor may these materials be modified or reposted to other sites, without the prior expressed written permission of the publisher.

Technical Bulletin

Figure 9

When all the wheels are entered in the wheel set, press F5 and select “Least Pull”.
Tip:
Take a screen print or screen capture (picture) of the recommended wheel placement.
• Install the wheels in the suggested order and test drive the vehicle to check vehicle drift/pull.

Page 11 of 13
© 2013 Volkswagen Group of America, Inc.
All rights reserved. Information contained in this document is based on the latest information available at the time of printing and is subject to the copyright and other
intellectual property rights of Volkswagen Group of America, Inc., its affiliated companies and its licensors. All rights are reserved to make changes at any time without notice.
No part of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
otherwise, nor may these materials be modified or reposted to other sites, without the prior expressed written permission of the publisher.

Technical Bulletin
Warranty
Note:
The repair procedures outlined in this bulletin, to address vehicle drift/pull will be covered ONLY ONCE
under warranty, within the first 3 Months/3000 miles of the warranty in service date.
Use PID 4405 for all claims related to the service procedure outlined in the bulletin. For drifting/pulling
concern caused by a component failure or alignment issues, the claim should be filed under the PID for
the causal part or the concern group.

To determine if this procedure is covered under Warranty, always refer to the Warranty Policies and
1)
Procedures Manual
Model(s)

Year(s)

Eng. Code(s)

Trans. Code(s)

VIN Range From

VIN Range To

Passat

2013-2014

All

All

All

All

SAGA Coding
Claim Type:

Use applicable Claim Type
Damage

Service Number:

HST

Damage Location (Depends on
Service No.)

--

Use applicable when indicated
in ElsaWeb (L/R)

Code
4405

0013

Parts Manufacturer

Passat

TX6

3) :

Remove and Install 4 Wheels. 44052004 = 50 TU

Labor Operation Perform road force balance
(Front & Rear axle).

3) :

44059499 = 70 TU

Causal Part: Select labor operation

44059499

Labor Operation

1)

Diagnostic Time

2)

4)

GFF Time expenditure

01500000 = 00 TU max.

NO

Road Test

01210002 = 10 TU

YES

01210004 = 10 TU
Page 12 of 13
© 2013 Volkswagen Group of America, Inc.
All rights reserved. Information contained in this document is based on the latest information available at the time of printing and is subject to the copyright and other
intellectual property rights of Volkswagen Group of America, Inc., its affiliated companies and its licensors. All rights are reserved to make changes at any time without notice.
No part of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
otherwise, nor may these materials be modified or reposted to other sites, without the prior expressed written permission of the publisher.

Technical Bulletin
Technical Diagnosis

01320000 = 00 TU max.

NO

Claim Comment: Input “As per Technical Bulletin 2031087” in comment section of Warranty Claim.
1)

Vehicle may be outside any Warranty in which case this Technical Bulletin is informational only

2)

Code per warranty vendor code policy.

3)

Labor Time Units (TUs) are subject to change with ELSA updates.

4)

Documentation required per Warranty Policies and Procedures Manual.

Required Parts and Tools
No special parts required.

Tool Description

Tool No:

Tire Balancer

VAS 6230A or Equivalent
VAS 6311A or Equivalent

Additional Information
All part and service references provided in this Technical Bulletin are subject to change and/or removal.
Always check with your Parts Dept. and Repair Manuals for the latest information.

Page 13 of 13
© 2013 Volkswagen Group of America, Inc.
All rights reserved. Information contained in this document is based on the latest information available at the time of printing and is subject to the copyright and other
intellectual property rights of Volkswagen Group of America, Inc., its affiliated companies and its licensors. All rights are reserved to make changes at any time without notice.
No part of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
otherwise, nor may these materials be modified or reposted to other sites, without the prior expressed written permission of the publisher.