Pulls to the left and to the right

[Thunderskull]

Ok, this is a wacky deal that I'm having with the car. Being new to suspension and steering work, I need some help. So, I'll start from the beginning.

My alignment was all wacky, and I was going through tires. I noticed my tie rod ends were destroyed. The boots were completely ripped apart. So, I replaced the tie rod ends myself. Which BTW is a real PITA even with a tie rod end seperator. Shortly after a tire blew. I couldn't get a used tire for my car because the 2 places I went to didn't have em so I had to get new tires on the front. I got the cheapest ones which were about $130 installed. I waited too long to get an alignment and the inner tread on my front tires are worn. (the place I went to said the camber was fine but my toe was all screwed up) In the meantime I repalced my brake pads and my front right caliper which had seized. I then went and got an alignment. The car does drive much better than before.

However, the car still wants to pull to the right a little. When I gun it, it wants to pull to the right a lot. It also wants to pull to the right a lot when I brake. Now, when I downshift, it wants to pull to the left. I'M CONFUSED!!!!! Now, when I turn the wheel on my left front, the brake pads don't grind on the rotor. They do on the right front. Please help me! Do I need new tires, or do I need to go back and check my brake work. Could it even be something else? I don't want to throw parts at this.


Thanks!

 

[Doug99RS]

Sounds like you've got alot of problems that need to be isolated and adressed one by one.

If you tires were worn abnormally BEFORE getting the most recent alignment done then you can expect the tires to continue to wear in the same manor, at a slower rate. It's a snowball affect type situation. If ther is a "pull" type situation present anytime OTHER than accelerating and decelerating.

An alignment pull concern should only be addressed on flat, smooth roads at speeds over 45 mph. Pulls on acceleration, crowned roads, bumpy roads, on deceleration, and curved roads can lead the driver to beleive it's alignment when it's really not.

As for the pull on acceleration and deceleration may be wear in the suspension or motor mounts. On some of the eclipse/talons they use equal length half-shafts. This will reduce or eliminate Torque steer which is the pull caused by heavy drivetrain loading. Hopefully someone will pipe up and let you know if you have equal length or long/short axles.

Motor mounts can allow shifts in the engine/transmission assembly which may cause a vehicle pull.

Typically I recomend replacing rotors/calipers/tires in pairs on RWD or FWD vehicles. Replacing any one component may increase the chances or be the cause for vehicle pull. However, one thing to keep in mind is that unless the other caliper is siezed up you should not experience any type of pull that is brake rotor or caliper related until you apply the brakes.

As for the grinding on the rotors... do you mean the pads do not contact the rotors when turning in one direction only?
Doug

 

[Thunderskull]

As for the rotors, when I have the car up on jack stands and I spin the wheels by hand, the right front one grinds a little but the left front one does not. I keep hearing that the grinding is normal, but I read from others that it's not. So, I'm a little confused on the matter. I just want everyone to know that I only posted because I searched here and DSMTalk and really didn't find any answers to my problem(s).

The motor mounts are a good suggestion. I hadn't thought of that as being related to vehicle pull. I replaced the front motor mount awhile back because it was shot. The side mount looks ok, but it appears the previous owner tried to window weld the gaps, then drove it before it got to dry so some oozed out. When I shift, the car jerks a bit more than it should and pulls to the right. I suspect the tranny mount. I'll inspect it this weekend. I want to replace all the rubber in the mounts with polyurethane anyway so if it is the tranny mount it'll be a good excuse for me to do it. I'm probably going for new front tires at the same time. The inner wear is really bad. It's almost completely worn down.

I hadn't thought of the problem being the axles. From the service manual it looks like I do not have equal length half shafts. It appears that one axle is longer than the other. What would be some symptoms of an axle going out?

Thanks!