2 alignments and car still pulling right!

[neverending]

First, I've found another post with a similar problem here.
Best I got out of it was to check for a rubbing right front caliper.

Symptoms: Car was pulling to the right, and right front tire was getting alot of wear (though both fronts were wearing the outsides). Car still has stock suspension.

For the first alignment (a week ago), I took the car to NTB. The guy who did it told me he finished the alignment but said I had a bad left side tie rod end, and that I would need to get it replaced then re-aligned. I replaced both the inner and outer ones last weekend (they were bad, but not horribly), but since this alignment (which made things WORSE), the car still pulled right, plus any life the front right tire might have had is now gone. Really, all 4 need replacing so I suppose its not that big of a deal. Regardless, I decided for the next go around, I was not going to take my car back to these guys.

So after the TRE replacement, I got another alignment from another NTB (today) which is shown here. All looks fine except the front left camber is *slightly* out of spec, but all in all this is a big improvement from where it came from. But now, the car STILL pulls to the right just as much, and to keep it straight the steering wheel has to be held even further over to the left. If allowed to settle straight, the car drifts right fairly quickly.

What else besides sticking brakes can be causing this? Is there anything else to look for? I do think I may have a wheel bearing going bad, could that cause this? Could it be a bad lower ball joint? Though I couldn't detect any play in the right side steering, should I replace the TRE on this side?

Any help would be appreciated...

(A moderator may want to transfer this to the "handling tech forum")

 

[FORMONTOYA]

If you still have the worn tires on, that can contribute to the car pulling, even with a good alignment.

 

[95blackGsTurbo]

Toe will not effect the pulling of the car, just the wear of the tires. It is probably a mix of your caster on the left being a little more than the right, and road crown. A lot of people forget to take that into affect when aligning a car. I usually set at least .5* more caster on the RF than LF since it's so bad down here.

 

[Rex2342]

thats torque steering duh!

AWDs don't really suffer from torque steer. Thats more of a FWD problem. As for the problem at hand.... How did the rear settings look? My rear toe was out ( like this \ \ ) and it caused my car to pull to the right a bit. The wear on the tires will have a drastic affect on the alignment as well. If the tires are worn as bad as you say, they might be the cause of the problem. Most alignment shops (mine included) will only adjust the toe on most cars and not bother trying to adjust anything else simply because of time constraints. It looks like thats all they adjusted on yours as well. Get some new tires and ask them to align it again. If the shop isn't terribly busy ask them to road test it to see if the problem has gone away.

 

[95blackGsTurbo]

First, he listed the rear toe, it is fine. Second, most new cars don't have any adjustment beside's front toe. SOME have a rear toe adjustment but very few. Most all unibody cars aren't gonna have caster/camber adjustment at all. Third, every shop should road test a car before they give it back. You are risking a HUGE lawsuit if you just give a car back and forgot to tighten something.

 

[sleepr7]

I suppose you've checked the air pressure in the front tires? If the're not equally inflated this can cause the car to pull slightly but probably not as much as you're describing.

 

[neverending]

I don't think road crown is playing too much of a part as it is not too bad here (I've lived in other cities so I know how bad it can be). Plus I have another car which drives pretty straight on the same roads (I remember a time when this car did too).

If indeed it is the caster that is the problem, will I need aftermarket parts installed to adjust it? The difference seems so small though (.04*), and besides both sides are still in spec. It would seem the caster difference would be offset by factoring in the SAI, since included angle is the same for both sides (?).

Another question: Will this pulling harm the tires or is it just a nuisance, since everything else seems to be within spec?

I'll check tire pressure too.. there is a small leak sometimes from the valve stem on the right front.

 

[91 Turbo Mitsu]

First of all have you put on new tires yet. If you have and they did the alignment with the new tires and it still pulls,take your two front tires and swap them left to right. I know this may sound crazy but I have done a few hundred alignments and have seen it where tires cause a radial pull. If you havent replaced the tires then you need to and then have them do another alignment becuase if your tires are shot this can affect things. Usually pulling is caused by caster . Up here in Vermont we usually run 2-3 tenths more on the passenger side to allow for crowning of the road. Try this and keep us posted. By the way if you still have your old tires try the swap and see if it helps.Sorry for the long post just wanted to give enough info to help. Travis

 

[Racer_X]

Can the weight distribution over each wheel have that effect? Say if your weight distribution leaned heavily on the front right wheel?

 

[tsunari]

Was this ever solved? I'm kind of in the same sitation (with modified suspension though . . .)