car pulls to the right

stan

New Member
after a little up close and personal with a curb that put a chip in the lip of front right sawblade, and a crack in the sidewall of rear right tire:3d_frown: (shitty driving, abs not working = bad):3d_frown::3d_frown: , i replaced the wheels in question. when driving down the road now, the car will go straight if the wheel is being held straight, but if you let go, it steers itself to right right, like it's finding 'center'. what does this mean? bent suspension or knocked out of alignment? i didnt see anything that looked wrong when i had the wheels off...and the car tracks perfectly normal if you hold the wheel straight. its just that it steers itself to the right if you let go. help!
 

CampbellsChunkySoupra

best be eating your soup!
Jan 28, 2007
620
0
0
Norwalk, IA
www.dragsource.net
yes. even the slightest of impact can throw little things off a hair. when u get ur car aligned, its all based on a degree rating for each wheel/tire. even a couple degree difference on one side of the car may cause it to push or pull.

u could also have bent shit due to the impact.
 

Aspec

Supra uber alles
Dec 22, 2005
261
0
0
Surprise, AZ
stan said:
after a little up close and personal with a curb that put a chip in the lip of front right sawblade, and a crack in the sidewall of rear right tire:3d_frown: (shitty driving, abs not working = bad):3d_frown::3d_frown: , i replaced the wheels in question. when driving down the road now, the car will go straight if the wheel is being held straight, but if you let go, it steers itself to right right, like it's finding 'center'. what does this mean? bent suspension or knocked out of alignment? i didnt see anything that looked wrong when i had the wheels off...and the car tracks perfectly normal if you hold the wheel straight. its just that it steers itself to the right if you let go. help!

The only way to know for sure is to get it up on the alignment rack and check it. Make sure you take it someplace that has clean, up to date equipment with the ability to give you a before/after printout of your setup. Also make sure all of your tires are of the same brand and construction and if you had to put a new tire on it move your mis-matches to the rear, as different tires on the front can cause a pull or drift.
 

bowsercake

New Member
Aug 24, 2005
828
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Irvine, Ca
before you check your alignment put the car on jackstands and look for any bent suspension pieces or stress marks on the control arms. it the impact was strong enough to chip the wheel that it could have bent the steering or part of the knuckle.

The control arms are pretty strong but don't rule them out. If everything looks good get an alignment and hope that fixes your problem.
 

Aspec

Supra uber alles
Dec 22, 2005
261
0
0
Surprise, AZ
bowsercake said:
before you check your alignment put the car on jackstands and look for any bent suspension pieces or stress marks on the control arms. it the impact was strong enough to chip the wheel that it could have bent the steering or part of the knuckle.

You should do that inspection on an alignment rack prior to any work and then confirm by checking the angles. Why rack the car twice? It "is" going to need some work whether it be just an alignment or repairs to it before alignment. Just my 2 cents.
 

Burntz

Sold the Supra
Apr 20, 2007
582
0
0
36
Nebraska
If you take it to any reputable place (T.O Haas Tire around here), they will look to see if anything is bent before hand...

Its thier way of trying to make money.

Now if it is actually bent, I dont know, but I know they'll check :)