Pulls to the right under acceleration, causes?

[3.0 GT]

Hey guys, I just got my car aligned because it was pulling bad. The guys at the shop did a good job on the alignment and I watched them do the whole process. I had them put all the alignment specs to factory but with a little bit of negative camber in the rear. Im running eibach springs so not too low.

Anyways the car pulls to the right anytime that you are not coasting or decelerating. So if your cruising, accelerating, going straight up WOT the car pulls to the right. Its not awful but to go straight you have to turn the wheel left a few degrees to counter it. Really annoying to say the least. Has anyone else had a problem like this? If I am coasting in neutral or decelerating it drives straight. I assume a possibility is the rear suspension bushings. They are OEM so I know there old. Wiggling around the rear wheels by hand doesn't have much play, but the force I can push on the wheels vs cruising force driving at 50+mph are two different things. The spherical bushings in the rear have been replaced so it cant be those.

Any input or experiences/solutions of a similar problem are appreciated

Thanks guys

 

[IJ.]

If the rear suspension wasn't fully loaded when the spherical bearings were tightened it could very well be them again...

Jack it up under the rear arm/hub and see if you can wiggle the rear wheel.

 

[3.0 GT]

If the rear suspension wasn't fully loaded when the spherical bearings were tightened it could very well be them again...

Jack it up under the rear arm/hub and see if you can wiggle the rear wheel.

So the car is on jack stands, so I put the jack under the lateral arm of each wheel and jacked it up to the normal ride height. STill no wiggle in the sphericals, same as it was with the suspension fully sagged. So I guess its not those?

 

[KKZ SupraMan]

Maybe minor brake drag from bad caliper or e-brake draging a little if you hit the brakes whille its pulling does it go strait or pull more thats a good way to tell if you have a front caliper sticking just thinking small here

 

[3p141592654]

So to clarify, this started after the alignment?

 

[Asterix]

Have you checked your tire pressures? I find if one rear tire is low enough it does this.

Or, the alignment shop got the thrust angle off. Check your alignment report.

 

[rossman3s]

Maybe minor brake drag from bad caliper or e-brake draging a little if you hit the brakes whille its pulling does it go strait or pull more thats a good way to tell if you have a front caliper sticking just thinking small here

I will second this recommendation. My '88 started off with just pulling a little to the right when the caliper was sticking a bit. As it worsened, it caused a bit of a wobble. I couldn't figure it out until I got her home and smelled the hot brakes on the passenger side while the driver's side was normal.

 

[3.0 GT]

So to clarify, this started after the alignment?

No it pulled to the right before the alignment, but after I put new tires on I went to get the alignment to straighten it out. It drives straight when coasting but on the throttle not so much.

Have you checked your tire pressures? I find if one rear tire is low enough it does this.

Or, the alignment shop got the thrust angle off. Check your alignment report.

Tire pressures are on spec. I don't have the alignment sheet, they're printer was not working so I took a picture of the alignment machines report but cant find the pic. Ill check the brakes when the rain here clears up.

But if it were alignment off a bit or one tire low pressure wouldn't it pull to the right all the time and not just on acceleration/cruise?

 

[IJ.]

Have a good look over the rear subframe make sure it's not broken, yeah if there's no wiggle the Spherical's sound ok..

 

[KKZ SupraMan]

Check steering colum to ps rack for unnessary play i had a supra lite in the front from acceleration it would pull ended up being the telescope portion of the colum.

 

[Sside]

Hey guys, I just got my car aligned because it was pulling bad. The guys at the shop did a good job on the alignment and I watched them do the whole process. I had them put all the alignment specs to factory but with a little bit of negative camber in the rear. Im running eibach springs so not too low.

Anyways the car pulls to the right anytime that you are not coasting or decelerating. So if your cruising, accelerating, going straight up WOT the car pulls to the right. Its not awful but to go straight you have to turn the wheel left a few degrees to counter it. Really annoying to say the least. Has anyone else had a problem like this? If I am coasting in neutral or decelerating it drives straight. I assume a possibility is the rear suspension bushings. They are OEM so I know there old. Wiggling around the rear wheels by hand doesn't have much play, but the force I can push on the wheels vs cruising force driving at 50+mph are two different things. The spherical bushings in the rear have been replaced so it cant be those.

Any input or experiences/solutions of a similar problem are appreciated

Thanks guys

Yup.. Sounds like they did an awesome job....

 

[3.0 GT]

Yup.. Sounds like they did an awesome job....

Not sure how they could do an alignment with the wheels under a load of rolling down the interstate or something like that, so they did a good "static" alignment

 

[super51fan]

Something is worn out or broken if the car pulls one way or the other with throttle.

 

[3.0 GT]

Something is worn out or broken if the car pulls one way or the other with throttle.

This is what I assume, It would make sense to be a super worn out bushing maybe on the traction arms. I guess I should go poly, considering a rear set is only around $50

 

[atmperformance]

there could be many reasons, most likely a worn bushings but i'd like to throw out this idea, do you have a bad shock that's compressing suspension at a different rate?

 

[3.0 GT]

there could be many reasons, most likely a worn bushings but i'd like to throw out this idea, do you have a bad shock that's compressing suspension at a different rate?

I actually do... My front right shock is leaking and is on its way out. Its still functioning and not fully blown but within short order it will be

 

[KKZ SupraMan]

A good alignement shop should be able to tell you why and what is out of spec just an fyi