Steering pulls to the right (Resolved 11/08)

[Who]

My steering pulls to the right. You have to hold on to the wheel especially at highway speeds or the car will change lanes by itself. I went to the local goodyear for an alignment and the alignment was off. They put it to specs and the mechanic took it for a test drive. The mechanic tells me that the steering will still pull to the right and it will pull harder the faster I go. I won't have tire wear problems because the alignment is on but the rack and pinion is starting to fail and this will cause the pull. I went through the tsrm and they make mention of hard or lack of steering assist to the left, right or both directions but no mention of pull or over assist in one direction. The power steering works fine left or right with no issues.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Brady]

bent frame.?

 

[CyFi6]

well if your alignment is good, all suspension parts are good, and your rack is working normally, it should drive strait, there's no reason for it not to. If you had a bent frame the alignment being correct would still make it drive fine. I think you should ask someone with more knowledge what the problem is. Your rack could be giving assist all the time to one direction causing you to pull, maybe you can raise the front of the car off the ground, run the engine and see if the wheels turn themselves

are your roads heavily crowned off? Maybe the tech who did the alignment didn't compensate for this enough..

 

[IJ.]

Did they align all 4 wheels?

Is the car lowered?

 

[Who]

well if your alignment is good, all suspension parts are good, and your rack is working normally, it should drive strait, there's no reason for it not to. If you had a bent frame the alignment being correct would still make it drive fine. I think you should ask someone with more knowledge what the problem is. Your rack could be giving assist all the time to one direction causing you to pull, maybe you can raise the front of the car off the ground, run the engine and see if the wheels turn themselves

are your roads heavily crowned off? Maybe the tech who did the alignment didn't compensate for this enough..

Raise the front of the car off the ground, run the engine and see if the wheels turn themselves. Good idea I will try that.

Yes I live in FL and the roads are nicely crowned. Still my other vehicles drift to the right. I have a pull in the supra.

Did they align all 4 wheels?

Is the car lowered?

Yes, they did a four wheel alignment on a hunter machine.
No, the car has stock, rims, suspension, and stock tire size.

Should I try and rotate the tires. One side at a time and test drive for any changes?

 

[Kristian_Wraae]

Stuck brake caliper?

 

[Who]

Stuck brake caliper?

Good call,... but I smell no odors and the car does not pull when I brake.

 

[ZoomZoomZoom]

Good call,... but I smell no odors and the car does not pull when I brake.

Sticky caliper can be intermittent and is a very common problem. In my experience they don't smell. However, the wheel itself may get hot to the touch.

I say check tire pressure or the tire itself is damaged.

You might have a friend drive behind you to see if the car dog-trots. With the right alignment, even a dog-trot may not pull.

Actual conversation with carlot slime (salesperson):
Me: <nearly runs off road> I asked you on the phone if this car pulled, and you said no!
Him: Thats a drift, not a pull.
Me: <pissed> Did you check the tire pressure?
Him: I have 30 cars on the lot, I don't have time to check each tire.
Result: 15lbs pressure in PS front tire

 

[jtran8]

jack the front end up and turn driver side front wheel to see if it's sticky .

 

[Who]

Well I called my trusted mechanic which unfortunately moved 100 miles away. He seriously, seriously doubts the pull is from the rack and pinion. If the alignment was done correctly and if the suspension steering components are in good order the most likely cause is radial pull or maybe caliper. So I think my order of attack will be:
1. I called the shop and I am going to pickup the print out of my final settings on the alignment.
2. Check for a hot caliper or rim after driving.
3. Rotate the tires as see if there is any change in direction or pull. The tires are directional so I guess I will only be able to move them on the same side.

I was considering jacking up the front of the car to see if the steering turns on its own but after reading the tsrm the progressive steering changes as the speed of the car increases not the rpms.

Any thoughts on my plan of attach let me know. Thanks.

 

[ZoomZoomZoom]

Well I called my trusted mechanic which unfortunately moved 100 miles away. He seriously, seriously doubts the pull is from the rack and pinion. If the alignment was done correctly and if the suspension steering components are in good order the most likely cause is radial pull or maybe caliper. So I think my order of attack will be:
1. I called the shop and I am going to pickup the print out of my final settings on the alignment.
2. Check for a hot caliper or rim after driving.
3. Rotate the tires as see if there is any change in direction or pull. The tires are directional so I guess I will only be able to move them on the same side.

I was considering jacking up the front of the car to see if the steering turns on its own but after reading the tsrm the progressive steering changes as the speed of the car increases not the rpms.

Any thoughts on my plan of attach let me know. Thanks.

Hey, be sure to post the final solution to the problem...

thanks!

 

[suprahero]

My car pulls to the front as well. I haven't had it aligned, but I'm thinking it's in my coilovers. I may need to do some adjusting on the right side. I've adjusted it out some, but it still has a small pull and I did wear out the inside of my last tire that was on there.

 

[IJ.]

That's alignment J

 

[suprahero]

thanks

 

[xarewhyayen]

did you get a before and after spec sheet of the alignment? If they just did toe and go you could be out on camber and or cross caster and have a pull...

 

[Who]

So here is where I am with the pull.

1. I jacked up the front of the car started the engine and the steering does not drift. It stays right where I put it. There is no binding when I turn the the wheel in either direction.
   
2. While the car was up on the jacks I did notice that the right passenger front wheel did drag a little more than the left. I removed the wheel and checked the disk brakes for uneven wear and greased the slider pins and cleaned up the pad support plates. The suspension parts look nice and tight with no free play. I went for several drives and the calipers had no smell and the rims were not hot. There is no brake pull either when I apply the brakes.
3. My trusted shop, 100 miles away, told me to try moving the tires around to see if the pull changes any. When I removed the right rear wheel I found that the 2-3 inner lines of tread on the tire were almost worn smooth. Basically my tire is shaped like a wedge (Camber). I go ahead and switch the tires from back to front on the right passenger side only and go for test drive. Now the pull is twice as bad. After the alignment the slow speed pull was a lot less but with the switch it pulls hard all the time. So I went back home and switched the tires back and now I'm back where I started.

So now I'm ticked at myself for not checking the tires more carefully before the alignment and ticked at the alignment shop for even doing the alignment on a severely worn tire. Feels like I wasted $70 for the alignment. I went to the shop to get my print out but they had a car on the rack and he said I would have to wait. In conversation he tells me he remembers my car and how the back end was way out of alignment. So I go ahead and take the opportunity to politely state my feelings about the alignment work. He doesn't remember the tire being that worn but tells me not to sweat it. He will redo the alignment and goodyear covers it for one year, 12k miles. The guy must be rolling in cash because he doesn't even offer to sell me tires. Twice he could of tried but still no sales pitch. Maybe I look poor as dirt?

Long story short. Tire Pull....Can't diagnose it any further till I get a new set of tires $$$$$.

I think I'm going to give the Supra a new name...."The $upra $uper Pocket $cooper"

 

[Gargoyle]

My car pulls to the front as well.

Sorry, this just made me giggle. With the build you have, I would expect it to push from the back, not pull to the front.

:sarcasm:

Brian

 

[IJ.]

Did they align all 4 wheels?

Is the car lowered?

 

[cuel]

So here is where I am with the pull.

1. I jacked up the front of the car started the engine and the steering does not drift. It stays right where I put it. There is no binding when I turn the the wheel in either direction.
   
2. While the car was up on the jacks I did notice that the right passenger front wheel did drag a little more than the left. I removed the wheel and checked the disk brakes for uneven wear and greased the slider pins and cleaned up the pad support plates. The suspension parts look nice and tight with no free play. I went for several drives and the calipers had no smell and the rims were not hot. There is no brake pull either when I apply the brakes.
3. My trusted shop, 100 miles away, told me to try moving the tires around to see if the pull changes any. When I removed the right rear wheel I found that the 2-3 inner lines of tread on the tire were almost worn smooth. Basically my tire is shaped like a wedge (Camber). I go ahead and switch the tires from back to front on the right passenger side only and go for test drive. Now the pull is twice as bad. After the alignment the slow speed pull was a lot less but with the switch it pulls hard all the time. So I went back home and switched the tires back and now I'm back where I started.

So now I'm ticked at myself for not checking the tires more carefully before the alignment and ticked at the alignment shop for even doing the alignment on a severely worn tire. Feels like I wasted $70 for the alignment. I went to the shop to get my print out but they had a car on the rack and he said I would have to wait. In conversation he tells me he remembers my car and how the back end was way out of alignment. So I go ahead and take the opportunity to politely state my feelings about the alignment work. He doesn't remember the tire being that worn but tells me not to sweat it. He will redo the alignment and goodyear covers it for one year, 12k miles. The guy must be rolling in cash because he doesn't even offer to sell me tires. Twice he could of tried but still no sales pitch. Maybe I look poor as dirt?

Long story short. Tire Pull....Can't diagnose it any further till I get a new set of tires $$$$$.

I think I'm going to give the Supra a new name...."The $upra $uper Pocket $cooper"

You could have a bad wheel bearing. With the tire on, and that side jacked up, grab the top and bottom of the tire, and see if it will wiggle in and out. There shouldn't be any play at all. Also, give it a good spin, and listen closely for a slight roaring sound. It will be really quite(if there at all) with no weight on it, but it shouldn't make any noise at all. Sometimes with the wiggle test, it takes a light touch to feel it. Usually, they won't move much, just a tiny bit. Again, it should have no play at all.

 

[Who]

Originally Posted by IJ. View Post
Did they align all 4 wheels?

Is the car lowered?

Yes..... they did a four wheel alignment. The rear end was way out. When I get the print out I will post it.

No..... The car has stock rims and stock suspension.

You could have a bad wheel bearing. With the tire on, and that side jacked up, grab the top and bottom of the tire, and see if it will wiggle in and out. There shouldn't be any play at all. Also, give it a good spin, and listen closely for a slight roaring sound. It will be really quite(if there at all) with no weight on it, but it shouldn't make any noise at all. Sometimes with the wiggle test, it takes a light touch to feel it. Usually, they won't move much, just a tiny bit. Again, it should have no play at all.

Ok... I have a Ford, Exploder and it developed a bad bearing in the front wheel. They noise was louder depending on the direction of my turns. No noise on the Supra.
I will check for a wiggle or free play.... (whowouldfigga,,,Pulls the jack out again)
Good idea! Thanks for the tip.