i got an alignment two months ago cause i lowered my car. it still pulled to the right after the alignment so i finally got around to taking it back a few days ago. the guy there looked at it and adjusted the toe and camber and said if it still pulls right theres nothing he can do because its lowered. also, when i hold my steering wheel so the car is going straight it will start to pull to the left or right, sometimes out of no where it just starts going one way, sometimes it takes a while. pretty much my car never goes straight, and its worse at high speeds. so…what could cause my car to have these problems? and is there rreally nothing i can do about the pulling right? hope thats enough info.
i have a 2 inch drop, neuspeed race on bottom perches of konis. i got ingalls camber kit, up to three degrees. Whats brake drag? how would i check to see if the ball joints or bearings are worn?
What I refer to as brake drag is what happens when a caliper starts sticking and the brake does not release all the way causing a drag on that particular wheel. Just visually examine the ball joint boots, if there torn check to see if theres any grease left inside. For the wheel bearings jack the car up and with the wheel still on grasp it at the top and bottom and wiggle it. It shouldn’t have any movement. Also with a worn wheel bearing you should hear a distinctive sound coming from the wheel, especially when you turn.
I am not sure if this is trye or not, but thought maybe someone else knows for sure.
It is possible its your tires. do you have rims that are wider then stock, and probablly stickier therfore when you are driving on the freeway,in ruts they crab the edge of the rut and grip.
are all the alignment factors like camber,caster and toe in spec?
my sister’s civic, the caster on her car is out of spec and everything else is in spec. her car pulls hard on the right. nothing we can do on the caster because it’s non adjustable (damn accidents). and it must be the tires too, check if it’s in good condition (uneven wear)
i have stock rims. i looked at the ball joint boots and they look fine. the wheels didnt move when i tried to wiggle them. the guy at the alignment shop said it was as close to spec as he could get it because it was lowered. my tires are good. could rotation and balance help maybe?
i agree with teg2nv
wider tires have a larger contact patch and occasionally they will pull one way or the other
if the alignment was off then it would pull to one side all the time
Did the people that did the alignment give you a print out of what they did, what is was at, and what the factory settings are and the tolerence for each?
I had a little experience with this, first of all…
He should not be saying that he can’t do something because it is lowered, that is what the camber correction is for.
I had the same issue, the car would pull towards one side or the other depending on what the road was like. I had a bad passenger side half shaft, and a right side tie rod, and a rack an pinion. After $850, I got a new rack and pinion, two new tie rods, a half shaft, and a set of nitto nt 450’s, everything works well now. However I still have a dead spot of play, it happens when i am going one direction, and I turn the wheel the other way, or when I am sitting there, I can move the wheel about 1" either way, then I feel where it grabs. I looked inside the car, and there is no play at the joint there. so… saga continues.
i got stocks and when i got new tires, i started feeling like it would jerk barely but it would jerk a litle to left or right, sometimes, im guessing it’s new tires with new grip so it’s gripping everthing on the road, little dips or imperfections in the road
the camber they set to 1/2 degree, and the toe is set to 1/8 inch. not sure if its the same on both sides, but thats what he wrote down after the alkignment because i asked him what everything was set too. i got new tires about 1900 miles ago. i did a little test today comming home from work. going about 75 mph i let go of the wheel, the car went left, then right, then left, then right, then i had to grab it cause the car was almost off the road. i’m gonna get a suspension check soon, maybe the place i take it to can figure out the problem. hope its not $850…
ok, so i took my car to another place to have iut looked at and they wrote on the service sheet “vehicle too low. excessive negative camber. putting steering in bind. causing wander.” anyone out there have there car as low as me and have the probnlem i’m having? its 2 inch drop on bottom perches of konis.
i had the exact same setup as you lowest perch and nuespeed race… got a camner kit installed but my ingalls are mmax 2detgress. what the alignment shop mighta done was not max out your camber kit cuz it would cause upper control arm hitting or other factors… also if one side of your car has a different neg camber then he can only adjust the other side to accomodate an even camber… OR, maybe one side is more neg then the toher and when the camber kit is maxed out both sides, then there is still a diff in camber from one side to the other which causes the pull… mine pulled a bit when braking when i first got my suspension installed with no kit but thats cuz i had -4 degrees on my left and -2 on one side so you can get the picture… then i got my camber kit installed and my upper control arm on the left was wahcked… it was loose and caused my the caster to go crazy too and it pulled ot the left a lot!!! now i finally got teh upper control arm tightened and going to the alignment shop tomorrow… but this is all b4 putting the perches back to stock(middle) on the konis. i rather have good alignment than a slammed look which i will miss very much. but raising it one perch will save a bit neg camber and and ill benefit from it inthe long run esp a car just for street driving… hope i helped somewhat
I have the exact same problem, so i’ll bump this and see if anyone has any new answers? I’m going back to the alignment guys tomorrow because regardless of what they can fix, if they did a test drive they should know something’s up. I also want to get the readings they should have, and maybe go for a ride with them.
I have to note, the car feels SWEET on higher-speed turns now; it’s just those pesky straightaways where it wanders and wobbles. Also, yesterday I was on the highway for about 20 minutes, and it got much worse at the end. Then it was 20 minutes home, and it was bad all the way. The steering wheel has some pretty serious resistance too.
Any answers appreciated; I’ll update tomorrow if I can.
btw, I have kyb gr-2’s H&R sport springs, so the camber should really be ok…of course, the printout from the shop said “due to lowering of vehicle, only toe was adjustable”…
just an update on my car. i put the car back on stock springs because the guy at the shop told me this would fix all my problems. got an alignment, drove from sacramento to san diego right after the alignment, had the problem the whole way. got another alignment, still have the problem. so raising it and 2 alignments havnt solved the problem. maybe its just in my mind.
ocbeta …i have the same problem as you too. there’s that almost 1 inch play in the steering wheel. i did the same checks you did. but i found out that the 10mm bolt that bolts the coupler to the rack was loose. tighten that up and i thought it took care of it. almost a month later the same thing started happening again. i’m all over the freeway trying to correct my steering. it’s in the rack and pinion. i was told that there’s an adjustment on the rack and pinion you can make to it with a torque wrench measuring in inch pounds. imma give that a try and see. if it dont work, i’m jus going to replace the whole thing.
I have H&R Sports with the (alleged) 1.8" drop, 205/50/R15 tires.
So, here’s the deal from my alignment shop: apparently the camber is sitting around -2.5 all around. The front is actually like -2.4 and the rear is like -2.8. The guy said that this will cause the car to wander off the crown of the road, which sounds like what I was experiencing.
BUT, I read in this thread that my camber should be sitting at -1.0 or thereabouts. the mechanic said it would actually be 1.0 degrees negative ON TOP of what I already had, and the car being so old, it was already at -1.5 or above.
So, what do I do? If I can get a free second opinion I will, but otherwise what are my best options? Camber kit? different springs? new bushings to eliminate some sag? Check all the arms and whatnot to see if something is bent?
I hate how these “everyday” shops look at a lowered car and immediately assume A) lowering is the problem and B) they can’t fix it.
I knew I would forget something. The mech said it was so low he couldn’t sweep the caster at all. Keep in mind – 1.8" drop and new shocks. What in the world could be causing it to be so low? I’m starting to think either something is really messed up inside or the Tire Rack sent me race springs
and the bums charged me full price for all this >:(
