csw

I just got new tires put on my 98 Honda Civic, after the tires were put on my car started pulling to the left pretty bad. So I took it to be aligned, after the alignment there was no change and the shop guys were telling me that it might still pull a bit because the casters weren't in line with one another even though they were still within spec and to fix it I'd need a kit. I don't know anything about how to align a car so all this means nothing to me, but from my reading online the only reason they wouldn't be able to adjust the casters would be if they are fixed and if they are fixed how could changing the tires nock them out of alignment to make the car pull when its never pulled before? Is such a thing possible? Basically, I need help to know whether or not I'm getting screwed with - thanks.

B serious

iTrader: (1)

Imagine a chopper (the motorcycle kind). Think of the wheel fork and how it connects to the front wheel. Know how it's swept way back? That's POSITIVE caster. Obvioulsy, the opposite would be NEGATIVE caster.

Caster is the measure of the forward or backward angle of your shocks/steering mechanism.

Civics should come with about 2.5 degrees of postitive caster IIRC. The caster is not adjustable. Iduno what kind of kit you'd buy to adjust the caster. Caster can get thrown out of wack because of an accident. Once this happens, you will have to do some frame bending or subframe replacing to get it right.

Caster can make the car pull in either direction. HOWEVER!! since you (I'm assuming) didn't have the issue with your car pulling before you got the tires, the culprit could be the tires themselves.

There is such a thing as "radial pull". If you have your tires flipped from one side of the car to the other, and the car starts to pull in the opposite direction, or cease to pull...you just found the issue. The tires.

When caster changes, though, toe changes as well. If your old tires were just worn in a certain way from the alignment being off, they may or may not have pulled to one side.

How far is your caster off? Do you have a print out of your alignment specs? That info would be very helpful.

APCforthewin

Sounds like a tire-induced pull. First, check your tire pressure before doing anything. Try swapping them from side-to-side and if it pulls in the opposite direction it IS the tires.

csw

No I didn't have any issues with pull before I got the tires, but I do have the print out.

Caster: front left = 1.5 front right = 1.1 Camber: front left = 0.3 front right = -0.7 back left = -0.8 back right = -1.8 Toe: front left = 0.06 front right = 0.04 back left = 0.09 back right = 0.05 cross caster: 0.3 cross camber: 1.0

Thanks for the info on the tire induced pull, didn't realize that could occur, will check the air pressure first thing in the morning just in case, then proceed from there.

B serious

iTrader: (1)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by csw &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">No I didn't have any issues with pull before I got the tires, but I do have the print out.

Caster: front left = 1.5 front right = 1.1 Camber: front left = 0.3 front right = -0.7 back left = -0.8 back right = -1.8 Toe: front left = 0.06 front right = 0.04 back left = 0.09 back right = 0.05 cross caster: 0.3 cross camber: 1.0

Thanks for the info on the tire induced pull, didn't realize that could occur, will check the air pressure first thing in the morning just in case, then proceed from there.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Those specs are wiggety wack. They're off pretty far from side to side. Why? Is the car lowered? Was the car in an accident?

If you have a cross camber of 1 degree, the car may pull. The toe specs in the rear may also cause the car to pull. Was this a "before" print out? I hope it's not the "after".

csw

The way I'm reading the print out those specs should be the after. I've got collums for "actual" "before" and "specified range". The specs I listed were from the "actual" collum, which I took to mean after.

No, the car hasn't been lowered. I was rear ended a couple months ago, but had no pull after my car was patched up.

Also, got the tires flopped from side to side and it's driving much straighter with a very slight pull in the opposite direction, so even with the wonky specs you guys were right and something was going on with the tires themselves.