I have a 2000 integra gsr. Lowered on Neuspeed Springs w/ KYB AGX Shocks w/ Skunk2 Adjustable Upper Control Arms.

The car pulls to the right really bad. So I had an alignment done today.

Toe was set to 0. Camber is 1.4 in the front and I think 1.6 in the rear.

*** Now for the problem. The caster is WAY off.

So what would be the problem?

I'm thinking maybe the front passenger side spring is sagging..

any ideas????


*** OK so here are some idea's I've come up with.
--> The previous owner replaced the front wheel bearings. Im wondering if when he put them in, they were not pressed in evenly and flat against the inside of the knuckle? would this cause bad caster?

--> Other is either the LCA is bent or the subframe is bent a little. I'm hoping it is jus t the LCA if thats what it is.


Modified by 92integraVTECgsr at 6:03 PM 12/9/2007

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 92integraVTECgsr &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I have a 2000 integra gsr. Lowered on Neuspeed Springs w/ KYB AGX Shocks w/ Skunk2 Adjustable Upper Control Arms.

The car pulls to the right really bad. So I had an alignment done today.

Toe was set to 0. Camber is 1.4 in the front and I think 1.6 in the rear.

*** Now for the problem. The caster is WAY off.

The kid doing the alignment was honest and said he had no clue how to fix alignment. So I said don't worry about just fix the toe and ill see if that fixes the problem. But it didn't fix it.

So what would be the problem?

I'm thinking maybe the front passenger side spring is sagging..

any ideas????</TD></TR></TABLE>

can you post up all the measurements for front left and right readings. like you said the kid had no clue how to fix it you should take it to a professional.

 

How do the tires look? Have you rotated them?

Any noticeable problems with the brakes?

 

If the kid had no clue how to do the alignment........ WHAT ARE YOU DOING STILL DROPPING OFF YOUR CAR THERE? Go take it to a place that knows how to do a proper alignment. I hope you didn't pay for this half-service.

Also do you have adjustable suspension mods on your car or just lowering springs? Limited to what an alignment shop can actually do if you don't have proper alignment parts. Most people just drop a car and do nothing else.
-Rik

 

i used to do alignments.... if the caster really is off then you got some problems!! because its NON-ADJUSTABLE on our cars.... and it CAN cause a pull.... if your caster is off more on one side than the other that will be the cause of the pull.... just cause hes a kid dont mean he dont know what hes doin.... i would have said the same, and told you that you probably got some bent suspension components.... so yeah post up the specs.... have you gone over any curbs lately? just get the car?

 

put ur right side tires to ur left side and if it leans to the other side then ur tires are not balance. happened to me. well one of my rims bent so i was leaning to the right and got it rebalance and it worked.

 

Tires are fine. Tire Pressures are all the same. Tires are balanced. No wobbles, shakes or vibrations.

I took it to Firestone. They offer a Lifetime Warranty Alignment for $120. So you can't really beat that. I was watching the kid do the whole job and made sure he didn't mess anything up. He was new and hasn't done a lot of alignments but since he was honest and he told me he didn't know how to fix caster, I was ok with that just because he was honest, and i was watching. So I will be taking it back again once I get it all fixed.

I just bought the car a month ago and has been pulling since I got it. The car fax is clean and as far as i know, there were no accidents from what he told me.


*** What suspension components would mess with the CASTER?

 

He said he didn't know how to fix caster? You should wait for the tech that knows what the hell's going on to clock in before you take it there next time. Well, in his defense, like was said, there is no factory adjustment for caster built into your Integra. You should post up your numbers. Your caster numbers should be significantly higher on the left side from what you're saying. If it's a large difference from side to side, you might have to invest in some aftermarket upper control arms from the likes of SPC or maybe Skunk2 might have a design that might allow for caster adjustment. If the numbers are close to one another, you've got issues with your tires. Let us know. Also, hopefully you have SAI and IA numbers.

Edit: Caster could be affected by nearly all of your suspension components.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by hatchling37 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">He said he didn't know how to fix caster? You should wait for the tech that knows what the hell's going on to clock in before you take it there next time. Well, in his defense, like was said, there is no factory adjustment for caster built into your Integra. You should post up your numbers. Your caster numbers should be significantly higher on the left side from what you're saying. If it's a large difference from side to side, you might have to invest in some aftermarket upper control arms from the likes of SPC or maybe Skunk2 might have a design that might allow for caster adjustment. If the numbers are close to one another, you've got issues with your tires. Let us know. Also, hopefully you have SAI and IA numbers.

Edit: Caster could be affected by nearly all of your suspension components.</TD></TR></TABLE>

There is no adjustment for caster.. Enough about the poor kid LOL.. he was ok.. he knew enough to do the job, but he just wanted me to know he had no idea how to fix caster.

If you read above, I have skunk2 upper control arms.

My guess is it is sagging springs. They are neuspeed and they do tend to sag. I'm redoing the suspension anyways in about a month with Koni Yellows/Eibach Prokit and we'll see then.

I'll be checking tomorrow to see if anything is bent because I'll be replacing the driver's side axle.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 92integraVTECgsr &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I'll be checking tomorrow to see if anything is bent because I'll be replacing the driver's side axle. </TD></TR></TABLE>
If your alignment specs don't reveal anything that seems way out of whack to you, you might have something bent and you most likely won't be able to tell just from your naked eye. But you can look for dirt and or rust that looks like it's been freshly flaked off. That's usually an easy way to tell.

I know there's no adjustment for caster. I stated that.

You might try crossing your front wheels. You can get a radial pull if you have mis-matched tires and/or vastly differing tread depths. If they're directional, you might have to have them dismounted and swapped if a front to back rotate doesn't yield any results.

 

so enough with all other bs... just post the damn specs..... if your caster is unequally off... you got bent ****... skunk2 UCAs do not adjust caster.... as far as i know nobody makes anything for the DC to adjust caster.... it would be easy to tell if you got saging springs just do some measuring... measure the jack lip under the car to the ground... that will tell you.... theres no point putting money into it if you got bent **** down there.... just post the specs! and the alignment specs DO reveal if anything is bent.... thats where the SAI and caster would come in.... it should all be there.... theres no point in taking it back to firestone where they are just gonna tell you the same **** over again.... wether its the kid again or the top tech...

note: its funny cuz firestone is where i worked...

NOTE2: from you saying the caster is way off... im willing to bet you got bent control arms and a bent subframe!!

 

for our cars like previous guy said...control arms, and subframe would me the ones messing with our caster. the subframe could have shfited if it has been hit or up a curb before.

 

one of you rims could be bent..

 

what about a tie rod?

 

Caster is the angle of the vertical line drawn between the front upper and lower ball joints (steering axis) with respect to straight up vertical (perpendicular to the ground).

Caster is thrown off if the upper or lower ball joint is moved towards the front or rear of the car. This happens when an upper or lower control arm is bent, or an upper control arm is installed on the wrong side of the car, or if the subframe itself shifts or gets bent or otherwise damaged such that the lower control arm mounting locations get shifted from their previous location.

Outer tie rods won't affect caster. They really only affect toe.

My guess is something is bent. The car probably hit a curb with the previous owner and it was never reported to insurance.

An experienced technician, upon seeing that the caster is off, would have checked for things like subframe shift (there would be marks visible where the subframe was located prior to getting shifted), or otherwise bent suspension parts. He would also have tried to correct the problem if it was merely subframe shift, and then road tested the car to make sure it's fixed correctly.

Unfortunately it seems that shops that actually road test cars after performing alignments are becoming fewer and fewer these days.

 

If I remember correctly, the caster specs for the passenger side was -0.5 to -0.7 (It would change slightly when he adjusted the tie rods.

 

the kid that was doing the alignment knows what he was doing even if he was a noob because u cant adjust caster, i say your best best is to check out your suspension to see if there's anything bent etc.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by egb18c5 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">the kid that was doing the alignment knows what he was doing even if he was a noob because u cant adjust caster, i say your best best is to check out your suspension to see if there's anything bent etc.</TD></TR></TABLE>

But what I and others were saying is that the person doing the alignment should have checked for that when he realized that something normally non-adjustable is out-of-spec.

 

I think its a bent LCA

 

i recomend you take it to the dealers body shop... they are the ones that take care of the crashed vehicles that come to the dealer... a while back my sister went over a curb and the car was pulling and the alignment wouldnt line up... i took it there. they do FREE estimates. and they will tell you what the problem is. that and chances are that if the car hit something hard enough to bend the lca chances are it also tweaked the subframe... but like i said take it to a shop that does free estimates they will tell you what needs to be replaced and then you can go and fix it yourself... that way you dont end up replacing unessesary parts. or replace the lca when your subframe is tweaked to....

 

thats a good idea.. thanks.