My car ('92 VX) pulls to the right, but not like the usual alignment issue.

The steering wheel moves to the right a small amount (a few degrees), in steps, each time the front wheels reach a certain spot in their rotation. So the steering wheel will stay perfectly straight and not pull until the front wheels reach a certain spot, and then the steering wheel will turn one "step" to the right. Then with each revolution of the wheels the steering wheel will turn another step, until it's rotated about 45 degrees (it doesn't go any further).

It's kind of like steering wheel is connected to a ratchet that clicks over one notch each time the wheels turn.

-Doesn't matter if engine is running, or if transmission is in gear. It happens when driving or just rolling the car in the driveway.
-If i roll the car backwards, the steering wheel will do the same thing but turn to the left.
-When I jack up the wheels and turn them, it doesn't do it.
-There's no looseness or play that I can notice in the wheels, tie rods, lug nuts, etc.
-It started all of a sudden. Drove to work and it was fine; started driving home and I noticed it.

Any ideas?

 

Bump for ideas.

 

sounds like steering rack, check to see if it is leaking.

 

Thanks, but manual steering. I did go under there and pulled and tugged on the rack and tie rods and everything else and nothing moved.

Also, doesn't seem like the steering rack would be affected by wheel rotation.

 

did you try rotating your tires front to back and see if that helps? could be a bad tire

 

try switching your right tire to the left side and viceversa. see if that helps.

 

Good advice guys. I swapped the front wheels and the problem reversed, so I knew it was the wheel or tire. Then I marked the spot on the tire that was touching the ground when the problem occurs, and sure enough there's a weak spot on the tire right there.

Apparently when it rolls on that spot, the tires collapses and twists the wheel.

So easy fix. Thanks for the help.