I have a serious steering pull in my suspension.
I do not believe that steering misalignment is the problem.I had the car aligned about a month ago. This pull showed back up after a tire rotation. It is progressive (The longer the wheel is released the more sever the pull becomes (starting with a gradual drift and turning at a progressively sharper angle.)
When the wheel is released it seems that the right hand side of the vehicle rises. The suspension has almost 300,000 miles on it so it could be just about anything. Unfortunately I do not know enough about suspension geometry to be able to tell what is causing this problem. Tires are good/new, front struts are six months old.

What should I be looking at?

 

Probably the tire/wheel first, as you said the pull came back after a tire rotation.

 

yes, it's been coming and going. It was originally in the car a i believe due to a completely blown right front strut. Replaced that and the tires and it went away. It showed back up after the tires were rotated. The front ones wore completely bald on the outside edges. I thought it was alignment. The drift gets worse when someone is sitting in the passenger seat as well. It would seem as though something is bent or improperly aligned. The tires and wheels are almost brand new.

 

you might have bent a one of you front struts

 

if it happen after a tire rotation than why not rotate the tires back to see if the pull goes away? when you had it align did they tell you anything is bent? or see anything in red

 

I wouldn't think a bent strut would have that kind of effect on a double wishbone suspension. Especially as the struts are almost new, and I have not hit any curbs with the front tires.

No the alignment shop made no mention of bent suspension components. Neither did the shop that inspected the car before I bought it originally.

 

check all bushings for play.. especially control arm bushings? loose upper control arms? im pretty aure the shop or alignment person would catch those.. get the vehicle reinspected,

 

Put the car up off the ground and see if any of the wheels don't spin freely. If one doesn't, you could have a brake hanging up or too tight. A caliper could be failing to release.

if that seems alright, swap the tires from left to right. If it starts pulling in the opposite direction, you've got a bad tire.

P

 

Will check the brakes. Cannot swap the tires, tread is uni-directional.

 

if the pull showed back after a tire rotation it is prolly a radial pull which means theres a issue with the wear on the tread of the tire. rotate them back then drive it. if it stops pulling. its the tire. another thing it could be is the valve spools in your steering rack. if the valve spool are sticking on either the left or right side, the fluid may be pushing more on one of the sides which will create a strong pull.

 

There's a chance you have (a) crappy tire(s). When did you first notice it? Was it after you got your current tires?

 

What about when you brake? does it pull to one side when you step on the brake pedal? I was just learning about this stuff in Auto Tech class.

 

I wouldn't think it would be a treadwear issue. The tires on the front of it now have perfect wear. The back ones that came off of it developed a strong outer wear pattern. Wore off the outside tread in about 4000 miles.

Powersteering rack could be a possibilty. however I would think that it would remain a constant problem instead of disappearing for several months like it did and then resurfacing after a tire rotation. The rack was exposed for a period of time as the boots were cracked. how would I go about checking that?

The tires have 4000 miles on them. The problem went away after I bought them and replaced the front struts.

The car doesn't pull when breaking. Breaks do vibrate badly as thogh rotors are warped when applied above 85 MPH but otherwise behave normally.

I am personally of the opinion that there is something strange going on with the suspension geometry, as that would account for the car changing its roll when the wheel is released.

 

Look, I didn't say leave them there, I meant it for diagnostic purposes.
Swap um
Check um
Swap um back

geez, do I have to spell out everything?

 

jack the front end of the car up till the wheels are off the ground, point the wheel straight then put it in drive or first gear, if the steering wheel starts to move in either direction without contact of the ground you have a sticking valve spool. ::after reading everyones ideas i cant think of any other reason for the pull. could it be something stupid like uneven tire pressure sandbagging to one side?

 

doubt it. Unless discount didn't check the tire pressures when they rotoed the tires. I'm pretty religious about that sort of thing. It's worth a look I suppose. PS rack would make sense, the fluid in there is not a healthy color. If that is problem is it something a flush would take care of or is this a yank the rack kinda thing?

 

could try a p/s flush to see if it improves or not. be easier than changing a rack. but theres a chance it could get worst after the flush. the flushing fluid could dissolve gunks that are partially doing some of the sealing.

 

You either have radial steer (not visable in the tyres tread as such) a seperated tyre......bad control arm bush or similar component...could be a stuck brake as mentioned above also.....or you may have a caster problem...IE: in simple terms one wheel is kinda set back further than the other....or without knowing whats done to your car, at standard height hondas are well knowen for having positive camber on one side and negitive on the other.

Post up your alignment report for further inspection.

Oh and yea swap the tyres left to right for diagnostic purposes...radial pull/steer is real.

 

are your tires wearing on the back excessively? or were those the front tires rotated to the back and they wore excessively?

problems with the rear suspension usually do not cause a car to go left or right but you may none the less want to get it checked out.

Uni directional tires can be swapped front to back with no ill effects. swapping left to right is ok for testing but if you leave them there your tread will wear at an acellerated rate. also if they inadvertantly put the wrong uni tire on one of the front wheels it may cause the car to pull to left or right but it would be constant

 

Take it to sears. They will diagnostic for free on your suspension and tires/ brakes.

 

will dig up alignment report. The front tires were the ones that wore funny. Both tires wore severely on the outer tread. as though the car had severe positive camber. they are now on the back of the car. Rear tires wore normally and are now on the front of the car

 

Usually speaking the TOE is what eats up tires on lowered cars - I would imagine the same applies to postively cambered tires.

Did they zero the toe both front and rear?

 

its called radial pull. when the chords arent straight in the tire, it always pulls to one side when you accelerate then when you decelerate it pulls the other way. its a tire manufacturer defect and covered through warranty if you have it

 

The toe was adjusted on front and rears. Car isn't lowered its on stock springs.

The car does not pull opposite when breaking or decelerating. Can the tire shops check for a radial pull in the tires?

 

No, I realize you're stock, I was simply stating that when the cars are lowered and you throw the suspension all out of wack, the negative camber increases and the inner tire wear is increased. BUT it's less of a camber issue and more of a toe issue - it just happens to wear on the inside because of the angle.

On a positively cambered tire I would imagine the opposite to hold true. The outside of the tire would wear faster than the inside because of the postive camber and off toe settings.