I got an alignment at Sears and they said my right front tire was -1% caster.
When I accellerate the car slightly pulls right, when I let off, the car slightly pulls left.
This was caused either by hitting a pothole or a racoon, not sure which did it.
What the hell do I do now? Caster is not normally adjustable. Do I need to call a body shop or something?
I'm in the San Jose, CA area if you have any suggestions.

 

do you have a copy of the print out? scan and post it.

 

First off, negative caster is bad. Cars have positive caster for stability and self centering of the steering wheel.

Now, the pull one way under acceleration and the other under deceleration makes me think "loose parts". Get the car up on jackstands and thoroughly inspect the bushings. A damaged bushing on a control arm could cause both changes to caster and the pulling symptoms described.

That said, a bent part could cause the caster issue, and the negative caster itself could cause instability, which you might only be noticing as the pull. Start with the bushings, but try and visually check that the control arms aren't bent.

What car is being discussed here?

 

Thanks for the response. I got busy this weekend and didn't get a chance to put any time into this.
The car is in my sig. I'm guessing something is bent, because they told me all my bushings looked ok. I'll jack it up and check the bushings and control arms myself.

You're right, it does seem to be all over the road.

If I can't figure it out, I found a frame shop that will take a look. I will be the first to admit, I know relatively nothing about alignments.

 

First off I'm only posting here cause I think its pointless to create another thread. with that said to the OP: Did you end up finding out your problem? I'm having something similar. Bought a set of slipstreams with brand new tires, got an alignment at wheel works. I had to replace the right inner and outer tie rod. When I picked up my hatch, they stated I had a bent control arm. I replaced that I went back for a free re-inspection and was told it was still slightly off. Was then told to go to a frame shop to inspect the frame for any damage. Can you send me the info for the frame shop you contacted? Thanks if you can help in any way..

TunerN00b: good information also you mind if i send you my before bent control arm and after fixing it alignment results? I plan on calling my friend to have him inspect bushings and for any loose parts wheel works might have missed. Thanks

 

If you post the pics, I'll take a look.

 

alignment after I first took it in. the night before I had replaced the axles and put on a fresh set of 15" slipstreams with 195 60R 15 tires. When I picked up the car they stated the control arm was bent.


alignment after installation of front right control arm. I have pulling to the right when accelerating quickly and pulling to the left when I let off the pedal when accelerating quickly.

 

The first sheet confuses me a bit. It looks like they adjusted the front camber, yet didn't bother to get the right front into spec or match the sides to each other. What kind of camber adjustment is on the car? If you have a kit that slides the UCA pivot points, that can cause all kinds of caster changes when adjusting camber.

The car is apparently lowered, is there a large height difference from one side of the car to the other?

I've never had negative caster, but when I had +0.8* on one side and 0* on the other, the car wandered all over the road while driving. No changes in pull from one direction to the other, it just felt very unstable and always pulled to one side.

An abrupt change in pull from one direction to the other when transitioning from acceleration to deceleration, implies something is loose and shifting. Bushings, bearings, engine mounts, etc...

Which control arm was changed? Assuming we're discussing an "EG" Civic, the LCAs are 2 part items, and either half could be bent. Complicating things further, the lower subframe that the LCAs mount to is only bolted to the frame, and can shift (I don't know how much).

If it were my car, the cross camber and cross caster would have me looking for collision damage to correct.

 

I have a front camber kit not sure of the brand... It's lowered with tein flex coilovers... I went for a drive this morning, it didn't feel as bad as it did when I first got it back... It pulled to the right but not as hard as when I explained it to you. Must have been where I was driving it at. The right lower control arm was replaced. I was told it could possibly be collision damage. Thanks for all the good info.

 

That scan looks much worse than mine. Everything else was in spec on mine.
The problem got worse...
It turns out that Sears did not check my tire pressure because I have locking valve stem caps. They said they checked the tire pressure, but hey, it's Sears. The right front tire pressure was 10 psi low when I checked it. After filling it up to spec the car drives fine again. Going back to Sears for another alignment check.

 

Aligning the car with one tire 10psi low can produce an incorrect alignment reading, or so I've been told.