I have a 94 integra that is bugging the HELL out of me.

It pulls to the left proportionate to speed, enough to take freeway corners no-handed. One thing I noticed recently is it does not pull if I'm driving on snow/ice, or if the right side tires are on snow/ice and the left is on asphault.

It has a VERY mild suspension on it - Eibach street springs and orange Koni shocks with only 15k miles (installed new). It started pulling about 3k miles ago.


Things I've tried/checked:
*alignment
*front brakes (calipers, pads, sliding caliper pins)
*front bearings
*front bushings
*front sway bar parts
*tires (3 different sets of tires)

The only thing I can think of is the problem is actually in the rear. I'd have checked sooner but it's been 10-30F outside for the last month. FYI the previous owner put on Civic drums and the e-brake barely works.




Please, help! This is the first problem I can't solve myself.

 

Inner/outer tie rods. Does your car track? Meaning follow grooves in the road

 

I would also suggest having a look at the tie rods.

 

Im assuming that if you took it to an alingment shop the shook down the front end. However, sometimes they wont. And the alignment should have been the very last thing that you did after suspension work. If you do a 4 wheel alignment they should have told you the specs on the back as well and if there was a problem it would have been apparent. Jack the front of the car up and shake both tires right to left, and then up and down, this should let you know if you have bad, tie rod inner and outer, wheel bearings, and steering rack slop. If it aligned fine after you replace everything it should drive straight.

Did you change your front trailing arm bushings? Check for wiggle in the arm connection to the frame as sometimes the nuts welded inside to hold the lower trailing arm can break off inside causing it to come loose and torque steer and lock in on that steering angle.

 

I replaced the rack and tierods recently, although they were use but verified in working condition. It does not track, just a very steady pull. It also pulls the same regardless if I accelerate wildly, brake hard, or cruise along.

 

Was the car previously in a wreck?

 

What's the alignment printout look like?

 

Have you had it aligned since you change the tie rods?

 

^^ Post the alignment results after the tie rod change

 

I do my own string alignments but had Sears double-check it recently. It was w/in Honda's specs. Front toe is zero, rear is toe-in dead center of Honda's +/- specs. Front camber is ~2 degree iirc (skank2 front uca's), rear is 0.5 degree using 1 or 2 shims. I've tried adding & removing toe from each front wheel, all that does is move the steering wheel.

The car seems to have had a very minor head-on where it bowed the condensor in slightly, but the frame doesn't seem to be bent or have been pulled. Last resort will be to have my brother put it on a chassis rack to check, but it drove fine for 10k miles previously. It just started pulling out of the clear blue, minor at first but has got progressively worse. No curb jumping, no roadkills, no potholes, etc.

I should also add that is has new set of Raxles (~10k miles) with an OEM halfshaft. They were put on before it started pulling.




I will double-check alignment soon, along with rear brakes and front tierods. I have a Civic & del Sol so I can try different tierod ends, but the actual tierods appear to be different. It's a delsol vtec, so the rack itself is the same as the integra. I've had the wheels off 3 times lately, and don't recall any unusual play or movement. If it's not steering or brakes, I'll have to wait til spring to drive the Civic and put on a full poly kit that's collecting dust. This problem is really bugging me...

Thanks for the help so far.

 

Sometimes accidents can also move the subframe out of place, particularly if they impact a wheel. Not sure what the effects of that are or how you diagnose it -- just throwing that out there. Can you see evidence that the radiator support was replaced (tack welds on the corners)?

 

Im having this issue with my ride..it pulls hard to the right...aligned it....still did it. replaced the tie rods, aligned it. still did it...

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You didn't specify your caster numbers, what were they?

 

If the alignment check was based on total toe then that could be the reason it pulls. If you're doing your own string alignment then reference the string for toe, not the other wheel

 

hmm... strange.... subscribing to find out.

 

I did reference the string for toe, and also centered the steering wheel per the Helms manual. I squared up the entire car to each hub, adjusted, resquared in case something was bent, then snugged everything up. It drove fine for 10k miles, then started pulling and Sears said their lasers were w/in spec - actually closer than their techs usually get cars.

To clarify, it has not been in any accident since I've owned it. I would find it hard to believe that an accident would start having any affect 50k miles later, it's usually instant and everlasting until fixed.

 

Maybe the bushings are deforming when the chassis is loaded? How do your rear bushings look?

 

The rear arm's LARGE trailing arm bushing is questionable since the last owner had it dragging on full tien coilovers. The all the lca, compensator, and uca arms are good since I swapped them.

I think it could be suspension deflection, but it seems to only react when the front goes over a bump. By react I mean it will try turning the wheel left a hair.

 

Update - I think it's something with the front arm bushings/joints. The "heat wave" of 35-40F and a light snow helped wash away the salt, so I tried beating on the car. If I floor it at high rpm, it will start pulling to the right, and if I go 100% on the brake it will pull left.

It won't pull on light-medium accel or braking, only if I'm driving like a race car. So whatever it is, it takes a lot of power to tweak it. I doubt it's a tie-rod issue since there is no obvious play in the steering.

 

x2 ?

 

Wait, so it pulls on acceleration? Is this your first FWD car? lol

 

You should be toe in slightly. perfectly straight will cause pulls with road crown. also check caster. sounds like possibly in an accident and subframe cross member could be tweeked

 

If it were me, and I was trying a DIY alignment and I was still having an issue that was pretty obviously an alignment problem, I'd just bite the bullet and have it checked at a shop.

 

I think he did and they said was in spec

 

What are the numbers on ALL the angles? Thrust Angle? Cross Camber, Cross Caster, .....