Hey guys. Have a bit of a unique issue with my steering here, and can't seem to figure it out. Put Dobinson's lift springs on, in addition to slightly larger tires (215/70R/16). Immediately after doing this work, I got an alignment at firestone. Got the before and after sheet, and everything was in the green (within spec) after the alignment. Despite this, I noticed my car still pulled to the left pretty significantly on the freeway. I was about to chalk it up to a bad alignment (perhaps as my new suspension just needed to "settle in" more, and needed yet another alignment). But then noticed after turning a tight lefthand corner that my car now pulled to the right. I then discovered that whenever I come to a stop and lock the wheel all the way left while pressing the brakes and return it to center, the car pulls to the right. Inversely, if I come to a stop and crank the wheel all the way right, the car will pull left. I used to be able to crank the wheel in a way that would make the car drive perfectly straight down the road, which makes me less skeptical of improper alignment. But now the issue seems to be getting worse, and can no longer get it to drive perfectly straight down the road. Sometimes it pulls a little bit, sometimes a lot; requiring a different amount of countersteer to get it to go straight nearly every time I drive. Most days it will pull left, some to the right (not as often though), and I don't understand. When I installed the lift, I also replaced both front upper shock mounts, and they came with very stiff new bearings. I put white lithium assembly lube/grease on them to try and make them move a little easier, and figured they just needed to be broken in through repeated steering. Could these be keeping the car from returning to center every time? I also know my front two CV axles (driver and passenger) are both on their way out... (boots began leaking long ago and have recently started making some noise)... could worn parts inside the CV axle assembly cause a random steering issue like this? Tie rods perhaps? Control arm bushings? What parts within a CR-V's suspension could cause it to constantly pull to the left and right? Sorry for my long winded description, but I figure the more information the better... and any help is appreciated. Cheers

 

I would say it's very possible the additional friction in the strut bearings could be slowing down your return to center. In addition to that, if you went to a wider tire, or a more off-road-oriented, softer tire, or (worse still) a wider, more off-road-oriented softer tire, you'll have additional friction between the tire and the ground which would slow your return to center.

What was the lift height? I'm a little surprised to hear that the camber came back into spec. The camber probably would've gone a bit more positive with the lift (top of the tire leaning outboard), and while green, if you're right at the top of the green range it may be causing the vehicle to wander.

 

Check compliance bushings. What bearings? Oem? Assembled correctly. Tire pressure. Bad caliper. Post alignment

 

Tires are the same width as stock, just slightly taller sidewall (70R-16 instead of the stock 65R-16). They do have a much more aggressive tread pattern, but not crazy. Its a hybrid on road/off road. The lift in the front was around 2'', and figured the front camber would get tossed... so I installed adjustable front camber bolts that were tweaked during the alignment to bring it into spec. Also installed adjustable control arms in the rear to bring that to bring that to spec as well. There's a chance those camber bolts may have gotten knocked out of position somehow... when I get a chance (and install my new CV axles) I'll get it re-aligned and see what happens. Also might try putting on my old strut mount bearings to see if that makes a difference! Thanks for the help.