Ok, so my car has been pulling to the right when I accelerate and it has been getting worse. After Sunday's auto-x is horrible. I can change lanes without even having to turn the wheel.
It drives straight while coasting and breaking. I've checked the bushings in the front lower control arms and they look fine. Could my coilovers be adjusted wrong? I've never had my car corner balanced. Why would it get worse after the auto-x?

Oh, I just had my car aligned last week for what that's worth. It did this before the alignment too but it has only gotten way worse after the auto-x.

thanks for the ideas. That's all I'm looking for here. What should I examine next?...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by glagola1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Why would it get worse after the auto-x? </TD></TR></TABLE>

Got a cone stuck in there?

More details please, do you have an LSD? Possible axle issue? How are the tie-rods and balljoints? Does it do it worse on one side of the road that the other (affected by road crown) ? Have you checked your tire pressures? Verified that your coilovers are all adjusted as close to even as possible with out corner weighting?

Personally, I'd drive right back to where I got the alignment.

 

Well, no LSD but there are possible axle problems. That would explain why the pulling only takes place durring acceleration. I've ordered a new driver side axle and I have a new intermediate shaft so hopefully that will aleviate part of the problem.

The tie rods and ball joints are all fine when I inspected them last night... meaning they don't have any play or movement that could be caused by my hands. And that's just it. There is nothing visably wrong under there. I'm hoping I can break it this upcoming auto-x so I can diagnose it.

Someone mentioned motor mounts in another forum. What do you think about that?

I've thought about taking it back to the shop. I paid for the three years of free alignments so...

 

Three things that come to mind that are common.

Alignment setting? Toe out?
Tire selection? Agressive/performance tire
... combined with...
Uneven pavement?

* uneven pavement will cause a car to track quite different with a good sticky set of tires, and given unequal half-shafts, will only emphasize this.

(Maybe kind of an elementary response, but wanted to cover this explaination first)

 

I'm sure it has nothing to do with the pavement since it does it everywhere I drive.

I guess I should get the alignment checked again. Maybe I tweaked something. But that still doesn't explain why it coasts and brakes straight. Ugh.


Modified by glagola1 at 4:50 PM 11/12/2003

 

Pulling only under acceleration? Sounds like an axle problem to me. Any noises/clicking?

 

When did you add the coilovers? I suggest that something is loose in the front-end. Depending on the car, check nuts that secure top and bottom of the strut. And by check, I mean get out a torque wrench and retorque everything.

 

Could someone explain to me why a good set of sticky tires will cause the steering wheel to tilt to the right or left (road surface dependent)?

What if the amount of negative camber in the front is increased?

 

Yeah, it's most likely an axle problem but I don't hear any clicking and a slight vibration I used to feel is almost gone... freakin odd.

I've got a new intermediate shaft since my bearing died in the old one and I've got some Raxles on the way so I'm hoping that after I install these things my problem will go away.

Does anybody know how to do a poor man's corner balance? I need to set my coilovers properly and my damn garage is not flat.

 

This exact problem just started happening to my ITA Civic as well at my last event. Most folks I have talked to say "axles", but I will see over the winter when I do a front end rebuild.

I swapped tires from Toyos to Kumhos as well, didn't fix the problem, so I know it's not a tire issue. Only other thing I could think of is a radius rod bushing or balljoint problem. But it's probably the axles.

Toe won't do it, since the steering wheel would just recenter crooked but not pull. Camber differences side-to-side will cause a pull ALL the time. So it's gotta be something loose or binding.

 

I have the EXACT same problem, except mine pulls a little when coasting, and a TON under accel. Possibly could be the coilovers, does anyone know an accurate way to measure them? I hate to think it's an axel, but after hundreds of drag races and a few autocrosses, I wouldn't be surprised.
I just tell everyone it's mad torque steer when I'm accelerating and dialing a phone # or something. lol

(And for some reason my posts reset itself....I had 500.)

 

not to take over your post or anything..... but, huh, an axle problem eh? My car has been feeling really strange lately. just sorta loose feeling, not as solid and stuck to the ground like before. Also the steering wheel moves side to side when I accelerate. It doesn't pull to one side, it just shakes back and forth (sorta like how it does w/ warped rotors). Its wasn't the tires (I've had 3 sets of wheels/tires on it in the past few weeks and it does it for all the tires). I haven't had an alignment in awhile, but i have no reason to believe its off (I plan on getting one soon after some suspension work). i checked the ball joints and tie rod ends and they seem fine. Only thing strange is that I think my axle is clicking. The axle is only about 14months old. They are raxles axles. My last set lasted 2yrs, and they only went bad because the boots broke. My current axle boots are fine, but I am hearing a clicking. Could my axle be the problem?

any input would be greatly appreicated!! thanks!

 

Oh yeah, that shimmy in the wheel is definately an inner joint problem... that is if it happens only durring acceleration. Call Marty and see what he says. 14 months hunh? that sucks.

 

wow, so you're pretty sure its an axle problem. I hope you're right. This problem has been baffling me for a few weeks now. For awhile I was scared it was something in the suspension that if it broke could cause a horrible accident

I'll definitely get in touch with raxles. Thanks for your help!!

****************************UPDATE**************** *********
I just got off the phone with Marty. He said that I most likely have an inner joint problem and that he'd be more than happy to replace them. All I have to do is send them back. I have been blown away by Raxles's customer service, hands down the best business I've dealt with in regards to autoparts. I highly recommend them.

and thanks again for your help glagola1


Modified by 91IntegGS at 10:25 PM 11/14/2003


Modified by 91IntegGS at 10:25 PM 11/14/2003