Rep Power: 510

i have had my car aligned 3 times under my warrenty at tire kingdom and i have watched them do it every time and they always seem to do a good job and they even give me the printout showing that everything is in the green. they even align the steering wheels so it does not move, but the car still pulls to the right. i have to hold the wheel at 1100 to 1130 to get the car to go straight all the time. i just noticed the camber in the front passenger side seems tobe a little positive now too, but it wasnt when i had the last alignment ess than a month ago. of the the guys i hang out with at the local car shows said i may have a bent tie rod or control arm (i forget which one), but he couldnt tell by just looking at it on the ground.

it is not tire wear or pressure either because i checked that.

my suspension setup consits of neuspeed race springs, stock struts, spc front and rear camber kit, and 17" wheels with 205/40/17 kumho tires.

anyone got any idea what the problem is or know if that guy is right about the suspension? thanks for the help.

 
Rep Power: 310

He might be right, but then again its aligned correctly. Have you tried switching the front tires to the rear? I had a problem before that was a defective tire. It had a bubble on top of the tread that made my car pull to the right. I went crazy trying to figure out why until I saw the tire. Probably not your problem but you never know. Recently, I reinstalled my struts and preloaded the suspension witha floor jack when bolting everything up. It made a difference. Before preloading my car would pull the left after a few seconds if I let go of the wheel. It alos corrected the steering wheel from being off center. Sounds crazy, but it worked for me.

 
Rep Power: 310

Before I forget, if you preload your suspension, make sure that you put the flor jack under the steering knuckle area and not on the flat part of the control arm. If you put it on the flat part you might bend it... hrrm I wonder if thats your problem! heheh

 
Rep Power: 510

ya i rotated the tires and added hubcenteric rings, but it didnt help. whats preloading the suspension? i did install it all myself with floor jacks.

 
Rep Power: 423

Well, I'd say if it was pulling to the left, its your fat *** in the car. Some places are smart and put a weight in and align it with your weight on the left side of the car, or can guess about how much difference they need left to right to get it to track straight. If you align the car with no weight in it and do it straight up, it'll pull left with just a driver. Maybe they over compensated... you can still hit the spec but have an overcompensated camber difference left to right.

How much pull are we talking here? Instant or a gentle drift? If it just drifts over, check tire pressures.

 
Rep Power: 510

its not even instant or gentle drift. the steering wheel has to be at 1100 or 1130 allthe time to go straight. if i let go for even a second it will go to the right. im not even close to being fat, so i doubt that would ahve anything to do with it. any ideas?

 
Rep Power: 310

Preloading is when you put a floor jack under the lower control arm and jack it up a couple of inches to put pressure on the suspension. Then you tighten the top bolts and pinch bolts.

 
Rep Power: 510

i didnt do that

 
Rep Power: 0

check to see if your front spring has sagged at all this owuld cause the car to pull to the leftbut as said before your tie rod might be a little outta wack, when you cracked your bumper did you hit anything else? or did this happen before that?

 
Rep Power: 510

it has always been like this. how can i check if the tie rod is fuked?

 
Rep Power: 0

now that we talked about it i bet that your front left shock is blown you are riding on stock shocks with almost a 3 inch drop i can almost garuntee thats your problem invest in some nice koni's cause thats the only company that makes them for your car lol, but look aorund i bet some other models have the same shocks as you

 
Rep Power: 510

its a 2" drop on neuspeed race. koni is the only one and no other car's shocks work on the 7thgen :/

 
Rep Power: 0

So that kinda explains it, mine also pulls to the right after taking it to Tire Kindom twice, but pulls gentle. Do u guys know what is the tire pressure for 205/40/17?

 
Rep Power: 510

i run 36-38 psi

 
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thanks

 
Rep Power: 327

What is the camber left and right, and caster left and right?? As a general rule of thumb you want caster to be as even as possible no more then .5 + or - Camber on the other hand you want it even too and if there is one side that should have slightly higher camber it would be the left not the right. Typically no more then .5 more positive on the left will compensate for road crown. If the numbers look good other then tire causing the pull its also possible the power steering has an imbalance. To check this jack both fron tires off the ground, start the car if the steering wheel starts to turn on its own the steering gear (rack and pinion ) is bad.

Most likely the answer will be in the alignmnet print out. GREEN is not always good . Green just means that its with in manufactures tolerances , and that dont mean jack!

 
Rep Power: 347

^^hey man, green don't mean jack? If I email or PM you what my sheet says, can you tell me why my car pulls to the left? Oh, it sometimes pulls to the right, too. It depends on what direction I turned last. Weird, eh?

 
Rep Power: 327

It sounds like something is binding in your suspension like an uppper strut plate or something like that. But feel free to let me see the numbers i can tell ya if its set correctly.

 
Rep Power: 347

Oh, binding. Maybe that's because the bearings have been oppened a few times and ****. Yeah, I repacked them last time I did my struts, it was the last thing I did. Maybe I'll just buy new bearings and put them in. ****, it can't hurt. Wow, that's a good observation.

I guess that would make the steering wheel not straighten out when I turn, right? I mean, it straightens out almost to center but still pulls to the side I turned to last.

 
Rep Power: 327

that COULD be the problem or at least something to check