my car pulls to one side and nobody knows why
 

okay have been having a problem with my 3rd gen for awhile now the car constantly pulls to the right.... i so far have had three "alignment shops" two mechanics and a tow truck driver give their opinion on whats wrong with it so far this is what ive seen....the alignment shops said axle, control arm, and rack and pinion (in that order and each guy i went to said the other guy was wrong) the regular mechanics said tie rods, and balljoints (but both guys said they werent sure and take to an alignment shop) and some tow truck driver said a loose spring :rolleyes:

i have had the car aligned about 3 times since this started.... ive had the tires rotated and wheels balanced...... i have yet to fix anything because when i look at it i cant see anything wrong.....and each "professional" i went to said something different and usually said what i was told by "that other guy" is wrong:mad:

the only real symptoms is that it pulls to the right, when i get it aligned it "helps" but gets worse after a few hundred then a few thousand miles. and the abs light comes on "every once in awhile" then goes away. :confused:

can anybody tell me what i can do to find out what the hell is going on before i blow a bunch of money on stuff i dont need:bawling:

you say the mechanics said "this-and-that", did you do anything about any of them?

Replace your front control arm bushings..

You can buy new control arms with new rubber bushing pressed in already, or you can remove the rubber bushings on your oem arms, then replace them with poly bushings..

do you have any fluid leaks on the passenger side of the car?
if yes then you definately need control arm/bushings.
Axle would not cause a pulling sensation
Rack and pinion won't either.

well, if you think about how fast you're going when your car is pulling, the angle that the car is straying is actually REALLY slight, so whatever is wrong with your car is going to be very slight too. if it were bad enough to see, you would probably have to hold the wheel a sideways just to keep the car on the road; you wouldn't be able to safely drive it at all.

that's why it is probably something like the control arm bushings, which you really won't 'see anything wrong' so to speak, but if they are soft, then the suspension geometry will be off enough to pull the car to one side. so do the front control arm bushings first, then have it realigned. if that doesn't fix it, then proceed to doing the balljoints and tierods, and put new mount bushings on the steering rack to keep it from moving back and forth like mine used to.

but yea, definitely don't just look at something and say "well they look fine" cuz a clicking axle will still "look fine" from the outside, won't it? but it isn't.. same with the suspension stuff. the tolerances in balljoints and tierods and stuff are tight enough to where even if it 'looks ok' it might not be.

Any clunking while accelerating?

check your WSP ELYP and see if that's causing a problem.

:bowrofl:

I'm gonna have to disagree on your repair tactic, rather just replacing the control arm, since you're gonna be in there you might as well TEST the ball joint for play. Normally you just wobble the wheel while the car is jacked up but hell, if you can move the ball joint with your fingers then its weak enough to get replaced. So since the control arm will be out and you'll have the 3-19mm nuts off you can just replace the bj if its bad.

If you wanna check the LCA for play, wobbling the wheel with your hands for play usually wont cut it, so get a large pry bar and try to jiggle the control arm by prying on it. BE SURE TO SUPPORT THE CAR WITH JACK STANDS FIRST

To me it just doesnt make sense to replace a LCA/bushings> Get an alignment> ball joint if problem persist> alignment AGAIN.

If you end up having to do LCA and Ball joint, prior to going in for aligment you obviously check the tie rod too.

no i never trust mechanics i always get a second opion so i havent replaced anything based on their advice but the balljoints and axles are maybe a year old everything else hasn't been replaced

i was thinking about trying poly bushings they are considered a performance mod so if thats not the problem atleast its not a waste of $ im really not looking forward to the squeeking though
no fluid but then again i haven't been checking i had a feeling the rack and pinion was bull but they said it was leaking so maybe the control arm bushings is what they were talking about

i have never heard about putting new mount bushings on the r&p maybe that would help but ball joints are relatively new the clicking axle however has me worried i do hear a little clicking between 3000 and 4000 rpms ever since i did that transmission draining u know 3 bottles at a time but i figured it was fine cuz after 4000 it goes away but know that i think about the clicking seems to come from the passenger side only and my abs sensor did go off a few times then go away

no clunking at all just a lil clicking between 3-4000rpms

dudez i completely forgot about that thing i wish i gave him a deposit from the start i should prolly give dallas a call i was gonna get aarons vg kit too but im just ****ed for cash right now and im pretty sure my tranny swap is gonna be comin soon

turn your car on and have someone jiggle the steering wheel about an 8th of a turn really really fast. look under your hood at your rack, if it's jiggling, then you need new rack mount bushings.

as for the axle thing, i didn't mean that was your problem (obviously, it it's messed up, fix it) but i meant thatjust because something 'looks fine' doesn't mean it is fine. usually tho axles click when you're turning the wheel really sharp.. and have nothing to do with RPM; a bad axle will click whether the engine is running or not, as long as the car's rolling with the wheels turned.

good there is no noise at all when turning sharply but the abs sensor has me thinking thats the problem maybe the clicking has something to do with my timing being off or maybe a "wobbly" cranksaft pulley when i install my udp ill give it a mini tune up hopefully that will stop it.... but ill try installing poly bushings on the lca's and mount bushings for the r&p and see if that helps but bushings doesn't explain the abs sensor....

a common problem i run across (including my maxima ) is a separated belt in the tire, it looks fine but that tire will make it pull, easy test, take the tires and switch sides, right tire to the left and so.

if the pull changes sides thats your issue,
replace the tires, you can also play this game one tire at a time until you know which one if you want.

if that doesnt help, i would check the control arms and such,

putting it on the alignment rack should tell you whats off, prolly caster/camber. im surprised in the three alignments that no one has figured this out.

if the joints and bushings are all fine you could have a issue with the control arm or strut or strut tower itself!.

good luck. let me know what you find out.

abs sensor thing is probably a different problem entirely.

are your motor mounts alright? i had one broken for a while and the uneven weight distribution had an effect on the car, slight but existant. sorry i dont know much but it cant hurt to look ;D

- you forgot because you were too busy smoking pot.
- you don't have money because you spent it all on pot.

good to know we can't rely on you for anything. if you can't afford the ELYP then don't tell people that you're going to get it.

Aren't you the same sleepyvg30e that also runs with a liquorice spindle?:confused:

well its not the tires ive had them rotated and the alignment shops did say whats wrong they just all said something different i have thought about the struts (especially when that guy said it was the spring) but the mechanics all say their fine

i was afraid somebody would say that this all stems from a flat tire im worried i might have caused damage to a few parts

calm down im still gettin it

yep thats the same problem.... a mechanic told me that i had a bent spindle(which he described as something being inside the axle itself) and to go see an alignment shop they said it was the axle then this whole mess started when i went to get the axle fixed at another shop and they said it was the control arm so i take it to another shop they say rack and pinion they wanted $700P&L for the rack and pinion so ive been ridin around with it (found the part for $100 online) so far its just annoying but i know its just gonna get worse unless i fix it the problem is i dont know what to fix and every opinion i get seems to get shot down by someone else

Why not jack up your car and pull out the big pry bar and get busy checking your control arm bushings, front wheel bearings, struts mounts, motor mounts, etc! there's something those guys are missing! It happens all the time, don't know how? But it happens!

wait... so was the spindle actually replaced or not?

nope i think after u guys told me the proper definition of a spindle i had someone inspect it but again they said nothing was wrong with it and its something else causing the problem....

Personally I don't see the problem here - everything that could have been said on the topic has already been said.

Given the number of threads and posts on this subject of yours, its painfully obvious you either cannot or will not do the faultfinding/repair yourself.

Stop buggering around with the thing - take it to an alignment shop that has given you the cheapest quote and have them "fix the problem" while you stand there watching on a "no solution no pay" basis ..................... if not successful, get the next least expensive guy to do the same ................... continue till problem is solved and pay THAT guy only:confused:

Get out the big pry bar!!!!! DIY!!!! It's Only gonna cost you some time dude to visually inspect it yourself!!!!!! Don't be scuuuurddddd!

i dont know much about the differentials in FWD cars, but could a faulty LSD give slightly more power to one wheel than the other, without breaking traction?
Everything else I could think of has been covered here or by the people you had look at the car - apart from chassis alignment.

VG= no vlsd..

It dosn't matter if u had tires rotated or not, swap the front ones, I had the same problem and that fixed mine. Try something dude.:tard:

Ah k, couldnt see in his OP if it was VG or VE.
If it was VE, or atleast had a VLSD, could that be possible?

Ummm...sleepyvg30e :shiner: ;)


Nope, it would function basically like a open differential (like the vg)..

I just got through fixing this on my '92 GXE. I replaced the lower control arm bushing on the passenger side but it still pulled to the right. I then swapped the front wheel/tires from one side to another and found the tires were bad/poor wear pattern. I was able to confirm this by not only looking at the treat wear but the car now began to pull to the left.

Good luck

weel thats gotta be the best word for what ive been doing with this problem "buggering around" i was hoping there was something i missed that could explain everything...... but if everything has been covered i guess it has to be multiple parts that were damaged...btw "no solution no pay" usually ends up with a mechanic trying to convince u a leaky control arm bushing is a $700 rack and pinion replacement.....i know wat your saying but this headache aint worth $700 to get rid of

yep the big pry bar is in my future i guess luckily the udp is on the same side so i can just take everything apart when i install it...i have to remove the wheel anyway so i might just start takin things apart cleaning them and inspecting them.... it wont be that big of a deal...


but right now its looking like a damaged abs sensor and a damaged control arm bushing....ill keep u posted to let u know if i find anything or end up replacing anything else....

Any update on this?

For what it's worth, I completely rebuilt my front suspension, control arm bushings, ball joints, tie rod ends, etc. a couple months back and my car pulls to the right pretty hard and I can't figure out why. I've had it aligned and it still pulls.

Under acceleration i'm assuming, right? If yes, did you replace the control arm bushings with stock rubber or poly? If replaced with rubber bushings, try going poly..:gotme:

If no on acceleration/rubber bushings, then i have not a clue as to where to look..

I replaced them all with stock rubber

Surprisingly, under acceleration it pulls mostly straight (same when braking). It's when I'm just driving/cruising that it pulls pretty hard to the right. :confused:

you might wanna try a different alignment shop..:wall:

+1

try and swap your wheels from one side to another. you may have a bad wear pattern on your tires.