You can't make any changes to the rear without someone bending the rear axle; and I think that's only to change the toe, not camber. I asked about it at one time, and a select few will do it, but probably not anyone local.

Still trying to figure out why I have a pull if everything is acceptable. Anyone have ideas or suggestions to make it go straight? Same thing has happened with different wheels and tires.

 

Ok, so I played with the camber and tried even going with a -1.0 or so difference on the right. (Car SHOULD pull to the side with more positive camber, correct?) Car still pulled to the right and I still had torque steer. I didn't try loosening the leftside FSB bolt (like it was before I ever saw it), but I doubt it will make any difference.

The only other thing besides alignment could be dragging brakes? I haven't noticed any severe wear on one side or the other but I may check that. It's been the same pull on different tires/wheels and same pressures.

I may just clean the car up and sell it, lol. This has been driving me crazy too long and I need to get rid of one car anyway. I really like this car but I can't live with this... May go back to the shop one more time, but if they can't correct it the maxima will be 86'd!!

 

well i just got my car back from the shop...

a couple months back i hit a pot hole and dented the inner lip of my ssr gt1 18's. my cv boot on the passenger side tore, and the cv joint was shot. and my car had an annoying pull to the left.

so... i had 2 front end alignments done. wheel bearings replaced. new control arm. 3 different axles put in (on passenger side), all of which seemed to be 1/4 of an inch longer in compressed length than they should have been. the axles caused a really bad shimmy between 20 and 40mph. so i ordered an axle from raxles.
raxle axles are ecxellent quality and i would recommend them to everyone.
now that the raxle axle is in, i dont have a shimmy anymore, but the car still pulls to the left. i guess its just torque steer or my tires are bad. idk what else to do. i guess im just gonna have to deal with it.

 

yes, the second and third time i did. the first time i went to town fair tire. ill never make that mistake again. my camber is in .01 spec of eachother. idk why it still pulls. maybe i need to replace my drivers side axle as well. the funny thing is... my tires dont seem to have any kind of wear problems. the tread is even on all 4 tires. the front tires do not show that i have a front end alignment issue. maybe its just all in my head, and my car just pulls because of the crown in the road. its driving me crazy!

 

Are your and left and right SAI readings within half a degree of each other?

 

Is there a remote possibility the power steering unit is somehow creating more pressure on one side than the other? I don't know how it works exactly but I know hydraulic pressure moves it side to side. ...just brainstorming... Anyway, I thought of trying to move the tie rods (by turning obviously) more to the other side and see if there's any difference. I would keep the toe set to spec, just turn the rods the same # of turns on each side; the check/set the toe of course.

Still planning to check and maybe lube the brake calipers... That's the only other thing I can think of. The time I loosened the FSB on one side it did seem to affect the pull slightly, but the small improvement wouldn't be worth the responsiveness I'd sacrifice.

Btw, my car will pull to the right even on a road with a slope/crown toward the left. I think it's dangerous to have to constantly hold the wheel to get it to drive straight. I have a trip coming up so I've gotta fix this $hit or drive my pos honda to the beach. : (

 

I read this post a few days ago, so forgive me for asking if you've covered the sway bar end links? My car has had a tendency to slightly tug to the left & the steering feels a little light which leads to some wandering in blustery conditions. It has has this tendency for the steering wheel to automatically turn slightly on it's own to the left as I'm pulling up to a stop (especially on uneven roads). This past weekend I noticed the bolt on the LCA that holds the passenger side FSB end link was bent. I've never noticed this before, because it looks so normal since the end link is still vertical, just axially off. I banged it a little, but didn't want to snap the bolt. The car seems a little better (placebo?), but I'll be changing both soon. I started a thread earlier about this, but only got one reply...good luck

 

Loosening the end links (what I did) should be similar to what you're doing; it would lessen the effect/alignment of the sway bar and control arm and allow more free movement. It definitely causes some wander having them loose. I loosened the nut say 1-8 to a 1/4 of an inch, but that must equal 1/2 an inch or so at the wheel. I could definitely feel the difference. When I did it, I did the right side and it caused more of a pull to the right. I haven't tried the left side, but I would think the opposite would happen.

 

You're going about it the wrong way. Those nuts should not be loose. Do you have the SAI readings from your alignment? If those two aren't within half a degree of one another it could cause a pull.

 

See the previous page. One of the SAI readings was off, the other was ok. The one that was ok (1st picture?) was my last alignment and it still pulled. I know I shouldn't do it, but I just want to see what happens. The end links could be bent like the above poster mentioned.

 

I noticed today I have a KNOCKING sound when the car goes from acceleration to deceleration or v/v. It's actually done this as long as I can remember. I had new axles put in so that's not the problem. The sound is on the right and is low. My suspicions are:

motor mount(s), LCA bushing/arm, strut bearing -> these aren't even bearings, just plastic shims it appears?

What are some other possibilities? I have a feeling this might be part of the torque steer problem as well.

Thanks for the comments. Here's the other results from camber changes and sway bar bolts... (I don't think they're as important as the knocking sound. That is probably the real problem. )

I put in the original strut bolts and took out the camber bolts this weekend. Same results. In this setup, the front left is -0.5, right -0.25 approximately. Before I set the front left camber to -0.5 and the right all the way to -2.0 and still had a pull to the right. Now, it is worse actually since the right side is more positive. I can correct it some with the bolts.

Next, I also loosened the left side of the sway bar slightly and got the result I was expecting. This wasn't a long term thing though, so I set it back to fully tightened.

 

Mine pulls to the right a little when coasting. Under acceleration is a bit more (torque steer). Most cars suffer from this. Some more than others. Its a characteristic of FWD.

 

Well I figured out the problem, or at least how to resolve my current problem. Apparently although I tried different wheels, tires, and had them all rotated I didn't try the right combinations. I simply moved the wheels/tires on the right to the left side and had the exact same severe pull BUT to the left. So, is is defintely a tire(s) or wheel(s) or several that are the problem. The wear is pretty even and the tires pressures are the same, so it can only be maybe a strange offset on the wheel(s) or tire(s) defect? Anyway, I'm happy to know it wasn't something major and that I won't be going crazy any longer... When I buy the next set, which won't be long from now, I'm going to have them rotate them until the car drives straight. There was no visible descrepancies so the changes must be very minute. Cheers

 

I think my GLE pulls slightly to the right because the road is sloped slightly down to the right. When driven in parking lot, it always runs straight. Just a thought.

 

That's what our cars should do 90% of the time. It seems like there might be a steering gear that can be adjusted to keep the car going a little straighter, not sure? I know tie rods, ball joints, and other worn parts can make it worse too. Caster also affects straight line stability, but unfortunately it isn't adjustable. I would think cars with a different suspension setup like 4 wheel independent, non-macpherson, which may have less bumpsteer, are less affected by road crown.

 

mine pulls to the left like a mother

 

See my above post about the tires. You'd think with pretty even wear there would be no difference, but the pull was very severe and was completely reversed just by switching the wheels/tires. I think the maximas are more sensitive b/c the tires are fairly wide and there may be other alignment issues which haven't been resolved b/c the is so little that's adjustable from the factory.

 

yea everything is right on. they guy at the shop was working on it for 2 days straight. he said that if it still pulls, then its not the alignment thats the problem. the only thing i still have to check are the break pads and rotors. i replaced both sets of front pads last year and havent had breaking problems with the car. actually, i think my front drivers side rotor has a gauge on the inside surface. thats why i replaced the pads. ill change the rotor once i get some money. i think its the brakes that making the car pull. but i dont have any excess brake dust on my rims or anything. otherwise ive done everything esle i couldn think of

 

you might want to get that checked out