after repeated alignments, my car still pulls to the left. everyone says it's in spec but i suspect they're being lazy and that the car's actually on one extreme of spec.
i've given up on the shops and would like to tweek the toe a little bit myself. any instructions?

 

who's everyone? where did you go?
you'd better not do this yourself unless you what you're doing and...uh...you don't even have alignment machine...you can't eyeball this!

 

three different sears auto shops and premiere.
i didn't want to do this myself but with the car still pulling, i don't see much of an alternative. i've already had to replace two tires with more than 50% tread on em due to uneven wear which exposed the steel belts.
and yeah, i don't want to eyeball this, but i think a quarter turn at a time may be ok. i just don't know what bolt to turn.

 

why don't you just bring your car back to a Nissan dealership.
bring all 3 of your alignment sheet and tell them that every time you do an alignment, the car still pulls to the side...

 

yeah, maybe. i generally don't even consider dealerships when i need service. but i might need to here. i just hate paying $80 just for them to look at it. and i can just imagine them coming back to me and saying that since it's within spec, they're not going to do anything.

 

If your going through tires, it's not in spec. The alignment itself may be in spec, but something is amiss. Generally the Dealerships have more up to date alignment machines.

 

brakes that are catching or remaining in contact with the rotor (binding) can cause your car to drift like that...also tire pressure...

ARFF

 

i've been keeping an eye on my tire pressure, and they seem to be holding up pretty well.

as far as the brakes are concerned, i thought about that too, but wouldn't i notice highly uneven pad wear??

 

Have you tried a place with a hunter GPS6700 machine?
(never go against the org)

SHIFT_water-cooled_twin_turbo_power_plant
woosh

 

only over a very long period of having the symptoms...how long has it been doing it?


ARFF

 

i'm not sure but i would say 6-8 monthes. i say that cuz i had my tires rotated front to back (unidirectional tires) about 5 monthes ago and i found the exposed belts on the two driver's side tires. so i figure the rear driver's side tire was worn down when it was up front. i guess i should check my brake pads too since recently i've developed a very slight shimmy while braking. i thought it was warped rotors but....

if it is the brakes, what's the fix? is this something my mechanic can fix, just center the caliper??

 

so... i guess the consensus is that i should find a dealership that has more up to date equipment?

 

He could at least make independent measurements even if he didn't make the adjustments, though that can be the easy (if somewhat iterative) part.

All you need is a flat surface (prefereably level), four jackstands, some string, a carpenter's combination square with a bubble level in it, a small scale that's graduated to 1/32" or finer, some understanding of trig and what you're trying to measure, and maybe a calculator. Oh, and a bit of patience. Level isn't an absolute requirement - but it does remove the necessity of constantly correcting your measurements to account for slope.

Mostly, the expensive alignment machine is for doing alignments on a production basis and eventually making a profit at it. The flat surface and maybe $30 worth of Home Depot shopping will do the same job and the results will be well within the accuracy required for most purposes. I've had a little practice . . .

serin - There's no necessity that the problem be toe. In fact I suspect it is not a toe issue at all from your description (excessive toe-out will make the car twitchy but not in the same direction all the time, too much toe-in will make the steering response somewhat "dull"). Differing caster and/or camber values on the right side vs left sound more likely as alignment sources of your problem

Norm

 

Wow! Maybe you should go by Cliff Clavin instead of Norm Peterson.

 

I don't know if that would be long enough to notice uneven wear on the brake pads, especially if it's just dragging a little.

Yeah, they would check to see why (or IF) the caliper is sticking and free it up...

Speaking of tires, I had a big freakin' SCREW in the sidewall of mine this morning when I stopped at the gas station...dammmmmit.

GOOD LUCK, let us know
ARFF

 

thanks norm. as for the measurements, i had to go in to the shop today anyway cuz of a tranny cooler leak (a whole other deal) and asked the guy (one of the original who did an alignment) to make a small adjustment to the left toe. it did negate some of the pull, now it's just really sensitive to the road, but better.

as for the camber/caster i should just post a scan of my most recent alignment measurements. you guys can make a better assessment than i. if needed, i'll have my brakes checked too.

 

That would ruin the real situation some years ago where the guy in the cubie behind me was named Cliff (last name Chang). No, our office address was not downstairs at the Hampshire ouse in Boston (oh well).

Norm

 

serin, maybe you're just really fat?

 

i thought about that too... seriously. but then i've always been big, not just the last few monthes.

 

getting back on topic...I had the same experience at Sears, my car pulled to the right when I brought it in, and it pulled to the left after it left their shop. I brought it back and they told me that everything was to spec and fine, but it's still pulling left. Maybe Sears just has screwed up files on a Maxima or something? I'm not too familiar with how it works, but after a host of other problems from just an oil-change and a tire rotation there, I'm never bringing the car back there again.

 

and if it's camber, you might be screwed into having to buy camber plates because camber is not adjustable on our cars.
Five will get u ten that you car is pulling towards the wheel that has the most positive (or conversely, less negative) camber....check this out at the alignment shop & lemme know the results of the diagnosis.

 

okay, so i scanned in a pic of the most recent alignment done at sears. i tried to keep it within reason as far as size, but i couldn't shrink it too much without making it illegible. so for those of you with modems, be a bit patient.

please tell me where it's off.

 

oops, here: alignment scan

 

Where are the "Actual" and "Before" measurements? That's what you compare against the "Specified" and "Range".

Norm