PRPmax

My problem is my alinement... My car drifts to the left very slightly.. I went to Nissan and had it realined..But it still does it... could it be something else like brakes or did they just not do a proper job on them.. I just want to get a some ideas on what it can be before I start spending money.

HoJo

Check the air pressure in your tires, one might be lower/higher than the other, making the car pull to one side

Daniel B. Martin

HoJo suggested a check of tire pressure. That's always the first thing to look at.

Tires can influence "pull". Rotate your tires. If the symptom changes, the tires may be at fault.

Brakes can infuence "pull". A dragging brake (possibly a stuck caliper) may be at fault. Put the car on a lift and spin all four wheels by hand. Both fronts should have the same "feel", and both rears.

A weak spring can influence "pull". A good alignment man would have verified the correct ride height and have caught this if it were the problem.

PRPmax

How would you know if the tires where at fault ? I just have had them rotated. I try to rotate them every 5 thousand miles.. But even so it has been doing this before I rotated them..

Thanks,

Daniel B. Martin

If you rotate the tire and the symptom changes, then the tires are involved with the problem. You may be confident of that because rotating the tires doesn't change the alignment, brakes, or spring tension. A concealed tire defect such as tread ply separation will cause subtle problems including the "pull" you reported.

MICHAELCORY

I have that same problem however mines pulls to the left. A mechanic informed me that it was either my tires (which I hate they are those directional tires.) or my drive train. I am copletely lost as to what effect that would have. If you could answer that I would greatly appreciate that.

Daniel B. Martin

If I could answer what? Did you ask a question?

MICHAELCORY

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Daniel B. Martin

Quote:

Originally posted by MICHAELCORY
I have that same problem however mines pulls to the left. A mechanic informed me that it was either my tires (which I hate they are those directional tires.) or my drive train. I am copletely lost as to what effect that would have. If you could answer that I would greatly appreciate that.

If I could answer what? Did you ask a question? [/QUOTE


Sorry my question was what effect does your drive train have on you car pulling in a certain direction?

Daniel B. Martin

None, really. I suppose a damaged differential could feed more power to one wheel than the other. However, a damaged differential usually makes a lot of noise and you haven't mentioned that. Look back at the earlier posts in this thread. Pulling is typically by
- nonuniform tire pressures
- faulty alignment
- a dragging brake
- a tire defect