Screwed up my alignment?

I just had my Perrin PSRS installed and had an alignment done. I was taking a corner pretty hard the other night and there was a very slight bump in the middle of it. I noticed more feedback comes through the steering with these new bushings. After I was done cornering it feels like I screwed up my alignment somehow. The vehicle now pulls slightly to the right when I'm not holding the steering wheel. it seems like when I hold the wheel dead straight, the vehicle will track mostly straight, but if I let it go, it pulls to the right. Other times I feel like I need to hold the wheel slightly to the right to go straight. Do I need another alignment, or will I be ok? Does it sound like I threw of the toe?

Sounds more like your previous alignment compensated for the crown in most road surfaces and the new alignment doesn't. The crown is there to let rain flow off the road instead of pooling and making driving dangerous.

 

Try getting onto a large divided highway and drive in the left-most lane. Your car should "pull" slightly to the left now. In reality it's just following the curvature of the road surface. If your car still pulls right, then go back to where the alignment was done and tell them to correct it, hopefully at no charge.

That was my first thought too. I figured it was just the crown of the road pulling me. I did hop into the left lane on a highway last night to try it out and it still felt as if it pulled slightly to the right. I'll try again after work today on a nice straight, smooth stretch of highway. I just dont understand how a bump mid-corner would have thrown my alignment off. Now I just have myself all paranoid.

^ pretty much what all 3 of my Legacy GT's have done.

 

My 05, 128,000 miles has never been aligned. Tires wear equal.

^ pretty much what all 3 of my Legacy GT's have done.

 

My 05, 128,000 miles has never been aligned. Tires wear equal.

Well that's reassuring that someone else's Legacy does the same. I just don't remember it doing it right after the alignment or with my previous alignment. Maybe I'm just being paranoid and over-analyzing things. I guess I just need to find a straight, smooth stretch of highway later and compare its behavior in both the right and left lanes.

My OBXT has always pulled to the right. It bothers me to no end, but no number of alignments have fixed it. Not having adjustable caster surely doesn't help. I've accepted it as "the way it is." For whatever reason, this car is very sensitive to road curvatures compared to my other cars. On some stretches of freeway on my way home, the steering wheel is clearly compensating to the left for the vehicle to track straight. On other sections, the wheel is straight and the car tracks straight ...

I find that on the highway depending on which lane I'm in, it will change which way it pulls.

 

Watch your tire wear, that's all that matters. Unless it steers funny in corners.

I guess I'm just being paranoid and noticing the crown of the road more than normal. I'll try and find out for sure later on tonight on a stretch of highway.

 

My assumption is if at any point I can have the wheel dead center and track straight, then my alignment is fine? The part that confuses me is it seems like there are times when the wheel is angled slightly to the right while I'm actually going straight, but other times I can have the wheel dead center and still track straight.

Thats JDM, everythings on the right:lol:

 

Mine also pulls to the right a bit, but on divided highways on the left lane iirc it does pull to the left a bit, so I think its the crown in the road

Yeh we had a thread about this in the Suspension section. Check your LCA bushings.

Yeh we had a thread about this in the Suspension section. Check your LCA bushings.

Check my first post, I just had my Perrin PSRS installed (replacement LCA bushings.)

 

Here's what I found guys. I hopped into the left lane on the highway and let go of the wheel. The vehicle tracks in a straight line, but the wheel is ever-so-slightly turned to the right. Should I be concerned about this? Or should I just save the money it would cost to do an alignment and keep driving. here's a picture to give you a rough idea of how much the wheel is turned to the right when I'm tracking straight.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v287/rjs5689/1_photo.jpg

That's close to what I have may be a touch more.

if the steering wheel isnt straight, you want to get realigned. they didnt have the steering wheel straight when they aligned the car

Whoops sorry misread that as a rear sway bar. Yeh what the previous poster said - they didn't lock down your steering wheel when doing the alignment.

I gave them a call and I'm bringing it back in on July 3rd for them to align it again. Hopefully it's free of charge.

 

Thanks for all the comments and advice!

This s my 3rd Subaru,I had quite a few alignments and all three and the steering wheel always end up a little to the right.

This s my 3rd Subaru,I had quite a few alignments and all three and the steering wheel always end up a little to the right.

I'm sorry, but a steering wheel being anything other than 100% dead center in a car is completely intolerable. I have never owned a car where this was "normal," nor should it be considered normal. It's nerve wracking and frustrating to not have a wheel at completely dead center when tracking straight. Maybe I'm just too anal .

If the press fit to the control arm wasn't tight enough (for tolerance reasons, or the install went "bad") then you may have tweaked your caster. That would cause a pull for sure.

 

Can you take a look under the car and see if the PSRS is symmetrical between the left and right sides?

If the press fit to the control arm wasn't tight enough (for tolerance reasons, or the install went "bad") then you may have tweaked your caster. That would cause a pull for sure.

 

Can you take a look under the car and see if the PSRS is symmetrical between the left and right sides?

Well I came to realize it wasn't quite a "pull". If I release the wheel on a flat, straight stretch of road while avoiding the crown, the vehicle will track straight, but the wheel will be angled to the right. I hopped under the car to look at the PSRS bushings just to double check. It looks like they are pretty symmetrical on both sides. I tried to get pictures the best I could, but climbing under a car without a lift is somewhat difficult. Not to mention trying to hold a light and take a picture with a stupid camera phone.

 

Here is the driver side:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v287/rjs5689/1_DriverLCA.jpg

 

Here is the passenger side:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v287/rjs5689/1_PassLCA.jpg

 

I'm pretty sure the different angles the pictures were taken from makes it look like they are not totally symmetrical, but I hope they help a little bit.

I hate that! Getting a wheel alignment then shortly after hitting a big pothole or something... As much as most people would worry, you'd be surprised how little the wheel alignment goes out under such situations. It rather goes out through slight, gradual movement of the adjustable components over many miles.

 

I get my alignment done regularly since my friend has a workshop, and the alignment hardly changes even though I do it every 4-5,000Kms, even after the time I came off on the track and jumped a rumble strip doing over 60miles/hour.