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Car still pulls right after alignment?


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So I'm pretty puzzled as I got new wheels and tires. Had the tires properly mounted and balanced and even got 2 alignments (the second from a reputable shop with some crazy looking Hunter alignment machine).

 

My car pulled to the right with my old wheels and tires and still pulls about the same to the right with my new wheels, tires, and alignment. It almost seems like the steering wheel is just off-center since when it's straight, my car goes right.

 

Any ideas for things to check before I go back to the alignment shop?

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Verified tire pressure to be the same between two sides right? If it's not that, check your swaybar endlinks.

 

Are your lower control arm rearward bushings shot?

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/05%20LGT/Suspension/Front%20LCA/Rear%20Bushing/CIMG0524.jpg~original

 

 

Last thing is the shock, it could be shot and underdampaning.

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Tire pressure is even. I'll take a look at the swaybar end-links and also the rear control arm bushings. Hope it's not my shocks since I have KW V2's but it might be nearing time for a rebuild.

 

I also find it weird that when I make a left turn/lane change, my steering wheel snaps back to 12 o'clock pretty sharply. When I make a right turn/lane change, my steering wheel turns back much slower and seemingly more controlled (I prefer this feel over the quick snap-back from a left turn).

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Make sure to check the front lower control arm rearward bushing, not rear control arm bushing :).

 

Might be your steering rack, was the car ever in a wreck?

 

Got it, thanks! I'm not too knowledgeable on suspension parts as I've never really messed with them before other than installing/removing coilovers. I'll try to see if I can locate the rearward bushing. What are signs that it is bad?

 

I bought the car from the original owner and it does have quite a few miles on it at ~143,000. I was told it was never in any major accident, only a minor hit with damage to the front bumper. It was inspected by a Subaru dealership before I purchased it with no such issues noted (then again, not sure how much you can really trust them).

 

I'll be having my brakes worked on soon and will most likely ask them to take a look at my suspension parts/shocks and also check the steering rack. I'm guessing there must be some issue with the steering rack since it seems like the car wants to pull right because the steering wheel wants to turn right.

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Food for thought:

 

Are your KWv2s evenly adjusted for height and dampening, any varrience could be your issue. Did you do upgraded ball joints and rods to account for being lower?

 

I adjusted them as evenly as I could height-wise and also adjusted the rears and fronts to the same clicks dampening wise (4 from soft in the front and 3 from soft in the rear).

 

I did not upgrade any ball joints or tie rods. I'd hate to have to spend $$$ to replace the ball joints, tie rods, LCA bushings, and/or wheel bearings if none of them are the culprit.

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also food for thought.... most roads have a crown to them from left to right even a car with perfect alignment will still typically pull slightly to the right on those roads.

 

Yup I factored that in. Drove my Infinity and my Legacy on the same roads and the Legacy clearly has a pretty strong pull to the right. Something is amiss with the suspension/steering. I don't think any bushings or bearings have been replaced and the car has seen a lot of highway miles.

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  • 5 years later...

Hello im from Sweden with a Legacy 3.0 07 and having the same problem as you have.

See this is a old thread and as usual no conclution what the problem was.

So are you still here and can tell what problem you had?

 

I have new tyres,rims , rotors , calipers , brakecylinders , wheelbearings struts springs ...well all those parts and bushings are new in the front.

Well not the cv axles.

When going straight i must hold the steeringwheel about 5° left, if i let it go my legacy will go right.

If i drive on the opposit side of road (left) my car going straight if let sterringwheel go.

I have noticed my legacy is very sensetive of how much the road lean.

 

If driving slow and turn left and let go it will center as normal.

If driving and turn right it will center slow when letting it go.

Edited by Starlite
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Do you have the alignment printout? It sounds like they messed up the alignment. My guess would be the right side has less negative camber which essentially causes the car to pull in that direction. They may have not aligned the steering wheel prior to adjusting the toe.
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The rear camber is messed up. It looks like the spec changed over .5° which is quite drastic. I dont think the .2° difference in the front camber would cause the type of pull you're experiencing but it would be nice to at least see them the same on both sides. It's strange that the specs can be that out of whack and the thrustvinkel (stealing this word!) is still 0. Edited by 08SpecB_DE
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  • 5 months later...
Have you figured it out? I'm having pretty much the exact same issue. Just finished getting an alignment, and there's still some pull. It was a LOT worse a couple days ago when I had new wheel bearings put in. Now after the alignment it's back to about the same pull as before the bearings were replaced Edited by Mrlisterfiendz
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It is normal for these cars to have a slight pull to the right side on most roads because of the crown in the pavement, which helps the rain water flow to the side.

 

On a three lane highway my cars will sometimes pull to the left on the left lane.

 

It is had to find a truly flat road.

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Here's one potential that I didn't see mentioned. I've had a bearing seize in the top hat, such that it would no loner rotate when the steering wheel was turned. Instead, the spring wound up in the direction where the wheel was turning, and would occasionally pop over to a new position in the spring seat as it unwound.

 

What ended up happening, though, is I would notice random pull in one direction or the other depending on which way I had last turned the wheel, because the spring would wind up, pop over to a new position, and then wind up in the opposite direction when I straightened the wheel out.

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  • 2 weeks later...

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