Frag

My car was good driving, never ever thought about it pulling left or right. It had some looseness of the lower controls arms so I changed the lower control arms front right and left at which point I knew I would need an alignment. So took it to a local shop and they did a 4 wheel alignment. I immediately noticed it drifted/ pulled

right. I called and brought it back a week later which is today. They said they put it on the machine and all is within spec so it is the tires that are the problem. They said the front tires have too different of tread depth between the right and left. So I told them I was going to switch out the left and right at home and see if it pulled left. I switched it out but feels exactly the same pulling right. So I called back and asked if I just got all new tires would it track straight and the tech said I’d need another alignment if I got 4 new tires. I told him he said it measured within spec so how could that be? Am I missing something or are they wrong?

Striker2237

The printout shows it will pull left.....can they not read?

Frag

Thanks, but help me out here, how can you tell from the printout? The toe?

Striker2237

Yes, it's biased to the left. That is a setting that if nothing else is very easy to set to zero, are the touching the rear at all btw? Generally speaking all adjustments that can be done to the rear should be done first then you finish with the front, on these cars there aren't many settings though. Check your upper arms as well, they are critical for steering solidity and normally wear out before the lowers do so if you haven't checked them do so

Frag

Yes they called it a "4 Wheel European Alignment" for $175.00 so I assume they did the rear too. I have visually checked the upper arms and to my inexperienced eye they looked fine ( the ball joint boots). The tech did mention after I took it back to them that the upper arms should be on my radar for replacement. But if the uppers are anything like the lowers I'm not looking forward to that job. Especially the infamous frozen pinch bolt.

Striker2237

The ball joint is rarely the thing that wears out, it's almost always the bushings

Frag

Got new tires installed. Still pulls right exactly the same way. So it isn't the tires like they were claiming.

Sleeper8

That's a bummer on the tires, but at least you have eliminated that possibility. Just for clarification about pulling to the right, which of the two following conditions is the case:

If you let go of the steering wheel with it going straight down the lane it veers off to the right immediately?

OR

Is the steering wheel just not on center when heading straight down a level road?

Frag

If I let go of the wheel it drifts right. It drifts right from the right lane, center lane, left lane. No matter where on the road/highway it drifts right. I have to constantly put a little pressure on the steering wheel to the left to go straight.

A8L_New_England

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Maybe try a different shop. They could have an equipment setup problem.
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