Car Pull To The Side - Corolland: the Toyota Corolla Forums

Hi.

A copule weeks ago I put new Michelins on my car. In a few days I noticed that car pulls to the left at speed 40 and up. I went to check an aligment, toe angle on rear right and front left was out. Aligment was corected, but car kept pulling. I went back to tire shop and they replaced both front tires. Car still pulls.

I did not notice any pull with old tires and tires were eqully worn out. I scheduled to recheck an aligment, but I'm still proplexed about the cause. I did not remeber hitting any potholes, curbs,etc.. Wheel are ok.

Tires: Michelin Destiny 185/65

Old tires BF Goodrich Precept - POS

Thanks for any advise.

Since the tires were in decent shape (brand new) - I'd say that the alignment was off. I've seen some places have to align a car three or four times before it would cure a pulling problem.

It may be the case of something else going bad - wheel bearing, strut or spring is weak, suspension weak or binding somewhere, etc. A good shop will check these first before they do an align job.

Flipping the wheels from left to right (for non-directional tires) will tell you if it is a wheel issue or tire. Will pull the opposite direction if it is. Same goes for swapping back and front - will get worse one way or the other if it is a tire/wheel issue.

As long as the tires were mounted correctly and properly balanced (at least spin balance - force variation balance isbetter) - I'd blame a missed align job.

Old tires that were worn evenly shows that the car did not have a alignment issue before. Most places that mount new tires also recommend an alignment - this usually makes everything worse. If the old alignment was OK - you don't need a realignment unless you smacked a curb or something.

Feel across the tread of the tires - if there is any signs of feathering or cupping - then it is a missed align job or worn components.

Good Luck.

I did cross the tires, did not help. So I'm thinking of bad aligment.

Thanks

My problem got fixed. Turned out that steering whell was not in "true zero".

My problem got fixed. Turned out that steering whell was not in "true zero".

Unbelievable....

How was it determined that the steering wheel wasn't zeroed? How was the problem corrected? Is there a way to re-center the steering wheel which is independent of the wheel alignment procedure? I always thought that the centering of the steering wheel was directly related to the alignment of the wheels, and that was the only way to correct the situation. If the steering wheel can be "skewed" without affecting alignment, I'd like to know how!

BTW, my Corolla does not have this problem, but I know a lot of other people with vehicles that do!

Guest dlichterman

yeah i need to 'center' my wheel on my 98

I always thought that the centering of the steering wheel was directly related to the alignment of the wheels, and that was the only way to correct the situation.

Larry, that's right. But if you used to drive a car with s/wheel in zero, and after aligment it is of to the right, you will try to keep the wheeel in center possition, causing you car drift to the left. So I went back, they acknolodge the problem, I put s/wheel myself in zero, they realign the car. Now it drives straight as the train