My Troubled Cars Pt1: The Wife's Corsa pulling to the left

Shawn_Dark

Update to all who posted a comment/reply:

It was the tyre causing the problem. We tested the spare and the car has been fine, no pulling. Simple!

Joe_Horner

Tracking is a rare cause of pulling to one side. The effects you'll usually get from bad tracking are (in order of likeliness) uneven tyre wear (inner or outer edges of front tyres wearing fast),.either "heavy" or "light" steering, wandering to both sides and and vibration.

CV joints won't cause a pull to the side unless they're almost seized and CV boots certainly won't. If the boot's split then it needs doing anyway but don't waste time with a "glue-on-in-place" boot because you'll be doing it again within a month or two. They're a quick bodge to get through an MOT. If it's a small split then superglue it closed again.

Almost all cases of pulling come down to tyres (pressures, sizes or - very rarely - incompatible brands) or brakes binding. If the same tyres have been ok together in the past, and the pressures are ok, then it's probably the brakes. If it "drifts" to the left but the steering wheel stays straight then suspect the rear on the side it's pulling towards. If the steering wheel tries to turn itself towards the direction it's pulling then suspect the front on that side.

Joe_Horner

Ok, maybe I shouldn't get distracted in the middle of a post next time Told you it wouldn't be tracking or Cv joint though

Shawn_Dark

It still has a high pitched noise that comes after driving for a while (e.g. twenty minutes). It seems to get louder the longer it goies on. If you turn the wheel left or right (or hit the brake pdeal) it seems to stop (i.e whilst you do it).

I think it's something to do with the brake discs/pads/calipers sticking.

Crabman

Abu_Yoosha wrote: »

It still has a high pitched noise that comes after driving for a while (e.g. twenty minutes). It seems to get louder the longer it goies on. If you turn the wheel left or right (or hit the brake pdeal) it seems to stop (i.e whilst you do it).

I think it's something to do with the brake discs/pads/calipers sticking.

If you want a free check visit one of these centres, they do a print out of all the different alignments on your wheels:

http://www.alignmycar.co.uk/

My local garage has the Hunter system (website shows how it's different) and they're happy to put the car on the machine and do a print out for free, it should be a no obligation check but it's best to make sure before you take it in.

Some garages still use the laser tracking where they attach clips to the four wheels, but this assumes the rear wheels are straight and this isn't always the case.

With regard to the noise when driving, the only thing I can think of other than what you've already mentioned is wheel bearings, but I'm not sure they'd make a high pitched noise, it would be more like the noise of a bowling ball rolling towards the pins.

[Deleted User]

Is it always pulling to the left, or only during braking?