Pulling to the left

sebastianj

I suffered from this problem for three months, found out that I was loosing Air in one tyre rear passenger side. Nothing wrong with the tyre, needed to be resealed, then it was ok.
seb

Joe_Horner

Despite common beliefs, front wheel tracking is one of the least likely possible causes of a pull to one side. Too much toe in will make the steering heavy, and too little (or too much toe out) will make it light and vague.

But if the suspension is otherwise in good condition it will still self-centre to average the mis-adjustment equally on both sides. You'll find that the steering wheel is off-centre but the car will still run straight with your hands off the wheel.

If having the car tracked appears to correct a pull to either side then it's indicative of other faults with the suspension, such as bushes or bent bits or bad rear tracking on a RWD car, which are preventing it self-centring correctly or "pushing" the car into a turn.

Far more likely is a slightly binding brake or a tyre problem, but why sell someone just those when you can sell them tracking as well?

[Deleted User]

dacouch wrote: »

When I saw the thread title I assumed it would be about the Labour Party and Jeremy Corbyn

Left is best

Richard53

My first check would be tyres. My Mondeo gradually started pulling to the left and as I had not long bought it from a Ford dealer I took it back and asked them to look at it. The guy took one look at the tyres (correct pressures, about half-worn, with no odd wear pattern) and said "get some new tyres on the front and we will look at it - no point otherwise". A few weeks later, I did replace the tyres and - lo and behold - it tracked straight again. Perhaps some cars are just very sensitive to slight imbalances in the tyres.

bigjl

Get a proper alignment check done by a garage with proper equipment such as Hunter.

I think you can go to the Hunter website and find a centre near you.

They usually check for free then show you the report before they do any adjustments.

I have bought more than one car brand new and had the geometry done and it was off.

Few main dealers have proper alignment equipment.

And having the tracking done is largely pointless if there is a problem such as yours.

I wouldn't have thought tyres could cause it on a car with relatively small tyres like a Polo.

But if you have the time nothing can be lost by swapping them (as mentioned as long as the tyres are kept properly positioned if they are directional.

keith1950

The OP doesn't specify how bad this " pull to the left " is. Most cars will gradually move slightly to the left over a distance of 50-100 yards.
In fact most manufacturers design a very slight gradual movement towards the nearside kerb for safety reasons.

I think the OP needs to explain more before everyone jumps to a multitude of conclusions.

pendragon_arther

Plus wheel balancing might be out.

Iceweasel

keith1950 wrote: »

In fact most manufacturers design a very slight gradual movement towards the nearside kerb for safety reasons.

Moving to the left slightly is due to the camber of the road - even a very slight camber will have this effect - probably un-noticed until you take your hands off the wheel on what you think is a flat camber-free road.

All roads have camber to allow rain to drain off to the sides - even an airport runways does.

I doubt it is anything designed into the car by the manufacturer - unless they are so clever that the car knows when I cross the channel and switches to moving right slightly.

Strider590

When you hold it straight, is the wheel straight?

In all likelihood you've simply got uneven toe on each side. Even a few mm can make all the difference and most "technicians" can't be bothered or don't have time to get the job spot on, especially at dealerships that are "target driven".

You can check it yourself very easily if you have a perfectly level surface, with little more than two poles, some axle stands, string (or fishing wire) and a ruler Google "string method tracking". Done right, this method is more accurate than even the most expensive alignment machines.

bigjl

Strider590 wrote: »

When you hold it straight, is the wheel straight?

In all likelihood you've simply got uneven toe on each side. Even a few mm can make all the difference and most "technicians" can't be bothered or don't have time to get the job spot on, especially at dealerships that are "target driven".

You can check it yourself very easily if you have a perfectly level surface, with little more than two poles, some axle stands, string (or fishing wire) and a ruler Google "string method tracking". Done right, this method is more accurate than even the most expensive alignment machines.

That method may have worked 20/30 yrs ago.

But these days you need a proper alignment check with proper gear.

You can have pull to one side with only a tiny geometry problem.

There is no point going to a main dealer for this.

Take it to a specialist, as indeed most main dealers do.

I had inside edge wear on an Omega and after tracking I took it to Vauxhall to see if they could adjust it.

They told me to take it to a specialist a few miles away as that was where they took vehicles with tyre wear or other alignment issues first.

That car never wore its tyres funny again and I have used that place ever since (Caveat with that is the manager started his own place a few miles away and I now use them instead)

Whenever I have bought a Subaru I had the specialist, Elite in Rainham, Essex (Now Tyre Shop in E17) do Prodrive geometry settings to dial out a Subarus dialled in understeer.