car not driving straight

Euphoria1z

Hi

My car doesn't drive straight, if I hold the steering straight it goes to the right when speeding up.

I had a new tyre put on the front left. I also had 4 wheel alignment done.

The print out shows all green on the front, and 2 red on the rears , (one left and one right as there not adjustable cambers).

The thing is, it's only out by a tiny bit out, as in if I hold the steering wheel at the 11.59 position, then it goes straight. Should I take it back to the garage?
If I rapidly move the steering left and right then seems ok.

I haven't tried it on the motorway yet. Would posting the results help?

Would you take it back for such a small difference?

I suspect the steering may have only been 99% straight instead of a 100% when they locked the steering wheel. It was done on a hunter system.

I'm almost tempted to ignore it but after spending £46.....I don't know...

thanks

Iceweasel

What has happened is that they adjusted the steering by screwing in or out the track rod ends (or equivalent parts)

They have now probably got the tracking correct but the steering wheel off-centre.

Take it back and complain - all they need to do is screw one side in by perhaps half a turn and the other side out by the same amount and the steering wheel will be trued up again.

Of course which side needs 'in' and which side needs 'out is the question - if they get it wrong then the wheel will be even more off-centre.

Don't accept it until its spot on.

forgotmyname

If moving left and right alters the central position you may have play in the steering rack or balljoints etc.

Are you sure the rears are not adjustable?

Euphoria1z

forgotmyname wrote: »

If moving left and right alters the central position you may have play in the steering rack or balljoints etc.

Are you sure the rears are not adjustable?

I'm sure the guy said something in the rear isn't adjustable, can't remember what though.

Left front /// right front
Camber -0. 07 /// -0. 04
Castor 3.47 /// 3.34
Toe -0 .01 /// 0 .00

Total toe 0.00, steer ahead 0 .00 fronts all green.

Rear left /// rear right
Camber -1 .55 red /// -1 .57 red
Toe 0 .04 green /// 0 .05 green

Total toe 0 .09 green, thrust angle greyed out.

spira9

I had a horrible experience trying to get my car to drive in a straight line. Like you I had all greens on the paper except one which is the camber that they 'can't adjust'.

Afterwards lots of weird things would happen. Like I would turn to the left and the steering would swiftly pull itself to the left as if someone just grabbed the wheel. I would also hear a loud bang as if I mounted the kerb or something and my steering would be pulling again slightly. Then it would knock itself back into place after a while. It never really felt like the steering was back to normal.

If you take it back you will be charged more money for their mistake. What's worse is that when I had it done the print out showed they made it worse the first time.

arcon5

Did you have them investigate the issue before alignment? May not even be that

Strider590

Front toe should be slightly negative (toe in), toe out will cause it to feel "twitchy", it'll turn in very sharply and to wander slightly over minor bumps. On racing car, yes you'd want zero toe or maybe even slightly positive, but not on a road car.

Euphoria1z

Forgot to add, on the print out it says " the steering wheel is currently level".

I'm going to take it back, in a few days time and see if they can have another look.

I drove it on a national speed limit road and holding the steering dead straight, definitely makes the car go right. But it's still by a tiny amount, like 2 degrees. I hope it's not play in the ball joints or steering rack, that sounds expensive!

Also noticed when driving slowly, like crawling speed then it will drive straight, but when speeding up it will then end up going right?

angrycrow

Play in ball joints is not normally expensive to repair. Track rod ends are often under £10 and an hours labour easily covers the job.

If the car drives the same as before the alignment consider if the alignment was actually done. I once took my car to a well know national chain and watched them wave spanners under the car. I was still having trouble with the alignment so had a look myself. Found the offside ball joint worn out and the lock nut jammed solid with rust as it had not been touched in years. To say I was not impressed is an understatement.

If it is still not right take it back and politely request they do the job correctly.

bigjl

Some specialist garages can adjust camber using camber bolts.

But they would have to be a garage you can trust with access to decent alignment equipment like Hunter.

Joe_Horner

Euphoria1z wrote: »

Forgot to add, on the print out it says " the steering wheel is currently level".

I'm going to take it back, in a few days time and see if they can have another look.

I drove it on a national speed limit road and holding the steering dead straight, definitely makes the car go right. But it's still by a tiny amount, like 2 degrees. I hope it's not play in the ball joints or steering rack, that sounds expensive!

Also noticed when driving slowly, like crawling speed then it will drive straight, but when speeding up it will then end up going right?

That's quite likely to be a bush going soft on the n/s suspension rather than a tracking issue. When the car's stopped (as it is on the tracking kit) or driving slowly all the suspension sits in its "natural" position relative to the body.

But, as you put it under load by gaining speed / hard acceleration / hills etc the driving wheels try to move forward (obviously!) and drag the car along with them. That makes them try to turn inwards and it's only the suspension that stops them.

But, if you have a soft bush, the wheel on that side will be able to move slightly forwards and slightly in, which makes the car try to turn towards the opposite side.

Depending on the suspension design, lower wishbone or tie-bar bushes on the n/s would be favourites to check.