For quite some time now, I've been trying to resolve a drift/pull to the right. It's not a hard pull, but I'm a stickler for straight tracking. My wife doesn't notice it, but I definitely do. If I take my hands off the wheel, the car will start to drift right after a short bit. Interestingly, when I brake, the car seems to straighten out, and even go a bit to the left sometimes if I've been compensating for the drift to the right, does that make sense?

'01, MN6, F45, all stock components, stock height, Firehawk run-flats, stock rims

Anyway, I've been to 5 different shops - two dealers, and 3 different tire/alignment shops, and they all say the car's alignment seems to be fine, and they've all even tweaked it here and there to try and resolve the problem. I've looked at every component I can think of, and even took a laser thermometer to the wheel center caps, and calipers, thinking that maybe a dragging caliper or worn wheel bearing might be a contributing factor, but temps on all four wheels are virtually the same. I've had the car up and spun wheels, and tried rocking them, but all seems fine.

I've even had the rims swapped from side to side to see if that might give us a sign, but no change. The only change was a test of desperation by a knowledgable tire guy, when we mounted the wheels so the tread rotated backward when he was diagnosing for a tire pull. Interestingly, the car pulled hard left, so we were almost certain it was that tire. Under warranty, Firestone ended up replacing all 4 tires, one at a time, to try and resolve the issue.

Then it dawned on me that C5's have adjustable heights, right? Well, what would happen if the car is not level? Might that cause the car to not track straight? That might explain why when on an alignment rack, everything checks out, as far as caster, camber and toe, but under load maybe the car is leaning down onto the right front, thereby the uneven distribution of weight causes the pull to the right?

Does anyone know if this is possible? If so, at what points of the car do you measure to check height? And, what is the height supposed to be? Higher in the back than the front?

Or is it possible that the particular batch or brand of tires I'm running may be bad, even though all four have been replaced? One dealership claims it's the tires, because they put brand-new wheels from an '04 on it and said it drove straight as an arrow. Of course, I didn't get to see that because only their tech drove it.

I know, alot of questions, but it appears this forum would be the best place to address these sorts of questions, because God knows, the 5 places I went to seem to have no clue.

Thanks for any and all ideas.

 

Roads "tilt" to the shoulder from the middle, so rain can run off.. This causes the car to pull to the right (or at least that's what one "alignment" specialist told me).

Kinda makes sense if you think about it. Could this be the problem?

JCR_Indy

 

Exactly what I was thinking, be really easy to test it too... just drive on the left hand lane all the way into work one day

 

I'm well aware of what road crown is, but that's not the problem. Remember, I've been dealing with this over time, so I've checked out all obvious possibilites already. But, thanks for trying.

Any other ideas?

 

The question is: When am I not in the left passing lane?

Hint: See my username on the left.

 

Could be tire pressure, tire wear (likely) or alignment. I would check in thaqt order and attack them as necessary.

How many miles on your Z50's?

 

If you look at my original post, you'll see that the basics (and more) have already been addressed. If were that easy, I would've licked the problem by now.

About 1,000 miles now. I have noticed that unlike other brand tires, the Firehawks look narrower, and are rounder at the edges than the Goodyear runflats and DS3s, and even other non-runflats. I've often wondered if that rounder tire design may contribute to the sensitivity of the tire, thus the tire over-reacts to changes in the road, but I doubt it, because the ONLY time I can get the car not to drift right is if I drive on a road that is obviously crowned to the left, which or course, results in a left drift. But even on flat roads the car tends to go right.

 

Sounds like you are on the right track......just trying to be thorough.

It would bother the snot out of me too. I think that now I might have the alignment checked. Good Luck !

 

I'm assuming that the car tracked correctly at one point and this started to happen after the firestones were put on. The wheels should be fine, as should be the steering/suspension also, since running opposite rotation pulled to the left instead. Best guess is tires, if you could get the dealer to put on another set, like he said he did previously, and let you drive the car, that would narrow it right down. Sounds like you already spent time at different places, so whats to lose? Having a car not track right sux, good luck

 

Any car, no matter how well aligined, is going to gradualy wander off to the right due to the road crown. How do you test for that? Only way I know of is to find a perfectly flat road. But as far as I know thay don't build any roads like that. If the road crown was the same on all the roads then you could build in a slight pull to the left. But since all crowns are not the same, even that would not work. I have never seen a car that eventualy would not end up moving somewhat to the right.

 

I agree. At times it feels like mine wants to pull one way or the other. It tracks straight most of the time.

Overkill on the diagnostics - IMHO

 

I was just thinking about this... *damn you for getting this stuck in my head*

Is there any chance that the weight of the driver is adjusting the alignment? Maybe next time it's down at the shop getting aligned you try asking them if they can do it while you're sitting in the drivers seat

 

How closely is your caster matched? I have found a caster difference side to side results in a pull.

I doubt ride height as anything to do with it. When ride height is off, corner weights will be off. Corner weight is important, but in corner weight you want cross weights to add up to the same (eg. LF+RR=RF+LR). I have had side to side corner weights off by over a hundred pounds but no pull. A quick way to check ride height, is on a very level floor measure the ground to the frame behind the front wheels and in front of the rear wheels. Side to side should be close and rear should be about 1/2" higher than the front (for a little aerodynamic rake).

Understand you said you checked for this, but road crown really does make a big difference. My car will pull right all day long on most two lane roads but if I drive down the centerline, it will be fine.

Good luck sorting it out.

 

[QUOTE=Vette-Dream]I was just thinking about this... *damn you for getting this stuck in my head*

Is there any chance that the weight of the driver is adjusting the alignment? Maybe next time it's down at the shop getting aligned you try asking them if they can do it while you're sitting in the drivers seat [/QUOTE

Mine pulls to the right also.....but only when 2 people are in it. I never had or noticed a pull at all untill a few months ago. My son was driving, I was in the passenger seat, heading south on I-95. He complained it was pulling to the right, something I never noticed b4. A few days later. on the same road, alone, it didn't pull. I've since "checked" this again, with and without a passenger. It does make a difference.