au2 xr8 pulling to left

[aufreddy]

Hey fellas Ive got an Au2 xr8 ute and it pulls hard to the left,its had 4-5 wheel alighnments and everything is spot on.I had it checked to see if it has been in a stack and it is very original,it has been shimmied up to max on the right and some on the left.It has 18"by8" with 245/40s on the front and 18/9 with 275s on the back.Around town its not to bad more speed the harder it wants to pull! Hope ya can help!!!! Thanx Freddy

[Whoosha]

Could be dodgey tyers ,have you tryed swapping side with the fronts?

[Sox]

Pulling is predominantly caused by different camber side to side, and to a lesser extent caster.
You need slightly more negative camber on the left side to compensate for the crown of the road.

If you've had several alignments, then we should be able to assume it's ok.

Obviously uneven tyre wear can cause it too, as it simulates different camber.
The rear tyres can also have an effect.

[Day-mow]

Worn joints? Is your steering wheel straight?

[mik]

how are the tyres wearing? where all wheel alignments done by the same mob?

[Link]

Id say tyres could be the cause as well - swap the fronts around and see if it pulls the other way

[svo supporter]

Post a copy of the alignment report up. This will help determining whether it's alignment settings or a tyre problem.

Having a stack of shims on the right doesn't look real promising either, hence my request.

[aufreddy]

Thanx for your replies guys the tyres are nangkangs I have taken it to 3 different aligners the shimmies were in it when I bought it,the right front wears well before the left.Do you think a change in tyre brand might do the trick or may be tyre width at the front? what do yas think?? Thanx again Freddy

[BHDOGS]

Could it of been crashed previously?

[Sox]

Originally Posted by aufreddy

Thanx for your replies guys the tyres are nangkangs I have taken it to 3 different aligners the shimmies were in it when I bought it,the right front wears well before the left.Do you think a change in tyre brand might do the trick or may be tyre width at the front? what do yas think?? Thanx again Freddy

245/40/18 are fine on the front, so no problem there.
I understand Nangkangs are ok, so no problem there either.

You say the front right is wearing faster than the left.
If it's wearing on the inside edge, this is a sign of too much negative camber (or toe-in, but that would wear both tyres inside edge).
This would also cause it to pull to the left, as like I said earlier, the left side should actually have slightly more negative camber than the right.

This sounds like it might have way too much negative on the right, though it should have been found during all the alignments it's had.

[svo supporter]

Originally Posted by Sox

245/40/18 are fine on the front, so no problem there.
I understand Nangkangs are ok, so no problem there either.

You say the front right is wearing faster than the left.
If it's wearing on the inside edge, this is a sign of too much negative camber (or toe-in, but that would wear both tyres inside edge).
This would also cause it to pull to the left, as like I said earlier, the left side should actually have slightly more negative camber than the right.

This sounds like it might have way too much negative on the right, though it should have been found during all the alignments it's had.

If the inside edge is wearing on the right front, it's either a negative camber issue, or too much toe out. If it's toeing out slightly, only the right front will feather the inside edge, rather than both tyres.

Reading into what the OP's writing, I'm coming to the conclusion, the right hand front tyre has inside edge wear, which is causing the car to pull left. To fix, swap the left and right fronts side to side.

Now any chance of that elusive alignment report? Might be able to kill 2 birds with one stone.

[Sox]

Originally Posted by svo supporter

If the inside edge is wearing on the right front, it's either a negative camber issue, or too much toe out.

That's what I just said....

If it's toeing out slightly, only the right front will feather the inside edge, rather than both tyres.

Incorrect toe effects both tyres, not just one.

Reading into what the OP's writing, I'm coming to the conclusion, the right hand front tyre has inside edge wear, which is causing the car to pull left. To fix, swap the left and right fronts side to side.

It's unlikely to be the tyres from what he just described in his last post about tyre wear.
Swapping tyres may be a temporary fix because of the current wear, but the root cause will likely be too much negative camber on the right front

[ronwest]

My AU always pulled to the left.

I'd had at least 6 different wheel alignments done over a couple years.

Finally got to a wheel aligner who had a clue and problem was fixed.

[svo supporter]

Originally Posted by Sox

That's what I just said....
Re-read your previous quote
Incorrect toe effects both tyres, not just one.
Slight toe in or toe out effects only one
It's unlikely to be the tyres from what he just described in his last post about tyre wear.
Swapping tyres may be a temporary fix because of the current wear, but the root cause will likely be too much negative camber on the right front

Yes, quite possible, hence my request for a report o be posted up. Saves clutching at straws.

[Sox]

Originally Posted by svo supporter

Re-read your previous quote

Bugger, that should have read -
If it's wearing on the inside edge, this is a sign of too much negative camber (or not enough toe-in, but that would wear both tyres inside edge).

Slight toe in or toe out effects only one

Not in my experience, and others it seems -
(Reference - http://www.familycar.com/alignment.htm)

Toe-in

The toe measurement is the difference in the distance between the front of the tires and the back of the tires. It is measured in fractions of an inch in the US and is usually set close to zero which means that the wheels are parallel with each other. Toe-in means that the fronts of the tires are closer to each other than the rears. Toe-out is just the opposite. An incorrect toe-in will cause rapid tire wear to both tires equally. This type of tire wear is called a saw-tooth wear pattern as shown in this illustration.

If the sharp edges of the tread sections are pointing to the center of the car, then there is too much toe-in. If they are pointed to the outside of the car then there is too much toe-out. Toe is always adjustable on the front wheels and on some cars, is also adjustable for the rear wheels.

Yes, quite possible, hence my request for a report o be posted up. Saves clutching at straws.

Agreed.

[svo supporter]

Originally Posted by Sox

Bugger, that should have read -
If it's wearing on the inside edge, this is a sign of too much negative camber (or not enough toe-in, but that would wear both tyres inside edge).

Not in my experience, and others it seems -
(Reference - http://www.familycar.com/alignment.htm)

Toe-in

The toe measurement is the difference in the distance between the front of the tires and the back of the tires. It is measured in fractions of an inch in the US and is usually set close to zero which means that the wheels are parallel with each other. Toe-in means that the fronts of the tires are closer to each other than the rears. Toe-out is just the opposite. An incorrect toe-in will cause rapid tire wear to both tires equally. This type of tire wear is called a saw-tooth wear pattern as shown in this illustration.

If the sharp edges of the tread sections are pointing to the center of the car, then there is too much toe-in. If they are pointed to the outside of the car then there is too much toe-out. Toe is always adjustable on the front wheels and on some cars, is also adjustable for the rear wheels.


Agreed.

Of course, the link you provided has to be right, as to how toe causes tyre wear issues. Must remember that next time I have a car in with slight feathering problems on a particular tyre.

For what it is worth, I do suspect a camber issue, as I have previously touched on. Fair enough I didn't spell it out, but it's there if you look.

Hopefully the report pops up soon so we can try and solve this problem.

[Sox]

Originally Posted by svo supporter

Of course, the link you provided has to be right, as to how toe causes tyre wear issues.

I actually didn't say the link must be right, I used it as it supports my own findings.
Whilst I don't do wheel alignments for a living, I have been doing them since around 1992 and haven't needed to have a car taken in to a shop since then.

My experience has shown that toe effects both tyres equally.

Anyway, We can agree to disagree.

[aufreddy]

Gday fellas didnt mean to cause an arguement and thanx very much for your input!!! Both tyres have been swapped went for a shrt cruise up the street and it still seems to be wandering,both tyres had no sign of uneven wear as of yet its going back in for another goe at fixing the problem and will try and get a copy of the report! like I said before I had the car checked and measured and the car is straight! Hey ronwest what did they do to rectify the prob in your AU? Hope he gets it right this time!!! Freddy

[svo supporter]

Originally Posted by Sox

I actually didn't say the link must be right, I used it as it supports my own findings.
Whilst I don't do wheel alignments for a living, I have been doing them since around 1992 and haven't needed to have a car taken in to a shop since then.

My experience has shown that toe effects both tyres equally.

Anyway, We can agree to disagree.

Isn't that funny, you don't do them for a living, yet you're experience says both front show the effects....

Strangely, I do them for a crust and have for the last 20 odd years and comment accordingly. I just don't use the interweb to support my knowledge.

[Sox]

Originally Posted by svo supporter

Isn't that funny, you don't do them for a living, yet you're experience says both front show the effects....

Strangely, I do them for a crust and have for the last 20 odd years and comment accordingly. I just don't use the interweb to support my knowledge.

Are you being intentionally argumentative or do you have a comprehension problem?

Yes, I said I don't do alignments for a living.
Yes, I said my experience shows the effects I claimed.

What that means is I have vast experience aligning my own vehicles and have done so for the last 20 years or so.
The reason for this is because I lost faith in the professionals doing the job unsatisfactorily.

Just because I don't do it for a living does not mean I have no knowledge of it.

My info did not come from the WWW, it's what I've learnt over the years from trial and error.
I simply used the WWW reference in a previous post to confirm what I'd already stated.

In a nutshell, I believe you're wrong, you believe I'm wrong.
In my last post I said lets agree to disagree. Can you do that?

Moving on now.....

[JC]

To the OP - if the car is still "wandering", sounds to me like a worn bush or three issue. The place doing your alignment should be picking this up though - if they're not, then change aligners.

[Sox]

Originally Posted by aufreddy

Gday fellas didnt mean to cause an arguement and thanx very much for your input!!! Both tyres have been swapped went for a shrt cruise up the street and it still seems to be wandering,both tyres had no sign of uneven wear as of yet its going back in for another goe at fixing the problem and will try and get a copy of the report! like I said before I had the car checked and measured and the car is straight! Hey ronwest what did they do to rectify the prob in your AU? Hope he gets it right this time!!! Freddy

If it's still pulling with the tyres swapped, then that points even more to a camber difference.

You can do a quick and dirty test yourself if you have a very flat and level concrete driveway and a good accurate 600mm (2ft) spirit level.

Drive the car onto the level concrete with the steering pointed exactly straight ahead. Come to a gentle stop when doing this to allow the wheels to stop in a natural relaxed state (a sudden stop will initially compress the suspension, allowing the wheels to sit 'unrelaxed' (this isn't a problem in a workshop where skid plates are used)).

Position the spirit level vertically on each front tyre, just in front of behind the centre line so the bulge at the bottom of the tyre doesn't skew the reading.

This won't tell you how much camber you have, but you will be able to determine whether unevenness from side to side exists.

Some negative camber is what you want. That means the spirit level will need to lean in towards the car at the top. It doesn't really matter how much at this stage.

What we want is for the passenger side wheel to have a frag more negative camber (top of wheel leaning inwards).
This is done to compensate for the crown of our roads, otherwise it will almost always pull to the left.

My gut feeling, and from all the info you've provided, suggests you have much more negative camber on the drivers side.


Beyond all of the above, even different castor from side to side can effect pulling. But we'll cover the easier thing to measure first.

[Sox]

Originally Posted by JC

To the OP - if the car is still "wandering", sounds to me like a worn bush or three issue. The place doing your alignment should be picking this up though - if they're not, then change aligners.

You'd imagine the previous aligners would have checked for all of that, but then they should know if the camber is out of whack too.
Something funny is going on here, that's for certain.

[Whoosha]

Guys first and last chance... if you have nothing constructive left to add leave it alone

[svo supporter]

Seeing as the OP has stated, there seems to be a stack more shims on the right, compared to the left, that really points to where the problem actually exists. So hopefully the report does get put up to solve the problem.