Car pulling to the left

mac09

Car started to pull to the left recently and seems to be getting worse. had two new tyres put on the front last friday (obviously balanced as well). car drove fine after they were fitted and started to pull on saturday. passed nct early this week but problem is bothering me now. Its a ford mondeo mk 3. Im aware it could be a number of things such as wheel allignment, tie rod, etc. Im hoping its not the sterring rack. tyre pressure is correct

Anyone encountered anything similar to this?

metzengerstein

mac09 wrote: »

Car started to pull to the left recently and seems to be getting worse. had two new tyres put on the front last friday (obviously balanced as well). car drove fine after they were fitted and started to pull on saturday. passed nct early this week but problem is bothering me now. Its a ford mondeo mk 3. Im aware it could be a number of things such as wheel allignment, tie rod, etc. Im hoping its not the sterring rack. tyre pressure is correct

Anyone encountered anything similar to this?

yea ive the same problem,and my both inner track rods im told need replacing so this is most likely the problem ,well i hope ,will see when i get it fixed

Moanin

mac09 wrote: »

Car started to pull to the left recently and seems to be getting worse. had two new tyres put on the front last friday (obviously balanced as well). car drove fine after they were fitted and started to pull on saturday. passed nct early this week but problem is bothering me now. Its a ford mondeo mk 3. Im aware it could be a number of things such as wheel allignment, tie rod, etc. Im hoping its not the sterring rack. tyre pressure is correct

Anyone encountered anything similar to this?

I'd say you need to get them tracked especially after getting new tyres.

Iron Hide

Yep trackings yer problem, any mechanic'll do it..

Moanin

Red Storm wrote: »

Yep trackings yer problem, any mechanic'll do it..

I would bring it to a place that has the machine to do it to be honest.It's more accurate imo

mac09

yeah i thought allignment was the problem too but the thats one one of the first thing thats checked in the nct and its the first to appear on the printout. mine was perfect on the front axle and -8m/km on the rear. i havent hit any potholes or naything else since nct and problem has gotten marginally worse. am concerned it is something worse than simple allignment. any thought?

Moanin

mac09 wrote: »

yeah i thought allignment was the problem too but the thats one one of the first thing thats checked in the nct and its the first to appear on the printout. mine was perfect on the front axle and -8m/km on the rear. i havent hit any potholes or naything else since nct and problem has gotten marginally worse. am concerned it is something worse than simple allignment. any thought?

I was getting my car tracked a few weeks ago and the guy tracking it told me that in the NCT they only check the "Toe" for tracking i.e. that's when you accelerate and take your hands off the wheel, the car should not veer left nor right.Thats what he said. I don't know how true it is? So your car could still be out.Personally I always get my car tracked after replacing tyres.

Green Hornet

Moanin wrote: »

I'd say you need to get them tracked especially after getting new tyres.

Could never understand this. Why would getting new tyres affect the alignment? Would the hubs not still be oriented the same way irrespective of the tyres? Just wondering.

Midnight_EG

Green Hornet wrote: »

Could never understand this. Why would getting new tyres affect the alignment? Would the hubs not still be oriented the same way irrespective of the tyres? Just wondering.

Thread depth, tyre shape, tyre size and profile make a difference

slimjimmc

Midnight_EG wrote: »

Thread depth, tyre shape, tyre size and profile make a difference

Plus your suspension has worn a bit more and the alignment would have taken a few knocks since the last tyre change.

Gallant_JJ

Excuse my ignorance, but is there much difference in tracking and allignment? Cost wise?

Midnight_EG

Gallant_JJ wrote: »

Excuse my ignorance, but is there much difference in tracking and allignment? Cost wise?

Tracking is just making your wheels go straight after new tyres have gone on. This is done by adding weights to the wheels.
Alignment is done when the wheels are on the car, and your car is clearly going the way it shouldn't i.e. swaying left.
Mechanics adjust the toe and camber(if you have camber adjusters) and try set it right.

And no need for excuses, not everybody knows mechanics, be it a lot or a little.

Fishtits

Midnight_EG wrote: »

Tracking is just making your wheels go straight after new tyres have gone on. This is done by adding weights to the wheels.
Alignment is done when the wheels are on the car, and your car is clearly going the way it shouldn't i.e. swaying left.
Mechanics adjust the toe and camber(if you have camber adjusters) and try set it right.

Just to clarify:

The wheels on your car are not necessarily parallel with one another and perfectly vertical. By design manufacturers have specifications that decide what direction they point in relation to one another.

Tracking refers to how the wheels are aligned if you were looking down on the car from above, ie the front wheels on a FWD car usually point out at the front, this is called Toe Out (or Toe In) if they point inwards.

Balancing involved placing weights on a wheel rim at the right place, this stops vibration and wobble. This is usually carried out on a machine that spins the wheel and after you have tyres fitted for example.

Camber refers to the tilt seen on a wheel when viewed from the front or rear ie the bottom of the wheel is further out than the top (Negative Camber)

There are other angles but these are the ones that have been mentioned.

Not all cars are fully adjustable.

If these angles are out of alignment, ie not in accordance with the manufacturers specification, it can lead to strange handling, increased tyre wear and other problems.

Green Hornet

Midnight_EG wrote: »

Thread depth, tyre shape, tyre size and profile make a difference

But how will thread depth, shape etc. affect an alignment jig? Surely the hubs will still point exactly as they did before the tyres were changed?

mac09

update: had 4 wheel alignment done today, everything checked prior to this and problem still exists. Printout shows that front was perfect before alignment and rear was out a bit. mechanic is going to look at it after xmas, subframe may have moved a bit.

slimjimmc

Green Hornet wrote: »

But how will thread depth, shape etc. affect an alignment jig? Surely the hubs will still point exactly as they did before the tyres were changed?

I think he's referring to rolling dynamics. Tyres are not perfectly round, and manufacturing tolerances mean that the internals of the tyre structure are not 100% identical in every tyre. As a result every tyre has a tendency to pull to one side or the other. If both tyres on the same axle pull in the same general direction or one pulls much more than the other then your car will side-slip in that direction. The trick is to fit two tyres which run straight or at least pull in opposite directions equally, thereby canceling each other out. New tyres have colour coded dots and rings to indicate to the fitter how much the tyre pulls.

A static 4-wheel alignment jig will not detect this but you'll feel it while driving.

Midnight_EG

slimjimmc wrote: »

I think he's referring to rolling dynamics. Tyres are not perfectly round, and manufacturing tolerances mean that the internals of the tyre structure are not 100% identical in every tyre. As a result every tyre has a tendency to pull to one side or the other. If both tyres on the same axle pull in the same general direction or one pulls much more than the other then your car will side-slip in that direction. The trick is to fit two tyres which run straight or at least pull in opposite directions equally, thereby canceling each other out. New tyres have colour coded dots and rings to indicate to the fitter how much the tyre pulls.

A static 4-wheel alignment jig will not detect this but you'll feel it while driving.

Thank you for saying this, I wasn't here to see the question

bmcl

I have just been reading through this tread and wanted to make a small point. I actually fit tyres, so I do know what I'm talking about. In your comment you have just complete mis advised on the purpose of tracking.
When you have new tyres fitted you have the wheel ballanced, this is where you apply weights.
When you have a car Tracked (or tracking) The vehicle has the wheels aligned to stop the tyres from wearing in apropriately. (usually the inner side of the tyre)
Tracking and wheel alignment are one in the same thing.
This message was for midnight MG

RichieP

Same thing. Just bought a motor, had a pull to the left - told alignment was out and would be fixed. They were putting it through NCT so I assumed it would be sound. Seemed okay when I picked it up and yet when driving on the motorway it did it again. Starting to think it has been crashed. I don't think it's anything to do with alignment or tracking if it keeps happening. I reckon there is some sort of suspension damage which is putting the whole thing out of kilter.

Useless fooking garages! They only good for taking your cash!!

Green Hornet

I think they all have a slight pull to the left on our roads due to road camber. Some are more noticeable than others though. I'd imagine bigger wheels are probably worse.

RichieP

Well, had my last motor for 8 years and never had any sort of problems like this. It's pure dangerous is what it is. Also it can cause premature wear on your suspension components and tires. Anyway, heading right back to them if problem persists.

RichieP

Oh, and I might also mention I NEVER had the tires on my previous car tracked or aligned and it passed the NCT 3 times no bother.

slimjimmc

RichieP wrote: »

Same thing. Just bought a motor, had a pull to the left - told alignment was out and would be fixed. They were putting it through NCT so I assumed it would be sound. Seemed okay when I picked it up and yet when driving on the motorway it did it again. Starting to think it has been crashed. I don't think it's anything to do with alignment or tracking if it keeps happening. I reckon there is some sort of suspension damage which is putting the whole thing out of kilter.

Useless fooking garages! They only good for taking your cash!!

The NCT specs for side-slip allow up to 14m drift over 1000m, i.e. let go the steering and within 100m you could be 1.4m closer to the hedge :eek:. You should not assume that because a car passed the NCT that it means the car drives straight, it just means it drives straight enough to be controllable.

It's very likely your car has a simple tracking mis-alignment; I had a similar experience.. car drifting slightly to the left, got it aligned on 4-wheel laser jig but not much better. Took it to a different guy who aligned it properly on his 4-wheel laser jig and it's running dead straight ever since, even with a road camber.

If the first guy can't fix it take it to someone who can.

RichieP

Nice reply SlimJimm! Well, I did take it back to the same garage as I only bought it a week previously and the aftersales guy practically acted like it was all in my head but when I also pointed out the two different brand tyres on the front he said he thought this may be the problem and said he would match them up. They were the same category, just different brands, with different patterns.

Wasn't convinced this would fix it, but drove 500 miles just there at the weekend, gave it plenty of wellie and didn't have any problems. YaY! (Ha, was just about to post some nasty reviews about the garage too)

Anyway, nice one boyeee!!:):cool:

Bonito

Tracking or the left side is underinflated.

RichieP

Checked the tyre pressure. It was bang on. Anyway, seems fixed now.

Bombbastic22

mac09 wrote: »

Car started to pull to the left recently and seems to be getting worse. had two new tyres put on the front last friday (obviously balanced as well). car drove fine after they were fitted and started to pull on saturday. passed nct early this week but problem is bothering me now. Its a ford mondeo mk 3. Im aware it could be a number of things such as wheel allignment, tie rod, etc. Im hoping its not the sterring rack. tyre pressure is correct

Anyone encountered anything similar to this?

I had a car that pulled to the right when the wheel was centered. I'd just bought it and was fed a load of bull about tracking, tyre pressure, etc etc etc. I had an awful time of things trying to get anyone to diagnose or explain the problem. The power steering malfunctioned after a short while and I discovered that the car had been crashed on the right side. I'm not saying this is your problem, but if it has been crashed it may never be right.

On the other hand I had a car for nearly ten years that would veer left if you removed your hands from the wheel. However, if you kept it centered it drove straight as an arrow, so it didn't concern me. But there was no uneven tyre wear like you described. I think all cars veer slightly left due to the road camber.

Checkout My Lovely Skoda on YouTube if you want to compare the problem I had, with yours.

http://youtu.be/If6zC55G6a4