Car Pulling Left

jayok

Ok, I'm being slow driven nuts by this.

I have a Honda Accord and about 3 months ago I had the clutch replaced by a clutch and gearbox specialist. While the replacement went fine, I noticed after the change the car would pull slightly to the left. Not a big issue I thought, because as part of the clutch change there was the potential to knock out the alignment, etc.

So, I brought it to the alignment shop and they said all was in order. The toe, camber, thrust angle, etc were all fine. Thinking perhaps it was the tyres and they were in need of replacement, I replaced them anyway. The pull still persisted.

So I went away on holidays, had a rental car and when I came back the "pull" that I forgotten about on the rental is annoying me more than even. So I brought it to another shop just to confirm the alignments and, yes, everything was ok.

Now, I've checked the following Springs, shocks, LCA bushes, UCA bushes, balljoints, for sticking calipers, tyre pressures, rotated tyres and the power steering rack for play, but all seems good. What's left?

Bear in mind this was all good until the clutch was changed. Anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks.

Hal1

Are you just driving along at average speed or braking when you notice this?

jayok

Hal1 wrote: »

Are you just driving along at average speed or braking when you notice this?

Braking, accelerating or just driving along the pull is consistent. It's also not speed dependent

Hal1

Have you been in contact with the gearbox specialist since you first noticed this? Has the car ever been involved in a accident? and is there any noise or vibration (feedback through the steering wheels or foot pedals).

mickdw

Dont know of the setup on those cars but perhaps the subframe had to be removed and has not been put back exactly right.

jayok

Hal1 wrote: »

Have you been in contact with the gearbox specialist since you first noticed this? Has the car ever been involved in a accident? and is there any noise or vibration (feedback through the steering wheels or foot pedals).

The problem with pulling is that it's so subjective and you'll get the usual (
oh that's the crown on the road or it's designed like that waffle excuse. Apparently he done nothing that should affect the alignment as such, then again...

Nope the car's not been in a accident, it was all ok until the clutch change. No noise or vibration at all.

mickdw wrote: »

Dont know of the setup on those cars but perhaps the subframe had to be removed and has not been put back exactly right.

Yeah normally the sub-frame would have to be removed, but apparently he didn't have to, he was able to remove the gearbox out from the wheel arch with the strut and LCA out of the way. I assume though that even if the sub-frame didn't go back 100% right (may be 99%) that you could align this out of it?? The castering on the steering is fine, in so far as it's perfectly wheel straight when you let go of the wheel - would a sub-frame move knock this out? Again all the alignment readings are ok.

Thanks!!

Nissan doctor

jayok wrote: »

The problem with pulling is that it's so subjective and you'll get the usual (
oh that's the crown on the road or it's designed like that waffle excuse. Apparently he done nothing that should affect the alignment as such, then again...

Nope the car's not been in a accident, it was all ok until the clutch change. No noise or vibration at all.



Yeah normally the sub-frame would have to be removed, but apparently he didn't have to, he was able to remove the gearbox out from the wheel arch with the strut and LCA out of the way. I assume though that even if the sub-frame didn't go back 100% right (may be 99%) that you could align this out of it?? The castering on the steering is fine, in so far as it's perfectly wheel straight when you let go of the wheel - would a sub-frame move knock this out? Again all the alignment readings are ok.

Thanks!!

If the subframe was off(almost impossible to change an accord clutch without at least loosening the subframe bolts) then the toe, castor, camber etc could well be fine on their own.

Where the problem would happen is with the thrust angle, i.e the center line of the rear axle not lining up with the center line of the front axle. This can easily cause pulling to one side and other handling issues. If your car is pulling to the left, you would likely have a positive thrust angle so IMO you need to have your alignment checked on a machine which will measure the full range.

jayok

Nissan doctor wrote: »

If the subframe was off(almost impossible to change an accord clutch without at least loosening the subframe bolts) then the toe, castor, camber etc could well be fine on their own.

Where the problem would happen is with the thrust angle, i.e the center line of the rear axle not lining up with the center line of the front axle. This can easily cause pulling to one side and other handling issues. If your car is pulling to the left, you would likely have a positive thrust angle so IMO you need to have your alignment checked on a machine which will measure the full range.

Here's the results of my most recent alignment check. Pretty comprehensive, and the thrust angle is 0 degrees and 1 minute. Pretty bang on...

Nissan doctor

jayok wrote: »

Here's the results of my most recent alignment check. Pretty comprehensive, and the thrust angle is 0 degrees and 1 minute. Pretty bang on...

They have only measured the basic front and rear camber and toe.

They haven't done a full alignment with castor swings etc to give a complete suspension geometry reading.

Oh, and they have aligned your car as an 06-07 accord DX...which is the US spec accord, which is a completely different car/chassis to your CL7 accord.

jayok

Nissan doctor wrote: »

jayok wrote: »

Here's the results of my most recent alignment check. Pretty comprehensive, and the thrust angle is 0 degrees and 1 minute. Pretty bang on...

They have only measured the basic front and rear camber and toe.

They haven't done a full alignment with castor swings etc to give a complete suspension geometry reading.

Any suggestion as to where I can get this?

Nissan doctor

jayok wrote: »

Any suggestion as to where I can get this?

What part of Dublin are you in?

jayok

Nissan doctor wrote: »

jayok wrote: »

Any suggestion as to where I can get this?

What part of Dublin are you in?

PM sent

Wheelnut

jayok wrote: »

PM sent

Aw! does this mean that the rest of us are not going to know what happens next?

Ardennes1944

my car pulls to the left to and i wanna know

jayok

Wheelnut wrote: »

jayok wrote: »

PM sent

Aw! does this mean that the rest of us are not going to know what happens next?

Nope - I will post the findings. Tbh without preempting the checks it feels like something is loose. Like a bushing or similar the steering seems to wander particularity in corners - I just can't nail it. My hunch is a LCA bushing but the really seem tight - tempted to just replace them anyway. But I will wait don't want to throw money at parts for the fun of if

jayok

Ardennes1944 wrote: »

my car pulls to the left to and i wanna know

Is it an Accord?

Ardennes1944

nope an astra but hoping in general it might be connected

Wheelnut

jayok wrote: »

Is it an Accord?

Actually my daughter got me to look at a s/h Accord in a main dealer earlier this year. I found that it was pulling to the left. They assured me it was no problem and they would check the tyre pressures. They did that and I tested the car again but it was still pulling left. They still assured me it was no problem and they would check the tracking so leave it to them for a day. I went back again and they told me they would have to "take the car across town to get the tracking done" in spite of the fact that they have a huge well staffed and well equipped workshop. At this stage I had been there three times and I had lost confidence in their ability to do anything so I left the car there. After that experience if I had a Merc, Audi or VW I would be very worried about getting any work done properly on it.

Moanin

jayok wrote: »

Nope - I will post the findings. Tbh without preempting the checks it feels like something is loose. Like a bushing or similar the steering seems to wander particularity in corners - I just can't nail it. My hunch is a LCA bushing but the really seem tight - tempted to just replace them anyway. But I will wait don't want to throw money at parts for the fun of if

Bring it to a mechanic to put up on the lift to check all the bushings and joints. I had a similar problem with a VW Golf and it turned out that the anti roll bar bushes and the drop links on both sides needed replacement. The car has been driving fine ever since.

TURRICAN

jayok wrote: »

Ok, I'm being slow driven nuts by this.

I have a Honda Accord and about 3 months ago I had the clutch replaced by a clutch and gearbox specialist. While the replacement went fine, I noticed after the change the car would pull slightly to the left. Not a big issue I thought, because as part of the clutch change there was the potential to knock out the alignment, etc.

So, I brought it to the alignment shop and they said all was in order. The toe, camber, thrust angle, etc were all fine. Thinking perhaps it was the tyres and they were in need of replacement, I replaced them anyway. The pull still persisted.

So I went away on holidays, had a rental car and when I came back the "pull" that I forgotten about on the rental is annoying me more than even. So I brought it to another shop just to confirm the alignments and, yes, everything was ok.

Now, I've checked the following Springs, shocks, LCA bushes, UCA bushes, balljoints, for sticking calipers, tyre pressures, rotated tyres and the power steering rack for play, but all seems good. What's left?

Bear in mind this was all good until the clutch was changed. Anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks.

i have the same problem on a 99 accord,replaced a load of stuff and getting 2 tyres tomoro.so il report back.

Nissan doctor

Ardennes1944 wrote: »

nope an astra but hoping in general it might be connected

The Astra uses a similar subframe set up to the Accord....

jayok

Ok - some further info. I took a spirited drive home from work tonight and something is not right. The car feels loose and the back end seemms to drift. This is particularly noticeable coming out if a bend while turning left. I could only describe it as if the back end was loosely following the front.... Must be a bushing or loose component somewhere. A suspension check is in order

TURRICAN

Got my tyres and it doesent pull left anymore.
id say you need to bring yours back to the garage as it wasnt there before that.

jayok

TURRICAN wrote: »

Got my tyres and it doesent pull left anymore.
id say you need to bring yours back to the garage as it wasnt there before that.

I don't think it's the tyres as it wasn't there until the clutch was changed.

Actually, I *think* I've gotten to the bottom of it (:eek:) ... BUT tied up with work at the moment and can't confirm it...

Oh the suspense

jayok

Ok, I finally got some time to give this the once over - and I found it. I've uploaded a video about the findings here:

Basically, I replaced the compliance bushing and the pull is gone and the wandering steering is fixed - the car feels much better!

Apparently these are common failure points on an aged Accord, you don't need complete failure just fatigued rubber, which I had. Why didn't I notice this when I first checked? Ah, I never loaded the suspension components as such I was checking the bushings under stress and as such the compliance bushing was very solid.

Only downside is I only got time to do the left side. The right side still needs to be done, but I ran out of time and one of the bolts seems completely seized. I didn't fancy drilling out a broken bolt in the subframe just today, so I left it alone for the moment. I need to get some heat on the stuck bolt.

Not sure if it helps anyone else, but at least I know

I should add that while it's not pulling the steering isn't 100% straight now, so I'm hoping this is just the alignment needs to be adjust after I stripped the suspension out. So I'll get that checked soon.

jayok

Ok - final update.

I brought the car to Nissan Doctor who done a full alignment check and adjustment as required and he brought the alignment into spec. All is perfect now.

As an aside, the customer care was excellent, as ND called today to make sure I was happy and that all was ok!! Nice one, thanks ND. Why can't more business be like ND's?