car pulling to left

[mitchelltjohn]

my TR7 has been aligned. At speeds above 60/70 the car tracks fairly straight. however, at lower speeds the pull to the left is very marked especially below 30mph.

Any ideas?



1979 FHC pageant blue
1981 DHC triton green

[DNK]

That's because it is election day tomorrow![:D]

Don
Stick a Wedge In It
80 TR7 V8 Kick in the pants

[dursleyman]

If the tracking etc. has all been checked and there is nothing loose you need to start looking at other stuff.
I suppose the axle link bushes are all good and its not moving about?
Could the front brake be dragging a bit - it will be hotter than the other one if it is.
Are the front tyres the some type/size and good condition?

[nick]

The speed variation doesn't make sense to me. Are you doing this test on the same stretch of road? Also, make sure you don't have tire pressure variation between the front wheels.

[img][IMG]http://i615.photobucket.com/albums/tt234/nickmi/TR7%201975/Yellow.jpg[/img]
nick
'79 TR7 DHC
'76 TR7 FHC

[Hasbeen]

What were the figures from your alignment, particularly castor?

Does the pulling alter from full throttle to cruising to over run?

If so check your rear suspension including bushes, or a bent rear axle housing. It sounds a bit like rear end steering to me.

Hasbeen

[john 215]

Hi,

Find yourself a very quite piece of road where you can see along way ahead, then drive down the middle [:0] carefully with the centre of the car either side of the white lines, does it still pull ?

You would be amazed how many owners of car's I have sat next too say there car's ' pull to the kerb ' and demo it by driving down the road with no hands on the wheel [V] would love to ask them " where does it say in the highway code, let go of the steering wheel once 30 mph is reached [:o)] ? "

More often than not its the camber of the road, which is why it don't pull whilst driving dead down the centre.

Failing that swap wheel front to rear ( rather than side to side, keeps the rolling direction the same ) Is there any tyre wear ? Are they the same make and age ( look at the DOT code it will give week number and year of manufacture ) Any play in the steering or suspension, the garage that tracked your car should have checked this first for obvious reasons !

Cheers John


LIVE LIFE A QUARTER OF A MILE AT A TIME!

1976 Speke FHC BEAUTY FITTED WITH OVERDRIVE GEARBOX

1979 3.5 FHC CURRENTLY GARDEN ART !

1982 2.0 DHC NOW A 4.6, BUILT NOT BROUGHT !!!!

[MikeRotherham]

I've had this same effect, at all speeds though, on a modern car and that was due to the camber in the road. Proved it by driving in the outside lane of a 2 lane slip road between motorways and it pulled to the right.

Mike.

[TimD]

I had a similar problem due to a defective tire on one of my other cars, cross your front wheels and see if it now tracks the other way.
Mine did, so I rotated them to the rear and now not really noticeable.

http://s1048.photobucket.com/user/tkdreher/slideshow

[FI Spyder]

Road camber can make a difference on some cars. I remember reading about suspensions many years ago and some are designed to be affected by outside influences. This gives good feedback to the driver. Some are designed not to be affected by outside influences (at least as much). This gives some measure of safety such as a tire going down etc. Not sure where our cars are in the continuum.

- - -TR7 Spider - - - 1978 Spitfire- - - - 1976 Spitfire - - 1988 Tercel 4X4 - Kali on Integra - 1991 Integra - Yellow TCT

[Hasbeen]

I much prefer a car to follow the camber, it makes them a much more relaxed drive.

My Honda S2000 will hold it's direction, a little right or left of straight ahead hands off the wheel, depending on which way you left it biased. It totally ignores the road camber. Great on a hard drive, but can get tiring on a long drive, as you have to steer the car all the time.

The 7 & 8 however will move down the camber quite distinctly. On a long drive you can rest one hand lightly against the wheel, & balance the pull of the camber with no concentration or effort.

In the 60 we had a lot of cars where the leaf spring hung rear axle was not straight in line with the car. Some rear axles. particularly Ford Falcons in Oz were also not straight, & actually had toe in or out standard. We would check the car before a wheel alignment, then set the thing up with less camber or more castor on the curb side to get them to run straight on the average road.

Those with faulty rear ends would pull one way under acceleration, & the other way under closed throttle retardation. If the owner did not want to pay to fix this, we would set them up to avoid pulling into oncoming traffic, unless the owner preferred us not to do so. This can happen to a 7 with shot bushes or from accident damage.

Some 50s & 60s cars were pretty agricultural.

Hasbeen

[john 215]

Hi,

I worked for a manufacture dealership where we would adjust the cross camber on one there models which was very road camber sensitive ( would pull to the kerb ) we would adjust to the specified limits so one side was on the limit for least negative camber and the other side was on the limit of most negative camber, this way it would pull away from the curb so drive straight, in effect induce a pull to the O/S so countering the pull to the N/S and by keeping the measurement within tolerance no adverse tyre wear occurred.

But you also need to take into consideration what the caster is doing as will have a similar effect in that the vech. will pull is this is incorrect so we tended to bias this as well, when you adjust one angle it will normally effect another, that why tracking is the last to be adjusted on a four wheel alignment.

Also if rear alignment out it can push the car in one direction all the other, due to the thrust angle is incorrect.

Four wheel alignment should only be carried out after you are 100% happy with everything tyre and suspension or you are just masking something. Plus don't forget a sticky brake front or rear will give you the same symptoms.

Cheers John


LIVE LIFE A QUARTER OF A MILE AT A TIME!

1976 Speke FHC BEAUTY FITTED WITH OVERDRIVE GEARBOX

1979 3.5 FHC CURRENTLY GARDEN ART !

1982 2.0 DHC NOW A 4.6, BUILT NOT BROUGHT !!!!