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Car Pulls to the right....whatupwitdat??

Joined
8 March 2003
Messages
126
Location
Northwest Florida
Since I first got my car 2 months ago the car has had a pull to the right when you let go of the steering wheel. I recently had all 4 tires computer balanced and had a four wheel alignment set to the specs within the FAQs. Just completed 90k service also and had it inspected from end to end. Tires are only a few months old with very little wear. Wheels are not bent. No visible damages anywhere. Same stuff, still pulls to the right. Any suggestions on what I can due to eliminate this pulling?
 
Did the shop give you a printout of the alignment?

If so, check the front caster. Of course, it should be close to spec, but if for some reason the shop is unable get one side to spec, they should try to make both sides equal (rather than bring each as close to spec as possible).

I think unequal caster will make the car pull, but should not accelerate tire wear.
 
This is what is on the print out.

Front LEFT

Camber .1
Caster 7.4
Toe -.07
SAI 5.7
Turning angle diff 5.7



Front RIGHT

Camber -.1
Caster 7.5
Toe -.06
SAI 6.6
Turning angle diff 6.6


FRONT

Cross Camber .1
Cross Caster -.1
Cross SAI -.9
Total Toe -.12

Any suggestions or better yet any diagnosis to what this means?
 
Mine is getting aligned as I type this. I let you know what it says. Just a thought you might have a shop put it on a laser frame machine. (frame might be bent) if thats the case it wont matter what you alignment is.

Ill keep you posted
 
Did this happen *after* you got new tires? I had my car pulling after I got new tires and a four wheel alignment. It was done on a Hunter alignment rack to perfection but my car still pulled. The front tires were swapped side to side as a test but no change. Then the rears were swapped side to side and bingo the car drove straight as an arrow! I had the rear tires dismounted and replaced. The car tracked perfectly. One or both of my new rear Yokos was bad causing the pull. My Acura tech spoke with Honda tech line directly and the alignment settings were triple checked and verified. It was the tires.

Another thing to consider is to check the date of manufacture of all tires on your car to see if they are within the same time period. Of the two new rear Yokos that were returned, one was over a year old while the other was just a few months.

Hope you can pin down your problem.
 
If you have another set of tires - or if you know another NSXer in your area - you might try swapping your tires with the other set, to see if it still happens. That way you can either narrow down the problem to the wheels/tires, or eliminate them entirely as a cause...
 
This pull.
Is it on all roads or just some?
When you are coasting clutched engaged?
Under acceleration?
When you lift off the accelerator?
When you are braking?
When you let off the brakes?
How old are the shocks?
Did they check ride height?
Are the tires matched? (Same brand and type)
Is the tire pressure correct?

More info is needed.
 
I bought the car with the tires already in place.

Pulls on all types of roads. Let go of the steering wheel and it pulls to the right side of the road.

Never tested with clutch engaged and coasting

Doesnt really pull any different when brakes are engaged.

Shocks are factory so they are 13 years old and car has 14,000 miles on it.

Ride height fine, tire pressure fine, tires all match and have 90% tread left.

Its strange but its a constant pull to the right and its at any given time you let go of the steering wheel. 17inch '02 wheels front and back

No other tires available for a test at this time.

Car is going back to the alignment shop for further testing and investigation soon.
 
I'm experiencing the same problem too!
My car tracked straight before an incident with the curb, but now my car is pulling to one side :(

Because of the accident, the front left wheel was bent slightly. I was told by my mechanic that nothing was bent except for the front left wheel. So naturally, after the wheel has been fixed, I went to get another alignment done. All the numbers were almost the same except for the front left caster.

Alignment before accident (car was going straight):

Front
Left Right
Caster: 8d16m 7d20m
camber: -0d46m -0d43m
toe: -1.8mm -1.6mm

Rear

camber: -2d09m -2d11m
toe: 2.6mm 2.6mm

After the accident (car is pulling to the left):

Front
Left Right
Caster: 7d31m 7d24m
camber: -0d46m -0d44m
toe: -1.8mm -1.6mm

Rear

camber: -2d09m -2d11m
toe: 2.5mm 2.6mm

The alignment technician said he could not dial in anymore caster on the front left. He said it's at the maximum already. How come 7d31m is the maximum??

So why is the car pulling to the left when the alignment is quite even on both sides? Did I bend something? Could I have bent the chassis with this little curb incident? How do you tell if the wishbone or the chassis is bent??

Please help.

Henry.
 
Does it pull harder right on some roads than other roads..

I know where i live when i get alignments done..they compensate for "road crown" (road is slightly slanted to the right for water run off to the curb) They set the right .5 degree difference than the left side...usually through 1/4 caster and 1/4 camber.....may more through caster than camber due to camber being a tire wearing setting ...
 
For LARRYB

REAR :LEFT
camber -1.5
toe .14

REAR :RIGHT
camber -1.5
toe .13



REAR

cross camber 0.0
Total toe .27
Thrust angle .01


Hope this helps, makes no difference in road types, it will even do it in a parking lot. Not to be confused with nsxhk i have had no damage or accidents to this car.

I was told by one technician that by increasing the wheel and tire size to 17inch vs factory wheels it could cause some drifting of the front end :confused:
 
I have the same 02 wheels on my 91. I found the handling better with the newer wheels. I also had Dunlop 9000s on the orginal wheels, the 02s are stock.

What size spacers do you have installed between the hub and the wheels on the front? You must have something since the 02 front wheels will not fit over the 91 front calipers. I put 5mm spacers on both the front and the rear to keep the track the same. Maybe this will cause the problem?

John
 
Has anyone recommended simply checking the tire pressure?? I know when I snatched the 944 Turbo out of storage a week or so ago it pulled like crazy because one of the front tires only had 10 psi. Oops. :D

Fixed that and then everything was peachy. :)
 
Meeyatch1 said:
Has anyone recommended simply checking the tire pressure??
Good idea.

Generally, you want to check the things that are easy to check first, and this qualifies.

Then you can start narrowing it down, using tests like changing all the wheels/tires - to narrow it down to either (a) something having to do with the wheels/tires, or (b) something having to do with the suspension, and then narrow it down further after that...
 
NSXHK,

It sure sounds like something is bent that has not been fixed on your car.

X-spdfrk,

I would suspect the same in regard to yours, unless the readings you are showing are not really as they appear(sure look good from here). If tire pressures/alignment/ tire wear is all good, then I would have the car inspected at a body shop to insure all parts (including frame) are straight.

HTH,
LarryB
 
Dear Larry,

Thnx for your comment. I too think that something was bent and not fixed. If indeed the front chassis was bent a little, how would one go by fixing it?
To my understanding, the body shop will need to remove all the front body parts, use high heat to soften the aluminum and then pull it back to spec, am I correct?
My main concern is, after the chassis been through this heat treatment, will it soften the frontal rigidity? Will the car be as good as new? Will I have any issue with crack joints?

Thnx.

Henry.
 
The DON said:
Vytas: why would the rear tires make the car pull to one side? what do you mean by bad tire?

I had two NSX techs triple check the alignment and it all came down to the new rear tires. They believe it's a manufacturing defect in one or both tires (inner belts/plies not perfectly straight) causing the car to pull.

All I know is that replacing the new tires with replacements solved the problem. Car tracks straight as an arrow now.
 
I did have the same story from the NSX tech that did my service say that it could be a belt within the tire causing it. Have to locate another set of tires for that test.

Thanks for all the advice.
 
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