Brake => Pulls right, Accel => Pulls left

[nkb93]

When cruising straight or braking, my car wants to pull off the road to the right. I don't think it's a simple alighnment issue, though, because the problem seems to correct itself under acceleration, when it seems to track pretty straight. It doesn't take much acceleration either (part throttle 5th gear will do it). I'd like to figure out what's causing this as it's pretty annoying and is probably wearing my tires out prematurely.

I checked the subframe bolts, they seem tight. I recently replaced my strut rod bushings (both the SF and LCA end bushings), which seemed to help a little but not much. The strut rod receivers on the SF felt pretty solid when I had the bushings out. Tire pressures are balanced. No significant pops or clunks (very occasional one when backing up, sounds like it's coming from the left front).

The rack and pinion has a questionable amount of play, although the tie rods seem decent. I'm thinking it may be a ball joint on the right side as that one had a torn boot for awhile. Any other ideas for things to check?? It's way overdue for an alignment, but if it's a busted joint I want to fix that before taking it in.

thanks for the help.

 

[GR8WYT]

tension strut bushings

Hmm, did you replace the bushings with aftermarket ones? Most aftermarket kits require a washer on the tension strut at the sub-frame end in place of the stock bushing which has the washer built in. Don't ask me how I know, but I'll give you a hint: I can take the front tension struts off my car now blind-folded! :shakehead

 

[Phoenix]

Might be a combination of a rear caliper seized with a balljoint , I would jack the rear to see if the rear wheels stops when you apply brakes , or one is difficult to turn.

 

[nkb93]

Hmm, did you replace the bushings with aftermarket ones? Most aftermarket kits require a washer on the tension strut at the sub-frame end in place of the stock bushing which has the washer built in. Don't ask me how I know, but I'll give you a hint: I can take the front tension struts off my car now blind-folded! :shakehead

haha, sounds like you have had some fun working on your suspension! I'm getting to know mine pretty well also, probably more than I ever wanted to.

The bushings I replaced were the Moog aftermarket ones (they were chewed up pretty badly). I put in the energy suspension bushings, but I'm pretty sure I used one of the big washers from the old Moog kit since the ES kit seemed to be missing one.

 

[sdpatt]

I'm thinking it may be a ball joint

:sun:

 

[Chi-SHO]

I have the same problem. Replaced the ball joints and outer tie-rods on both sides and still pulls just as you described. I another mechanic suggested that the right strut mount is loose, which is throwing off my camber. Still debating if this would resolve the problem. Did you hit a pothole?

 

[walser]

sounds to me like a rear brake is stuck partially on.. . emergancy brake disengaged? the first time i used mine on my car this is what happend and i have not used it since

 

[stangeater]

I had this problem, and it was a pulled thru sub frame bushing...........check them out

 

[frosho]

Check the strut rod receivers/bushings.

 

[rubydist]

I think we've hit all the possibilities:
ball joint, tie rod ends, subframe bushings, strut rod bushings, rack, wheel bearings. My personal experience with those symptoms has been ball joints or subframe bushings.

 

[SolidState]

The ball joint may be okay, however the knuckle itself may be worn where the ball joint stud sits.

To check for this, jack the car up until the tire is just about to lift off the ground, so there is still a little weight on the tire. Then, while watching the ball joint, try to move the tire in and out at the 12 and 6 position. You may see the ball joint move vertically in the knuckle.

This happened on my 91. Required a replacement knuckle.

 

[38SHO]

now lets focus on whats going on here with the car.....

when you punch it, and you move to the right, the front tires are being pushed forward against the strut rod bushings.... if say the left one had something loose/broken/pos on it allowing it to play.... it would move excessively compared to the right side tension rod....

the left one moves forward on acceleration giving you more caster on the left side, causing it to pull right... when you brake, the strut rod moves more again, but this time since the brake calipers are applied its grabbing the wheels and trying to stop them, so this motion makes the knuckle assembly want to move backwards on the vehicle, giving you less caster on the left side then the right and causing your current issues

this could also be caused by bad control arm bushings on the left side(man i'm ******* my taurus' and I've never had such a horrble control arm bushings failure before, the strut rods are FAR more common).... I would think if a strut mount were horribly loose to move like that you would hear a lot more noise.... and it doesn't have the movement a defective strut rod can have that would cause such a noticeable bad driving characteristic

pick your car off the ground and see if the wheel(tire) has any kind of movement, clunks, bangs etc.... when you kick/beat the tire forwards or backwards.... the car puts a lot of force on these bushings, so just a simple shake with your hands on the tire is not a good enough test....

 

[nkb93]

sorry to resurrect and old thread.. I haven't driven this car much since posting this, but I finally got around to sorting out some of my suspension woes. The primary culprit for this problem was a worn out inner tie rod (even though it was a fairly new reman rack). It was allowing about +/- 1/8" of toe change. Even though I had shaken the wheel a few times to check, it wasn't obvious until recently. After fixing that, it seems to track pretty consistently during acceleration and braking.

In the meantime I had replaced the subframe strut rod receivers, guess it's good not to have to worry about those.

Thanks again for all of your insights.

Nate