this car has always done this since new. It naturally gets worse as the pass. front tire wears.

I have new tires and new shock/struts. I've tried experimenting with camber/caster toe to stop this. i've even went so far as + camber drivers side / - camber passengers and it still pulls right (but not as severe). i've also messed with off centering the toe to no avail.

i also tried driving on the wrong side of the road (clear straight away) to see if road crown contributed to this. It still pulled right (to a lesser degree).

Any suggestions? or do I just accept that my car is a right wing conservative?

 

Did you try swapping the LF & RF tires? This can make a big difference due to a tire property called conicity. Also, don't be afraid to stagger the front camber the same way you are going, just be sure the LF is more positive than the RF- for example -2 deg on the RF & -1 deg on the LF. Finally, you can try staggering the caster - for example more + caster on the right than on the left - ie + 3 deg LF & +4 deg on the RF. For a bigger effect, do both caster and camber together. The real cause of the probelm may be the front tires themselves- some tires are just that way. Keep in mind if you do this that the alignment is compensating for a tire problem, and if you get new front tires you would need to align the car back to within the factory specs. Also, keep in mind that the biased alignment will help you when going down a striaght road, and getting rid of the pull on the hiway. It will proabably work against you for cornering and handling. Make small changes and evaluate them on the hiway after each change.

 

you need to make caster higher on the right side. even though you made the camber higher on the left side, the caster will override camber when it comes to pulls. make the caster about .5* higher on the right than left. if this doesn't solve it, then look into brakes and wheels bearings.

 

Thanks for the replies....

Mike, What you say makes since, but are you telling me the 7 sets of tires I put on the front over 230K+ miles had the same right leaning conicity? When I rotate, sometimes it will go straight (for a little while).

MR. R: I didn't think caster mattered, but will try your suggestion.

Thanks Guys!

 

Caster matters, but to a lesser degree than camber. The faster you go the more of an effect caster has. Toe has no effect on a pull problem. If you are adjusting the camber/caster with the old tires, that may be why you don't see an effect. The old tires are probably 'worn in' to the old alignment. Swapping tires might also make it pull the other way if the tires are worn uneven--try that and see what happens. It's much easier to troubleshot if you have the current alignment specs and evenly worn(or new) tires. The alignment specs might also show a bent part, effectively not allowing you to compensate enough.

 

caster is equally as important if not more than camber. caster is a non wearing angle by itself. but has a lot to do with making a car go straight. it's hard to explain how it works. but has to do with the relationship of the upper strut mount to lower ball joint. with the upper part being behind the lower ball joint, you project the load ahead of the tire. also, you twist the spindle so to speak. with this in mind the weight of the car will make the spindle turn. or instance the left side will turn right and the right go left. due to road crown in most states, if all angles are equal, the car wil ldrift right. that is why you want the camber higher on the left and caster higher on the right. car will pull to the higher camber number and lower caster number. and yes, toe has no effect on pull. as toe is always equal on both sides.

here is some explanations of angles in alignments:

 

Equally important yes I agree. Caster is commonly overlooked by your tipical 'quick-shop' alignment. However, a cross-caster difference of 1 degree will have a smaller effect on a 'pull' than 1 degree of cross-camber. That is a good diagram of the alignment information--I might have to add that to my site(it really needs to be on this site). If you read the description, camber problems will cause pull or drift while caster 'can' cause pull or drift.

 

Joey- on the tire question and the fact that you've had 7 sets of tires and you always pull right. This gets into a property tire engineers call ply steer. When they design a tire, they compromise all of the properties like noise and wet traction etc., and sometimes they end up with a tire that by itself just wants to turn right or left. You have probably always purchased tires for your year of f car, and I would guess many different brands are compromised similarly and want to turn right. As a mater of fact, that would be a good subject for a survey of members. It would be interesting to see if more 3rd gens experience left or right pulls. When you swap the tires left to right, you are compensating for a tire property called conicity, which also makes the tire naturally want to turn left or right, but it has to do with how well the individual tire was built and how well centered the belt is in the tire (manufacturing quality). As tires wear, conicity will change, and so that is why you get different results as the tires wear. Anyway, that's just talking about tires, not saying that is the only cause of your problem. I think some of the replys gave some good advice on checking for brake drag, wheel bearing drag, etc. It can be a lot of different things. Good luck!

 

Thanks again for all the helpful replies.

One more inquiry on toe. Let's say the toe is 'off centered' passenger tire toe out and drivers tire toe in, would the car pull then? or just go down the road 'sideways'?


Joey

 

With the right front toe out and left front toe in, you will just turn right--all that will do is give you a steering wheel that is turned to the left while you drive straight. This is different from a pull, because you aren't fighting the steering wheel--it's just crooked. Going straight(regardless of wheel position) toe is equal on both sides--which is why total toe is important. Although the steering wheel should be centered when an alignment is performed, it has no effect on the alignment settings (camber, caster, toe)

 

hope you checked tire presure i had problems too but that where i started and it solved my problems

 

My car is pulling to the right too. Just aligned it on 1-16-03, these are the numbers. Help please?

CASTER:
Left 3.7
Right 3.9

Camber:
Left -0.1
Right -0.1

Toe:
Left 0

Thanks in advance!

 

All you have is a .2 degrees difference in Caster which shouldn't be enough to make a car pull. A car will pull to the side with the most positive Camber/most negative Caster so even if it were enough, the car should pull left, not right. I'd try swapping the front tires, if they're not directional.

 

Ok, the main reason I alligned it was 'cause the driver's side tire was worn out to the side (unevenly). I replaced it prior to the allignment, but didn't replace the passenger's side tire. It doesn't seem unevenly worn out, but it needs replacement too. I've got another tire out there that I'll replace this week also. They're all same size Good Year Eagles,don't remember the size now but it's the size called for in the driver's door sticker, 245/50/16? I think it is. Anyhow, another problem is that both tires rub when turning sharply, especially to the right, could this be part of the problem?

Thanks again

 

One side on the front of my car rubs too but the alignment is fine and it drives straight. Check the tire pressure. If it's good, then try to change the other tire on the front. I've seen cars have a drift even with like tires but different tread amounts. It's always best to change two at a time and place 'em in the front, if they're not already there.

 

What could cause that rubbing? it's really anoying when parking, everybody stares at you

Is there some other adjustment for that? is it that the original tire size is too wide? could it be that the springs are shot? although they seem fine to me

 

I dunno, this may be a common problem with these cars as they get older. On my previous Formula (88 350) the tires also rubbed and I've never used anything besides the stock tires (245/50/16s). The alignment was also fine on both cars. No bent parts or anything. I dunno if there's adjustment for it but it don't bother me that much anyways. I just don't go all the way with the steering wheel.

 

Quite a few third-gens rubbed a little when they were new. The 245/50's are a little too close. Back when the third-gens were first created, maybe the engineers didn't plan on such a big tire? who knows. Also, different brands of tires vary in actual size.
If you get 2 good (identical) tires on the front and still have a pull, swap the tires (if you can). If the pull changes to the otherside, you have a screwed up tire. If it still pulls the same way, check the brakes for a sticking caliper, dragging bearing, and it a few cases I've seen a third-gen with the rear alignment so screwed up it made it pull. FYI, the rear isn't adjustable, except by a frame shop or axle replacement.

 

My tires rub, but my alignment is ok and I don't have a pull. The problem I have is that at low speeds the steering likes to follow irregularities in the road.

 

Yep. If thrust angle is off by a lot, it would cause a pull. You need to do a thrust angle alignment to find out the readings in the rear.

 

instead of trying to do it yourself spend the $50 and have a goodyear do it, you most likely wont get it perfect....

 

Common problem with wide tires. All the steering 'stuff' has to be really tight to help prevent this from happening. If the steering suspension is all ok(I asume this since the alignment is correct), you might check out the steering gear, rag-joint, and the pitman arm -to- centerlink joint(it doesn't affect the alignment either). Oh, and make sure the tires are inflated correctly, too little air can make it worse.