BlueZee28

iTrader: (30)

My car pulls to the left pretty hard going down the road, not a slight drift, it pulls. So I had a friend do an alignment today and he said before it was pretty out of whack, but he got it straightened out but it's still pulling about as hard as it was before. He suggested a possible bad tire, like the belts slipped inside and it needs to be replaced on that side of the car.

My concern is, when I was doing my engine swap, I had the front frame rails on jack stands but one of the jacks slipped. My jack stands have the top piece that's shaped like a fork, with two fingers (makes the shape of a "Y" instead of a flat surface). The jack that slipped, the frame just dropped down into the groove on the jack stand instead of being on top of the two fingers. The other side stayed on the fingers of the jack. So this made the front of the car sag down on the left side a few inches. I didn't really think much of it, but do you think this could have bent the unibody? I'm like really freaked out now....The rear of the car was on ramps if that makes any difference. I'm going to swap the front and rear wheels this weekend and see if it still pulls, I hope it does which would mean one of my front tires is bad....what do you think?

1983Zsled

I'd doubt that that much deflection is going to make a difference. These cars have had the frames bend so much that while on the hoist you cant open and close the doors....
You may want to check your brakes out to make sure you aren't dragging a brake caliper or shoe. I have never heard of a bad tire making a car pull hard, without the vibration and shake, in which case you'd know but who knows maybe that is the case.
Seems more likely to be a dragging caliper, or brake issue.

BlueZee28

iTrader: (30)

I don't think it's the brakes, I don't hear any noise or anything coming from them, there's no un-even pad wear, and the brakes are smooth when depressing the pedal. I haven't had a chance to swap the tires yet, I will get around to that this week though and see what I find. I hope you're right about the frame, I don't know what I will do it the frame is bent from something so stupid

ZZ42Fast

iTrader: (2)

Try feeling the wheel after a longish run, if your left wheels are hot (particulary the front) that would signify brake bind and be the reason for the pull.

You would not necessarily hear it but it is one of the more common reasons for the pull. Also what does it do under hard braking?

AM91Camaro_RS

just throwing out a little concern...if it is a bad tire, you should probably find time, asap, to swap them and then replace, if needed. it will only get worse (potentially coming apart). It looks like you've got a really nice car, now!

Guest

Two simple questions-
1) Did the car pull hard to the left before it feel of the jackstand?

2) When your "friend' aligned the car for you, what tools and gauges did he use?

In other words, take it and have it professionally aligned on an alignment rack by someone who knows how to check camber, caster and toe settings as well as rear axle thrust angle.

BlueZee28

iTrader: (30)

I want to say it pulled before the swap, but its been so long I can't remember. I'm almost positive it pulled though. And my friend works at a Plaza Tire which is a chain of shops, he did the alignment at work on a rack.

Guest

Can you post the final printout specs then so I can help diagnos the problem?

BlueZee28

iTrader: (30)

I forgot to mention that the car is lowered about an inch and a half with the Hotchkis springs, and the front end has the Spohn tubular k-member, but I did not buy the tubular a-arms yet. I'm not sure if not having the a-arms will make a difference, it shouldn't by theory if the alignment specs are right, correct? Anyways, I tried to get my scanner to work but it's not working for some reason.

Here's the specs:


Before measurements:


Left Front Camber -0.2*
Left Front Caster 3.5*
Left Front Toe 0.09*

Right Front Camber 0.3*
Right Front Caster 5.5*
Right Front Toe 0.00*

Total Toe 0.08*
Steer Ahead 0.04*
Thrust Angle 0.14*


After Measurements:


Left Front Camber 0.3*
Left Front Caster 3.5*
Left Front Toe 0.00*

Right Front Camber 0.1*
Right Front Caster 5.5*
Right Front Toe 0.02*

Total Toe 0.02*
Steer Ahead -0.01*
Thrust Angle 0.13*

Guest

Even a circle track car turning only lefts does not have 2* caster spread. That is major yanking your car left.

Put your caster to 4.0 left and 4.5 right

3.1EyeCandy

iTrader: (3)

Definitely try another alignment shop before anything else. For what it's worth - my GTA did that with a bad tire after it had set up for a long while.

built91Z28

Agreed. The most I put on a car is .5 degree difference. Also (and this goes for anyone suspecting a bad front tire) if you think a tire is making your car pull just rotate the fronts side to side and see if the car pulls the other way.

BlueZee28

iTrader: (30)

Will do, this is the second shop to do an alignment on the car since December. I'm gonna take it back to my friend's shop and have him adjust the caster to where the difference is within 0.5*. If that doesn't work then I will go rotate the tires, but from the sounds of it you guys know what you're talking about.

pestrada38

The same happened to mine. I got the alignment and then when i hit a bump or the road was uneven it would pull to the left. I took it back to the shop and they said nothing was wrong. I decided to buy new tires and problem solved.

Guest

Trust me its not your tires, its you caster split.

hellz_wings

iTrader: (2)

BlueZee28

iTrader: (30)

Vetruck....you sir, are the man! I took the car up to my friend's shop again today and had him narrow the gap between the caster settings, now the left is at 3.7 and right is at 4.1, and the thing feels like a brand new car. I drove down the highway for a good 1/2 without even touching the wheel. It's so weird to drive it and not have to be constantly holding the wheel to the right, I haven't had a good alignment on the car in probably 2 1/2 years.

hellz_wings

iTrader: (2)

That's good to hear, I can't wait to get mine aligned tomorrow after installing all of the adjustable peices!

grego93536

I have been a tech fof 35 yrs. I always use a spread of; 5 min more negative camber, and qt min more positive caster on the rt. This prevents a drift to the cfown of the road sithout /reatinb a drift.

grego93536

Sorry about the numbers (big fingers, small keys). They should be: 5 min more negative camber and 15 min of positive caster

hellz_wings

iTrader: (2)

do you mean -5 degrees of camber? and i don't get the 15 min of positive caster.. if you mean 15 degrees then that is impossible i think ?

Guest

I think they are doing this stuff on some of these new high tech machines in figures like latitude and longitude type readings. I think it is refered to as clock like settings for a pimp[oint in accuracy when you think of a clocks 3 hands- refer to the settings as the hour hand position. If you had it on 3 oclock exactly (90*) or the hand just a slight bit past it at 3:02:47sec would be something like 90.0147- just an example and not an exact calculation)

hellz_wings

iTrader: (2)

I had thought that's could have been what he meant.. It looks like that could be more precise than the way I see it in degrees.