I took my GTA to the shop to have a new steering gear box installed, then had it aligned, and now it pulls to the right going down the highway. The guy at the shop blamed it on the tires, is that possible? My tires are cheap Kumho's, but they have very little wear on them. I never noticed the pulling until after the new steering box, but the old one was so loose I could barely keep it straight anyways.

My car also has new shocks, struts & mounts, and inner and outer tie rod ends.

 

Swap the 2 front tires. If it pulls the other way, it's the tires. The defective one is the one it pulls towards. "Little wear" isn't a factor.

Check the brakes. Make sure both front rotors are at about the same temp after driving it at hwy speeds for a few miles.

If it still pulls, check the alignment.

 

Pulls to the right with you holding the steering wheel straight or goes straight by itself when the steering wheel is crooked?

If the latter is the case, then the shop failed to set the steering wheel straight when they aligned the steering parts/suspension.

 

If I let go of the wheel, it veers off to the right. I'll try to swap the tires around and see what happens.

 

You kinda need new tires on a vehicle when you align it. It helps eliminate problems like these. Swapping front tires does sometimes correct this problem, so that was good advice.

 

My tires are about 3 years old, but have less than 1500 miles on them.

 

I'm thinking that while the individual casters and cambers are within spec, the cross values (differences between right side and left side) aren't. Either that or they may not be appropriate for however much crown the roads in your area are set up with.

Another possibility is one or more bad control arm bushings that lets the toe wander dynamically away from wherever it was during the alignment.


Norm

 

Swapping the tires doesn't "correct" the problem, as such... it's just a troubleshooting and defect identification technique.

You don't swap the tires, and now the car pulls equally violently to the left, and consider the job done. Rather, you now know that the pull is due to the tires, and that THEY are the thing you need to be working on, NOT the suspension or steering or the adjustment of those other things.

 

Poor choice of words on my part. Of course it does not correct the problem, but it can make the car drive straight. The problem could still be alignment though. If the tires are worn uneven, then the wheels will be sitting uneven when the alignment machine is hooked up to the wheels. Then once you put new tires on the same car, suddenly the alignment is jacked up. The fact that you have 1500 miles on the tires does not mean they are straight. If your alignment was very poor before they could be pretty worn, you will have to be the judge on that one. I would guess however, that such low mileage tires are not a good culprit for the problem. Did you ever swap the tires, and did it drive straight afterwards? There are a great number of factors that could cause the problem you are having. I have just seen swapping tires make a car drive straight. If thats all you want, then that step could give you that.

 

Did the shop give you a print out with the alignment specs on it?

 

Post the after specs and let me take a look at them. I can pretty much tell you your problem by looking at the sheet.

 

No, just a receipt. To be honest, I have never had a car aligned before, never needed to.

 

Ah, the things we learn about that cost money, when we buy our first car...

 

There is a special tool to adjust the caster/camber on these F bodies that very few shops have in their collection so I highly doubt they made those adjustments (though they should have). Chances are if it was fine before and now pulls they have something off but there is also a possibility that the old steering box had slop it may have been present but you just couldnt feel it. Check the pressures and make sure one isnt hi or low if not swap tires and see if it moves with tires. if not its a definite adjustment issue.

 

Really? First I've ever heard of that. But I've only had my car for just shy of 30 years now, I'm still kind of a n00b, so... I guess I might just not have come across that just yet.

I usually do it with a socket on the nuts and by jacking them up under the control arm at the BJ to take the pressure off. Kind of a no-brainer really. If you leave the nuts just barely tight you can get real high-tech on it, and use a dull chisel or punch or something, even a block of wood, to gently knock the plate around on top of the tower. But I don't have all the measuring tools to do it "right" myself, so usually I just replace all the parts that I need to in my garage, do as described to "rough it in" by eye, then my first trip is to drive it to one of the tire stores or GM dealerships or something that some one of my brothers works at, for a more "precision" setting.

 

Yep. You've never looked in a FSM? Welcome to "3rd gen Advanced Suspension 101"

 

Yeah I have a FSM... have had it for over 25 years... but I don't have the full collection of tools with numbers like J-14327-3A listed in there, of which there always seems to be at least one for every individual task, and of course the FSM doesn't show what most of em even look like let alone how to use em. (just TRY following the FSM to rebuild an engine for example, if you "had to" have all those tools for that, there'd NEVER be a SINGLE rebuilt engine, EVER.) There's about A MILLION of those tools that the FSM calls for, that somehow, all of us out here have managed to maintain our cars WITHOUT for all these years... might have been easier or quicker or something, had we had them, but just because it's called out for in the FSM, doesn't hardly make it "necessary" or "can't do it without it". Likewise, I find it hard to believe that EVERY SINGLE tire store and Wal-Mart and wherever else throughout the WORLD has one, just so they can align one of these cars... they all seem to get by just fine without it somehow, too.

 

Maybe the reason that those places "get by just fine without it" is because you don't need it for a "toe-n-go", and since the the average car owner doesn't know the difference between that and a really good alignment there's little need for it.


BTW, I trust things like what's in the thumbnail picture better than just eyeballing, and it's more than good enough for making final caster and camber settings. Although if I really needed better resolution than ±0.1° there's a DIY method using a dial indicator for that.


Norm

 

Oh no, I'm 32, and this is my 3rd third gen f-body. Amazingly I've never owned a car that pulled.

It's entirely possible it has pulled since I bought it, but that old steering box had LOTS of slop, I could barely keep it in a straight line in either direction.

 

is because even though maybe the factory thing might make it easier and quicker especially for people whose ENTIRE LIVELIHOOD consists of working on EXACTLY THAT ONE KIND OF CAR, it's not "necessary". Just like engine building tools, special brake tools, and on and on.

 

I saw a picture of the "right" tool in the servive manual. It looks like one of those threaded rods for tightening a clothes line. But I found that with the nuts slightly loose, and some of the weight off the springs, you can adjust the camber quite easily with a 3"X3"X8" block of wood protecting the strut bearing, and adjusting it with a 4 pound baby sledge.

 

Wow I guess I brought up a debate with this whole "Special Tool" thing! Lol!! There ABSOLUTLY is a special tool for this. There is one for 82-92 and then another for 93 - up as well as a "holding fixture" to hold the strut while making adjustments. Can you do it without them? YES. Can you be 100% accurate without them NO! You can definitely get it "within specs" IF you know what you are doing. A lot of these tire places and "quick lubes" (Pep Boys, Wal-Mart etc)that offer "free" or "complimentry" alignments do a Toe'n Go" meaning they make sure the steering wheel is straight and dont mess with caster/camber adjustments. I have been a GM tech for quite a while and have had mine for a long time. I found some pics of them and have attached them below. Mine is a little more "involved" than this but never the less works basically the same. There really is a tool for EVERYTHING. These cars are just so uncommon in those places that peeople dont have the tools or the knowledge to do them correctly.
'82 - 92

'93 - Up

Holding fixture

P.s This is why I love this site. We can all learn something new everday but we can also teach something new everyday. Great being a part of this site and I love to see these cars staying strong. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!!

 

Yeah a "toe n go" isn't an alignment... that's just a "get the customer out of the shop" kind of thing. I don't even COUNT that in the same concept as "alignment".

Alot of being a hobbyist consists of figuring out ways to do without all the "special" tools and other gewgaws that somebody WORKING ON CARS FOR A LIVING, especially guys who work on EXACTLY ONE KIND OF CAR (such as a tech at a dealership) which keeps the total universe of all those "special" tools to a minimum anyway, can pay for in increased throughput. That's a FAR CRY from "needing" the tools to do an alignment "right". The fact that "there is" such a tool doesn't automatically make it "necessary".

I have one brother who was a tech in GM dealerships for years, another who was a service writer at stores of NUMEROUS car brands for many years, and another who works at a major national chain tire store. NONE of those guys does "toe n go" ripoffs; and AFAIK, NONE of them has every one of the "special" tools "required" to service EVERY year of EVERY model of EVERY make of car, not even the ones they sell in their own stores. So yeah, I also have a certain familiarity with professional wrenching on that part of cars.

But I do like seeing those: they sure don't look like a Kent-Moore tool, even if they are, but obviously enough, get the job done.