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I CHALLENGE YOU to solve this problem

M

MoldyFrogToe

Car pulls left

On the highway at 60mph if you let go of the wheel it will switch lanes in 1-2sec

From appx 60-73mph, the car vibrates a little and the wheel shakes somewhat. After 73mph this goes away but the pull still remains.

When you brake, it pulls but not as much, does not vibrate at all


The brakes are fine. New pads, new rotors, and calipers are not frozen.
The suspension is fine, all of it, and lower control arms replaced recently.
Recently aligned
New tires, balanced, and 1 bent rim fixed
Car is FWD, the axles are fine and so is the transmission, it was just flushed & has new fluid
I can't find any play anywhere

The car corners fine. No scraping noises. The wheel bearings are ok.
No vibration upon acceleration
Drives like a charm (aside from slight pull to the left) below 55mph


This is stumping me.
For it to be pulling this much, something must be wrong but what is it?

Could the frame be bent from a small accident?
It makes no sense because if it can be aligned then the frame shouldn't be an issue but I'm at my wit's end.
 
Sleepy

Sleepy

Active member
Veteran
be careful!!

be careful!!

MoldyFrogToe said:
Car pulls left

On the highway at 60mph if you let go of the wheel it will switch lanes in 1-2sec

From appx 60-73mph, the car vibrates a little and the wheel shakes somewhat. After 73mph this goes away but the pull still remains.

When you brake, it pulls but not as much, does not vibrate at all


The brakes are fine. New pads, new rotors, and calipers are not frozen.
The suspension is fine, all of it, and lower control arms replaced recently.
Recently aligned
New tires, balanced, and 1 bent rim fixed
Car is FWD, the axles are fine and so is the transmission, it was just flushed & has new fluid
I can't find any play anywhere

The car corners fine. No scraping noises. The wheel bearings are ok.
No vibration upon acceleration
Drives like a charm (aside from slight pull to the left) below 55mph


This is stumping me.
For it to be pulling this much, something must be wrong but what is it?

Could the frame be bent from a small accident?
It makes no sense because if it can be aligned then the frame shouldn't be an issue but I'm at my wit's end.
Click to expand...


i would start with the suspension from the bent rim back to the frame. if not the frame itself. you will wear your tires unevenly with this setup, and eventually it will become unsafe. especially above normal highway speeds.

do you travel with kids in the car at all???

take the vehicle to someone skilled/well versed in this type of problem and either repair it or get rid of it. be careful in the wet/slick road situations.

i would tend to think it is related to the bent rim incident.
best of luck...
 
chuckyoufarley

chuckyoufarley

Well-known member
Veteran
check the tires,my friend had a tire that a steel belted radial and the steel belts were messed up and threw off the balance
 
B

BeardedClam

Member
Do you have a gut that hits the steering wheel?
That's my only guess.


What model of car is it?
What year was it made?
Like my suburban was made between the years '99-'06, you don't have to give exact year made.
 
ArcticBlast

ArcticBlast

It's like a goddamned Buick Regal
Veteran
if you have electronic powersteering assist/boost in your car, there could be something wrong with the sensor/controller or whatever

ArcticBlast
 
hardhat22

hardhat22

Member
I bought a van 2 years ago that had a small glitch with the side door being a little hard to close. Finally my auto body bud told me that the frame was warped. Then he tried to 'splain to me that this mini van didn't have what is traditionally known as a frame, Lol.

As it turns out,the previous owner had backed into a light pole and that was all it took to ruin the van. This van also pulled to one side even after a laser alignment. I didn't keep it long enough to watch the $600 worth of tires wear off of it.
Get rid of it.
Peace
 
R

resin seeker

Member
i spoke to my friend about his problem and he said "if the car has been in an accident just sell the fucker it cost thousands to fix"and this guys has been running his own garage for 20 odd years hope this helps
 
M

MoldyFrogToe

It's a Saab with under 60k miles on it.

I replaced the brakes, they're all fine.
Calipers aren't frozen
Car is aligned
Rims are not bent as far as I was told, I fixed the only "bent" one.
Tires are new with 5000mi on them
Balljoints, tie rods etc, bushings, control arms, it's all fine with no play
Steering rack is pretty good, linkage is all tight
No other symptoms or sounds. Power steering is fine.
Carfax is fine, car's been heavily serviced for routine checkups by the dealer (no longer on warranty though)

I rotated the tires today, put the rears on the front.
It actually took care of the vibration from 60-70mph, but now it'll vibrate at 80mph+

It pulls to the left just the same however.
It could be the frame.
The accident was obv covered up by the owner off record, it was a small to moderate fender bender.
I know a good auto body guy who can check the frame and bend it back for $250 or so. It's obv. a minor bend if anything.
 
JJScorpio

JJScorpio

Thunderstruck
ICMag Donor
Veteran
I think I'd have it aligned again someplace else.

What's the deal with all these bent rims? It's hard enough to bend one, so the car took some kind of hard shot somewhere. If you hit something hard enough to bend the rims I'd be making sure there wasn't damage to the A frame.
 
Q

quest

Have someone else drive it while you follow in another vehicle. You will be able to see how it tracks.
 
M

Ms.Harley

Member
Check the insides of your times for wear or bubbles. Then get your rim fixed and have them take a look at your cv joins and axles.
 
M

MoldyFrogToe

JJScorpio said:
I think I'd have it aligned again someplace else.

What's the deal with all these bent rims? It's hard enough to bend one, so the car took some kind of hard shot somewhere. If you hit something hard enough to bend the rims I'd be making sure there wasn't damage to the A frame.
Click to expand...
Eh, I've had plenty of bent rims, all it takes is a pothole, they're so soft.
They usually aren't visibly bent, and it can throw them out of balance

That's why this guy started the rim bending biz here, and now his machine is used all across the country. Nobody used to bend back rims a few years ago, at least around here!

It only had 1 really 'bent' rim. That's what this alignment chain told me after I asked them to balance all my wheels
Thing is, they don't use precision balancers, and they def. don't do roadforce balancing, that's something to look into if I get more desperate.

The shaking is one thing, but the pulling is something I haven't been able to pinpoint
 
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