Car pulls slightly to the left after wheel alignment

[Sabbath']

Did they put any ballast in the drivers seat while doing the alignment?

When the car's on the machine all the measurements are being done unloaded, but as soon as you jump in, you're essentially altering the geometry straight away.

 

[pablo]

I once had a front tyre that caused the vehicle to pull one way very noticeable. The wear on it looked no different from the other three, but when I swapped it with the spare, the car tracked straight again.
I also notice in the Commodores that unless both front tyres are at the same air pressure, the car will tend to wander off centre.

 

[Toyvt]

Lol , i can let go of my steering wheel for over 100 mtrs and it drives dead straight. I guess it helps that i work at a tyre shop After some research on customers cars i am dead against fitting rear camber kits to ISR cars. They take all the play out of your cvs and end up stuffing them.

 

[DANNY8]

I also notice in the Commodores that unless both front tyres are at the same air pressure, the car will tend to wander off centre.

I think you'll find all cars are like that. I'd assume it would be because one wheel will have more resistance on it. My Mum had a Holden Epica that pulled left sumfin chronic. No one could fix it as everything was spot on but it still pulled to the left. So she ended up putting more pressure in the passenger side front tyre and it drove straight. Traded it in about a month ago....wat a crap car that was!

 

[nathanVY]

Lol , i can let go of my steering wheel for over 100 mtrs and it drives dead straight. I guess it helps that i work at a tyre shop After some research on customers cars i am dead against fitting rear camber kits to ISR cars. They take all the play out of your cvs and end up stuffing them.

Keen to hear more about this..

 

[glenn l]

Lol , i can let go of my steering wheel for over 100 mtrs and it drives dead straight. I guess it helps that i work at a tyre shop After some research on customers cars i am dead against fitting rear camber kits to ISR cars. They take all the play out of your cvs and end up stuffing them.

if you fit a 2 point kit there will be no problem, its when you fit a 4 point kit and people that dont know how to set them up properly is when there is trouble. what happens if its incorectly adjusted it makes the cv shafts bottom out and distroy the cv and it can also bugger the bearings in the diff centre, when adjusting the 4 point kit you have to make sure there is about 3-4mm of plunge in the cv shaft.

 

[Jesterarts]

Lol , i can let go of my steering wheel for over 100 mtrs and it drives dead straight. I guess it helps that i work at a tyre shop After some research on customers cars i am dead against fitting rear camber kits to ISR cars. They take all the play out of your cvs and end up stuffing them.

1. A hundred meters is not that far... only bout 4 sec @ 80kmph.
2. Not sure what ISR cars are, but on an IRS car camber kits actually save CV's because they reduce the angle of the wheel and thus the angle the driveshaft CV is operating at.

But yes, keen to hear your experience with customer cars and how a camber kits to IRS cars.

 

[VTowner025]

Took the car in today for another wheel alignment (somewhere else) and the results were very different to what the report said before. The Toe was in slight positive and not negative. The mechanic also said that the Toe adjustment nut was seized on, and had to use a hammer to move it? pretty amazing that it can seize since the last wheel alignment (1.5 weeks ago), either that or they never moved it in the first place. Conclusion these print out reports are bullshit. Seems that the car is a lot better to drive now. I seem to never get a good wheel alignment at a tire place, going forward, I think when I buy new tires in the future, I will have them fitted at a tire shop and have the wheel alignment completed at a specialist.

 

[Verynice]

Haha a seized nut explains it. They would have just left it, and compensated for it by adjusting the other side until it has the preferred total toe.

If only one side is adjusted, the steering wheel will usually always be out a bit. Not that the tyres would be wearing out or anything, just the steering wheel is out.

 

[grafton]

Okay guys, the facts: total toe-in for vt-ve is 0.17 degrees. vb-vp total 2+/- millimeters. 0.17 degrees = 1.13 millimeters. Therefore , total toe-in should be 1.13 millimeters. 2mm is too much t-in for these cars. Some aligners do not calculate degrees to mm therefore just toe her in 2+mm. I have a Vk wagon With a V6 in it, total toe 1.8mm..Perfect. My wifes VX II Berlina total toe 1.4mm. My Ve II SV6 sportwagon 1.4mm & no tyre wear & drives perfectly straight. I had recently had an alignment from the CLOWNS at South Grafton opposite Mcdonalds (while the boss is away the clowns will play. the boss Rob was away racing with his brother) & within 60ks my front tyres were howling like the warewolf in London! after 120ks they started to make a whoop whoop whoop noise, started shaking constanly & started to chew the outside edge of the tyres rapidly & ran them out of balance. Came home, ran the tape measure across them & truck me....3.0mm toe in. I took it to Reimers tyre shop, Initial reading was +3.2mm. Toed it out to 1.4mm total + rebalance & now it's perfect..Drives straight again tyres not feathering & a big bonus, no tyre shake or howling noise. Something to think about. cheers