Pulling to the left

[mpower]

the recall was on steering, they didn't put your car back together correctly make them rectify it.

 

[Skylarking]

If all mechanical issues are ok with suspension and tyres are up to spec, and a vehicle is still pulling to the left, then the issue is either the road has an abnormally high crown (large slope away from the road center line) or there is an issue with caster.

Basically, the caster is used to provide stability at speed, self centering of the stering wheel and a steering force that counteracts the left pull caused by road crown. I've not heard of ADR's requiring vehicles to pull to the left as a design requirement but nothing would surprise me in the Motor Vehicle Industry.

Sadly, many (not all) wheel alignment places use electronic systems manned by less than knowledgable spanner twirlers with an inherent conflict of interest in selling more tyres. As such, it can be difficult to find a good wheel alignment place that has your interest as the higherst priority.

So, get all suspension bushes checked and get your alignment checked. The reason i say get the buses checked is that a soft bus on one side of the car may exagerate the caster steering force to the drivers detriment. The problem you'll have is the same we all suffer - how to find a honest business that will look after you and not try to rip you off

PS: odd that my browser didnt show the above two posts But it's good that the newby is getting it fixed after the steering recall. Oddly, I thought they were supposed to do an electronic steering recalibration as part of the recall. Maybe they missed that.

 

[vc commodore]

"Feature"? Sounds like terrible wheel alignment. Either that or they misunderstood the old way where you'd dial in more castor on the passenger side.

No way to dial in more caster with the factory set up.....You either have to fiddle with the camber, or fit an aftermarket caster bushes in the front

 

[vc commodore]

If all mechanical issues are ok with suspension and tyres are up to spec, and a vehicle is still pulling to the left, then the issue is either the road has an abnormally high crown (large slope away from the road center line) or there is an issue with caster.

No factory caster adjustment

Basically, the caster is used to provide stability at speed, self centering of the stering wheel and a steering force that counteracts the left pull caused by road crown.

I've not heard of ADR's requiring vehicles to pull to the left as a design requirement but nothing would surprise me in the Motor Vehicle Industry.


Total myth, the direct paragraph


Sadly, many (not all) wheel alignment places use electronic systems manned by less than knowledgable spanner twirlers with an inherent conflict of interest in selling more tyres. As such, it can be difficult to find a good wheel alignment place that has your interest as the higherst priority.


Agreed
So, get all suspension bushes checked and get your alignment checked. The reason i say get the buses checked is that a soft bus on one side of the car may exagerate the caster steering force to the drivers detriment. The problem you'll have is the same we all suffer - how to find a honest business that will look after you and not try to rip you off

PS: odd that my browser didnt show the above two posts But it's good that the newby is getting it fixed after the steering recall. Oddly, I thought they were supposed to do an electronic steering recalibration as part of the recall. Maybe they missed that.

 

[vc commodore]

It is going in Wednesday after taking the manager for a drive he said something about doing a wheel alignment, as I said before it was a recall for the power steering they should not have to touch the alignment .
PS scared the s*** out of the manager

If the rack was replaced, it needs an alignment, otherwise it'll scrub the tyres to the crudder before you get home

 

[_R_J_K_]

No way to dial in more caster with the factory set up.....You either have to fiddle with the camber, or fit an aftermarket caster bushes in the front

That's what I mean, you can't. Maybe they (or the apprentice) misunderstood that's not a thing, maybe dialled in toe out on the left instead thinking that was correct. Or they just did nothing.

 

[Skylarking]

@vc commodore lots of manufacturers have removed caster adjustability but wasn’t sure what adjustments the VE/VF have.

Unfortunately hitting a pothole hard can bend things enough to cause caster problems. It happened to me and wheel alignment fixed the vehicle pulling to the side but it kept chewing out one tire. It took going to lots of wheel alignment places and tires before the problem was identified and the part fixed.

Not sure what was a total myth, the description of caster or the supposed ADR requirements. It would be clearer to understand what you meant if you broke up the quoted post (which is easier on a pc with mouse than on an iPad or phone). But we use what we have

 

[_R_J_K_]

@vc commodore lots of manufacturers have removed caster adjustability but wasn’t sure what adjustments the VE/VF have.

They have these little washer plates in the front you can swap out that pull the wheel forward probably only like half or 1 degree more, they're relatively inexpensive and take about half an hour to do (you spend more time removing the trim to get to them than actually replacing them). If you've seen Silvia/Skyline castor rods they're really similar in design (apart from the VE bolting to the knuckle and not the LCA), but AFAIK there aren't any companies that have gone to the trouble of making adjustable castor rods for them.

 

[vc commodore]

That's what I mean, you can't. Maybe they (or the apprentice) misunderstood that's not a thing, maybe dialled in toe out on the left instead thinking that was correct. Or they just did nothing.

Dialing more toe one side to the other on the front, would cause the steering wheel to be off centred.

Re-reading the post, it is possible that they stupidly adjusted the camber which is causing the pull.

Another possibility is, they only adjusted the front and the rear is causing it to pull to the left..

Another theory ( and only a theory) that the left front has less air pressure than the right, causing the issue. So it'd be worth checking air pressures are even across the front, before heading back to the dealership for the fix

It would be nice if the OP could provide a copy of the alignment report to help determine the cause of the problem

 

[vc commodore]

@vc commodore lots of manufacturers have removed caster adjustability but wasn’t sure what adjustments the VE/VF have.

Unfortunately hitting a pothole hard can bend things enough to cause caster problems. It happened to me and wheel alignment fixed the vehicle pulling to the side but it kept chewing out one tire. It took going to lots of wheel alignment places and tires before the problem was identified and the part fixed.

Not sure what was a total myth, the description of caster or the supposed ADR requirements. It would be clearer to understand what you meant if you broke up the quoted post (which is easier on a pc with mouse than on an iPad or phone). But we use what we have

The myth is, manufacturers have an inbuilt left drift as part of the design...

Unfortunately it is difficult to get a car driving straight on all roads, because all roads have different camber angles to them, even in the same area...

Hitting a pothole generally effects the camber, rather than the caster....Camber generally causes tyre wear issues, rather than Caster....It is easy to be confused with the 2

I have found over the years with Commodores, when they are used as shopping carts, the owners hit the concrete blocks at the end of car parks, causes the Radius rod to straighten out, therefore causing a left pull.

It doesn't have to be a hard hit, but constant tapping, for the owner to know they are at the end of the car park