My 1992 SC pulls to the right pretty at any speed. It pulls even at a slow gradual stop when u let go of the wheel.

I brought my car into the alignment shop today where me and my pops had good experiences with his alignment jobs with our cars. The mechanic made little adjustments because he said that alignment before was almost to specs and that the problem might be my tires. Needless to say, there was no improvement. The car has 135k miles and has no accidents. The front tires are new but different because it was rotated by the previous owner. What might be wrong?

 

Are the lower control bushing original? If yes, they are shot and will not hold alignment. Time for complete lower control arms or new bushings.

 

Many thing may be wrong. For starters those tires being different.

Now, to eliminate tires as a pull cause, swith front tires from side to side and test drive. If pull to the opposite dirrection after tire switch you find your problem.

Now people, DO NOT arrive to the shop and TELL the techs what to do on the car. Arrive and present complaint.
F.e. Do NOT arrive and ask for alignment job. Arrive with complaint of the pull and ask how much to fix it. If is still pulling AFTER they "fix it " do not pay. It is that simple.

 

Ok that alignment was a waste of money. arr.

Anyways I'll try to switch the front tires out sometime soon. For now I'll try to save up for the Supra Lower Control Arms and the steering rack bushings

 

Any progress on this problem, my car is doing the same?

 

My car (94 SC400) does the same thing. I have had three mechanics look at it and 5 - 6 alignments done over the past 4 months. Latest alignment was today. The mechanic swears my bushings are good and the alignment is to specs but in a few days the car will be acting up again. He convinced me to replace the shocks; which I did, but it did not fix the problem. My next move is to just buy the steering rack bushings and supra LCAs and tell them to replace them. Enough of this!!!

 

are the supra LCA's stronger/stiffer than the oem sc300 lca's? is that why people are changing over to them?

 

Yeah, the supra LCA's have slightly beefier bushings, but the big thing is that they can be had for $200+/- each and they come with new ball joints too.

 

I have:
New tires
New Supra lower control arms
New Valmous steering rack bushings (absolute waist of money)
New alignment done by a good mechanic.

And my car still pulls to the right. If you are going to buy the steering rack bushings, do your self a service by calling up some supplier of rebuilt steering racks and find out if they replace the steering rack bushings in the new unit. This way you end up doing the job once and save yourself the hassle. Thats my next step, to replace the steering rack, and I know the steering rack busings didn't do much. Other than that I have no idea what will solve my pull problem. Hope this helps.

 

U spent all that money and still didnt solve the problem??? Well, how many miles do u have on the odometer?

 

Did you check the Tire Pressure? Low tire pressure on my front right tire has caused my SC300 to pull to the right previously.

Are your tires worn evenly? A tire with excess wear on one side may cause the car to pull.

Other than that, I'm out of ideas. Does the car pull on the highway also? My car pulls constantly to the right locally, but never on the highway. This way I know my wheels are aligned. The only reason it pulls locally is because all the roads are sloped pretty heavily downward(relatively speaking) to the curb to help drainage.

 

139,000 miles on the oddometer.


The car does not pull excessively but it still does. It pulls on the high along in the city. The best way to test this kind of problem is to get the car up to 40-45 MPH and put the car in neutral. The car will steer in one direction if there is a problem.

As for tire pressure and tread wear, everything is checked and in good condition. This problem maybe driven by two factors. First wear in my steering rack. Thats possible especially if the wear is more on the driver side, making the passenger side stiffer, thus pulling the car toward the left. Second, I had my left bearing and hub replaced, which can also lead to that problem especially if the other side is near going out. The new bearing is firmer and therefore it will pull alittle. In the end it may a combination of things, as I rebuild most of the suspension on my car hopefully this problem will be eliminated.

 

What brand/model are your tires? I know Michelin had some problems with pulling to one side...even after alignment.

 

i have the exact same response....and i determined its the low profile tires...they always pull on uneven roads....on the freeway i can go 100 in a straight line.

CEO

 

Try checking the inner side of your tires, not the outer rim.

I had the same exact problem for doing burnouts, etc etc and the wear was on the inside of the tire. My alignment was fine and camber is fine, its most likely your tires.