Let me explain the situation:
- on a straight road with a crown I have to keep my wheel slightly to the left to keep the car going straight.
- if i stop slowly and my car almost comes to a stop the wheel will automatically turn itself to the right to 25 degrees (i'm guessing it is trying to follow the crown of the road)
- if i stop rapidly under hard braking the car does not pull to either side and the steering wheel will remain straight, even with my hands off the wheel the steering will not turn to either side.
- if i drive the car in a flat parking structure and let my hands off the wheel the wheel will slightly move to about 10 degrees to the right and making the car drift to the right.
- the car is a 92sc400 with 75k miles.
- i've gone to the lexus dealer to pull up service records and it doesn't show any repairs that was non maintenance or non routine.
- i've had a 4 wheel alignment done when i changed the front tires not too long ago and i was at the machine looking at the readout so it was aligned within specs.

can anyone tell me what seems to be the problem?

I've done searches and some say it could be the steering bushing or some say the lower control arm but there seems to be no definitive answer.

Please help with your input, sorry for the long post.

 

I have had similar problems in the past and they were a nightmare to get resolved. Here is a fact for you to never forget...My 93 has none of your symptoms...PERIOD. Your prob can be resolved.

Here is one of my horror stories that involved numerous visits and bad conversations:

71 240Z...Drove fine but had a balance problem. Shop was instructed to find and balance the bad tire and do an alignment. They found one tire that needed balancing out of four and did the alignment. On the Z the fact spec called for toe in only and you had to bend the car to adj camber. Paid the bill, drove out and got on the freeway. Car pulled right badly. Went back and they checked the toe. It was on and their records said that it was only adjusted less than an eighth originally. The manager drove the car and said that it had "RADIAL TIRE PULL". I flipped and pointed out that all the tires were in the same position and it didn't have RTP before. Her said that the alignment was spot on and not far from when I gave him the car, the tires were balanced and it was RTP. He bargained that he would prove it by switching the fronts and that if the car didn't pull he was done. I watched them do everything from the start and I was braced for a knock-down and drag out. Well, the car quit pulling and was fine for years afterward. And the moral is...? Nothing succeeds like success, I guess. The story doesn't have a logical ending.

Front ends are pretty much simple and straight forward until they aren't and then they are a mystery. Try switching the fronts first and if there is no change try switching the rears.

I had a Ford long ago that started pulling and that turned out to be a fault in the power steering unit. Three trips to the alignment shop!

You did say that the problem started AFTER you had a four wheel alignment, didn't you? Always go to what you last touched first when troubleshooting a problem. Even if the machine says that it is aligned the machine could be out of calibration and it is being set to the wrong spec. Try another shop and have them document what they found and what they adj to.

The rears can do this and the are adjustable.

Good luck...really...good luck!

John

Let us know how this turns out, please.

 

Have the steering rack bushings, tie rod ends, A-arm bushings and ball joints checked for excessive wear. I would suspect a combination of the above. Insure the shocks or struts are in good condition.

 

cheack the control arm bushings mines did the same thing until i replaced it .now its perfect

 

steering questions go in this forum.

moved

 

I had the problem even before the 4 wheel alignment, when i first bought the car I assumed it was out of alignment and just needed an alignment to get the steering straight. So when i took it in to change the front tires i had the alignment done.

I can't swap the two front tires becuase they are directional, all 4 tires were re-balanced when i had the 4 wheel alignment done.

How do i check if the bushings are bad? I had a mechanic friend of mine visually inspect the bushings without taking anything off and he said they looked fine and didn't need replacing. Do parts need to be removed to check that the bushings are worn out?

 

no, not in my experience.