Pulling left but the fault is not with tracking.

[Lew89]

Driving home on an unfamiliar road I hit a raised part of a resurfaced road, a bit of a thud - Since then the car is pulling to the left quite strongly although it had a vauge pull previously.

I've recently had, wishbones bushes front and rear, shortened drop links, and ball joints fitted as well as 4 x Uniroyal rainsport 2 tyres yesturday (disapointingly soft tyre wall will see if they grow on me though)

The tracking has been checked and is spot on camber is within tolerences 1% (I'm lowered on AP coilovers) thrust line etc is all OK the garage even checked the calibration of their tracking device which was spot on. The steering wheel is not 100% straight but that shouldnt really be relevant because it was probably clamped down a little offset when the tracking was done. Brakes are not dragging and the tyre pressure is OK

I'm at a loss to what I can check next, any suggestions ?

 

[phey708]

Hub bearing looks to be damaged.

 

[Lew89]

i've inspected the brakes a little further today and can see that on the front wheels the pads are not wearing evenly. I'm running a 312mm brake set up but the outer of the pad is wearing faster than inner (in terms of one pad not one side of the disc) meaning that there is an uneven braking surface and although its not currently dragging it does seem that it could quite easily do so.

Sticky slide pins ? I will grease them up when i get chance and replace the pads before getting the wheel bearings changed.

 

[fuzzy232]

Mine also has been pulling to the left, tracking didnt also fix this. Im on standered brake set up though :/

 

[Krash]

tyre pressure's on passenger side ?
have you checked all suspension components migh have knocked something loose or slightly bent something?

 

[vroomtshh]

It's the geometry. Post up the garages printout. I'd bet money on it being geometry. And the steering wheel should be straight. Every chance they've straightened the tracking by adjusting on track rod end, not both.
I'd also be amazed if your camber is within 1%. Standard cars tend to be further out than that, never mind lowered cars

 

[CluneZ]

Mine also pulls to the left

I'm putting mine down to coil overs being at different heights maybe. Issue with mine is they are seized and i haven't got round to taking them off the car to unseize them :\

If its not the coilies then I'm in the same predicament as you

 

[Lew89]

I dont have a print out unfortunately, i'm going to grease slide pins and change the brake pads tommorow as the pads are wearing unevenly. Good point about coilies being different heights I recieved a new spanner the other week because i want to go abit lower so will ensure left and right are on the same thread height.

Does any one elses 312mm brake pads seem to wear unevenly ? Its as if the pressure isnt displacing evenly through the pad and is favouring the area nearest the piston. I get a little bit of pulsation in the steering wheel when braking but rotors dont seem to be warped so will get the pads swapped over first (disc and pads have less than 1k miles on them) Tyre pressures are all OK.

 

[allias]

Lew89...

If you dont have a printout then I bet they didnt use good machine and they havent done full check which includes caster check as well. Caster is the angle that mostly causes pull and many times is overlooked. If this place is using proper equipment and they dont give out print our that means they not feel confident in their alignment/tracking. Try to get print out first - otherwise have it checked out fully by someone who can get you full print out. If other place sort it - then get refund from first place. On other side - how do they know its off 1%? I cant really see any measurments in % in alignment - it doesnt make sense.

PS. Brakes and sticky slides can cause that but you might have problems while braking as well causing pull during braking.

CluneZ

I dont know where are you in WY but there is place in called ABC CAR Service in Pudsey, Leeds who do all nessesary read-outs for free. Adjustment is chargable. Im sure they can help you with your left pull as well as coilovers.

 

[Cupra_225]

I have been to ABC today. They have worked miracles with my car!!!
After replacing my very seized dog bone bush, complete with sheared bolts (my fault), they set to work on my wheel alignment.
I have always had an issue with it pulling to the left. Turns out the caster has been out all this time.
This has been adjusted along with the thrust angle at the rear.
The car has never been so good. Straight steering wheel, no pull, perfect!

I got a full print out, but can't attach it as I haven't posted enough.

Definitely recommend ABC Car Services.

 

[allias]

I have been to ABC today. They have worked miracles with my car!!!
After replacing my very seized dog bone bush, complete with sheared bolts (my fault), they set to work on my wheel alignment.
I have always had an issue with it pulling to the left. Turns out the caster has been out all this time.
This has been adjusted along with the thrust angle at the rear.
The car has never been so good. Straight steering wheel, no pull, perfect!

I got a full print out, but can't attach it as I haven't posted enough.

Definitely recommend ABC Car Services.

Here is his print out:

 

[vroomtshh]

Here is his print out:

Why so little front camber and so much rear?
Surely that'll make the under steer worse?

 

[Cupra_225]

Drives better than it ever has.
Larger contact patch of the tyre with the road.

 

[vroomtshh]

Drives better than it ever has.
Larger contact patch of the tyre with the road.

Not when your cornering it doesn't. It'll have less tyre on the road. I'm not saying it won't drive well btw. Just asking for their reasoning. You'll have lost initial turn it grip, with increased mid corner grip. Having never driven and lcr, I can't say if it'll be good or bad. But for a fwd in general, it wouldn't be the setup I would choose.
I'm sure alias will have some wisdom on the matter

 

[Cupra_225]

All I know is it works and is within spec.
And we are only talking about 0.3degs.
Might have a word with ABC tough to understand their reasoning.

 

[vroomtshh]

All I know is it works and is within spec.
Never had understeer issues.

The front is within spec. The rear isn't. And if your fwd car doesn't understeer, you need to go faster
I'm sure alias will be along soon. Like I say, I haven't driven or tried setups for an lcr. But this is the mk4 forum and that setup would be as good as undriveable on a mk4. That's why I'm asking

 

[Cupra_225]

I do drive it hard, but I balance the throttle through the corners rather than trying to spin the wheels and drive straight off the road .

Anyway, back to the topic of the thread. The car no longer pulls to the left as a result of castor adjustment and the thrust angle has been corrected.

So how do you know so much about this?

 

[vroomtshh]

So how do you know so much about this?

I just like suspension. And the mk4 is rubbish. So I've tried many different set ups over the years.
I'm a big believer in trying things out, rather than just taking everything on the Internet as fact, and I like to know as much as possible about stuff. That's why I asked the question, your setup seems strange, but alias clearly knows his onions, and I just wanted his input on what would be seen as a strange set up.

I take it your car is lowered?

 

[allias]

About rear camber:
As we all know with straight beam on a back there is not much that can be done without shims. Those vehicles have more neg camber from factory. Depend on tyre and driving style that setup works fince for handling as well as life of tyres. Its always hard to find balance to find "happy middle". Many times its just a matter of setting thrust angle to "0" to make as "even" as possible. As long there is no saw-toothing or uneven wear - I wouldnt worry about it. Its worth to keep on eye on this. Ideal camber would be about -1 neg to have good grip while in straight as well in corners.

Front camber:
Main things is to make it as close to both sides as possible. That eliminate possible uneven wear on one side. Negetive camber between 0 and -1 will be always helping with good handling and more direct steering response. More neg is always helping with grip while cornering. For more aggresive driver I would do more neg camber. Again.... its all personal preference. To me there is no universal settings for makes & models. In this case its stock suspension and daily driver conditions -0.3 camber should work very well.

That is my opinion.

 

[Cupra_225]

It's not lowered, it doesn't work well with cumbrian roads. I would like to upgrade the anti roll bars, but when £££ allow.
Peter at ABC does know his stuff. I've learnt loads today and found it very interesting.
He's a perfectionist and likes to get it right. We did a total of 4 road tests before he was happy.