Pulling to the left

Hi guys, my Cupra has always pulled slightly to the left right from new. However a couple of months ago I hit a massive pot hole at about 50mph. The whole car juddered all the way home. I took it in for wheel balancing and tracking and they told me the alloy was bent too.

Got all those fixed but it still pulls to the left, only a lot more than it ever has. I've had the tracking done three times at three different places. It seems OK for the first few miles then just seems to go again.

I took the car in for damage checks last week and was told the bushes, steering, tracking rods and suspension were all fine.

The other thing I've noticed recently is the handling doesn't feel quite right. It feels a little wallowy and definitely not as sharp as it was before. Almost like driving on a greasy road surface - a bit squirmy.

Has anyone got any suggestions what the problem might be as I don't know where to go from here. All my tyres are virtually new and at the correct pressure by the way.

When driving straight I have to angle the wheel at the ten to four position just to keep in a straight line. It's so bad I actually hate driving it at the moment.

Cheers.

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Thanks for the reply.

The last time I had the tracking and balancing done (June) they told me the rear wheels were quite a way out but as you stated 'cannot be adjusted'.

So, on the assumption that is what I should look at in the first instance, what is the solution if it is non-adjustable? A new car?

Is it possible the back being out could cause pulling to the left? I've heard mixed opinions on this. Thanks.

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Hmm sounds like this may be the problem then particularly if all the wheels and rods etc check out OK. I've found a decent looking place online so I'll get my car booked in and let you know how that goes. Cheers for your advice.

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Right, taken the car in for a four-wheel alignment. First they told me that the rear wheels could be aligned and they'd adjust it for me, but when I collected it a different guy told me the rear cannot be adjusted on this model so they couldn't do it. Hmm.

Anyway, here are the before and after readings for the front - suffice to stay it still pulls to the left just as much as it did before I handed over my £30!

Front caster:
left 4.09 before, 4.09 after
right 4.03 before, 4.03 after

Front camber:
left -1.29 before, -1.40 after (is this actually worse? I don't understand what the numbers mean)
right -0.35 before, -0.31 after

Front toe:
left -0.11 before, 0.05 after
right 0.05 before, 0.07 after
total 0.16 before, 0.11 after

Rear camber
left -2.23 before, -2.25 after
right -1.29 before, -1.30 after

Rear toe
left 0.32 before, 0.31 after
right 0.14 before, 0.14 after
total 0.46 before, 0.45 after

The guy said he road-tested it (and he did as it had an extra five miles on the clock when I collected it) and he assured me it was dead on.

Driving home, I could still feel it pulling quite hard to the left. He gave me the usual spiel that it was probably the camber of the road so to test that theory, I drove on the wrong side of the road when I got near to my house as there is a long stretch of quiet road so it was safe to do so. I expected if it was camber of the road I would then be pulled to the right. Not so, it still pulled hard to the left.

So if anyone understands what these readings mean, I'd be grateful for any further advice.

PS: They had the car all day and checked the bushes, springs, track rods and ball joints and all were absolutely fine.

Thanks for that.

Just phoned the dealer who said the front camber isn't adjustable so it must be suspension or steering and to 'bring it in' - where I expect they'd charge me another £60 and still not fix it which is why I went to a specialist wheel alignment place.

Phoned back the company who did the alignment and they confirmed front camber wasn't adjustable but altering 'toe' can have an affect on camber (apparently). They confirmed all the bushes, suspension, ball joints etc checked out ok (as did another local garage a couple of weeks ago).

I don't know what to do now, you're saying it's the camber reading above and they're saying it's not out by enough to make much of a difference and that it can't be adjusted anyway.

Time to trade for a Golf GTi or Audi A3 me thinks...!

The ride height is the same all round. The measurements were also on the alignment print out. Should I take it back, take it somewhere else or just give up?

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Thought as much. My previous car (Astra SRi) did exactly the same. Had that for five years and this for three. 8 years compensating the steering is very tiresome. Any cars out there that don't pull left?

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I want an A3 or Golf next. Being VW I wonder if they will both suffer the same pulling?

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Thanks. I've wondered the same but I've spent loads on alignments at different garages and it's always done it so for the sake of another year I will put up with it and trade it in. Will be someone else's problem then.

Which model Focus did you go for? ST?

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