Alignment help

[jpfletch1]

My car pulls slightly to the right going down the road. What do I adjust to straighten it out? Toe in/out ?

[bobcowan]

You adjust whatever is out of proper adjustment. I know that sounds like a smart-aleck answer. But the list of things that can cause that is long - from a slightly smaller tire on one side, to a bad steering rack.

Things to check are the obvious things like tire pressure and brake drag. And then start looking at alignment settings, ride height, and cross weights.

Don't forget to check the rear suspension, too. M ake sure the axle is square, etc.

[strictlypersonl]

Toe-in is probably not the problem but...
Things to check (assuming everything is within specs and the chassis is level):

1. Equal camber from side-to-side
2. Caster that's equal (or slightly more positive on the right side)
3. Diagonal weights equal.
4. Tire diameters and pressures equal from side to side.

[Silverback51]

Take it to Roger Kraus and have them align it.

http://rogerkrausracing.com/pages/pricing.html

[Jerry Clayton]

could be as simple as a directional tread tire mounted on wrong side out

[Bobcat]

One other thing to consider is that most roads are sloped slightly to the outside to help with water runoff . That can cause a car to "pull" slightly to the right . That`s why you ( at least I do ) want a little more caster on the passenger`s side .Just one more thing to confuse you with .
From what I can see , the other suggestions pretty much cover what you need to check .

[akfish]

When I use to do alignments back in the 80’s allot of the time the car was pulling do to bad tires, the term ‘’conicity’’ was used, the steel belts would make the tire form a cone shape ,which would make the car pull one way or the other. Switching the tire from one side to the other confirmed this.

[jpfletch1]

Thanks for all the suggestions. Jim

[RICK LAKE]

jpfletch1 Jim there is a little more that just toe,
I am going to start with the road and how high is the crown??
I am going to look at your added weight to the car? 175,200,250, 275??
This all needs to be taken into alignment.
Was the car corners weighted with your weight in the drivers seat?
For camber, run about .5-1.0 of pos camber front, for rear about .75- camber
caster needs to be between .3-.4 cross different between the 2 sides.
If the car has power steering run about 3.0-3.5+, if manual 1.0-2.0+ caster
toe in the front 1/16 toe in, rear toe about the same.
Thrust angle "0" front to back of car.
As far as tires, you need matching pairs. High speed balance
If the car sits on concrete for couple of days the tires may develop flat spots.
The last thing on this Jim is that there is almost no chance of you falling asleep at the wheel,but I would prefer to hit something on my side of the road than cross and have a head on.
You might try to change just air pressures to stop drift if the car is drifting right. this is not a bad thing. Pull is a problem that needs to be addressed. Last thing, When you go to have the car aligned, Ask when the last time the machine was calibrated?? I have gotten cars and truck done at outside shops, ( people trying to save a couple of dollars) and the cars come in 1/4" off on toe alone. Our machine gets 2 calibrations a year. With cars having $500.00 tires each, these people want cars to get max wear life out of tires and the car to track straight down the road. Good luck, do basics first with weights at corners. Forgot, Do you have a passenger?? This will effect the car pulling also. Pulls more with passenger, alignment is off. Rick L.

[jpfletch1]

Thanks Rick. Great information

[Jerry Clayton]

When you do go for any alignment work ask for a before and after printout---

I finally bought my own Hunter alignment rack---it is past the model that they will update the computer specs and therefore the dealers need to get newer models--wonderful lift, and super for doing fabrication work on as you have the vehicle where you can build it where it needs to be---