Car pulling to left under acceleration?
Discussion
Just changed my n/s front lower arm on my fiesta. I had to remove the subframe in the process to do this, I have refitted, torqued everything up and checked for play. There is now no play in any of the suspension components other than a bit of top mount movement on both sides. Could this cause my car to pull? I understand it needs alignment as a result of changing the bottom arm but at the moment it is pulling under quite light throttle, more so when I rag it a bit. It pulls enough for me to need to counter steer to the right to keep it in a straight line, once off the throttle it will then drive straight if the wheel is straight. Could this be caused by bad tracking or is there something I'm missing? Tire pressures are spot on, the only adjustment in the alignment is toe, it seems to be doing it after I've changed the arm? Any help appreciated
Toe would cause pull to one side if it is not even. If it is under acceleration only I'd suspect the problem is some part of the geometry that changes when the front lifts, or when torque is applied. Toe might increase as the lower arm drops.
Get the geometry checked first, it has to be set anyway, assuming you are comletely sure everything is tight and nothing is moving around that wasn't before.
Get the geometry checked first, it has to be set anyway, assuming you are comletely sure everything is tight and nothing is moving around that wasn't before.
ADEuk said:
Alignment out will not cause the issue here. It will be a worn LBJ or not tightened enough pinch-bolt. OP was it a new arm? There are two sizes of ball joint pin on some Fiestas
Brand new n/s arm with balljoint. O/s had no play whatsoever hence why I didn't replace that side, it's a mk3 if that makes any difference I tend to change suspension components in pairs, on the basis that if one side is knackered the other side is probably not far off. Another arm for a Fiesta can't cost much?
Recently did arms, struts and top mounts on my SL, only one ball joint had play and the bushes seemed okay. Afterwards the car was not pleasant to drive until the alignment was done.
Pleased I changed the lot though, enough overall improvement to justify the spend.
Recently did arms, struts and top mounts on my SL, only one ball joint had play and the bushes seemed okay. Afterwards the car was not pleasant to drive until the alignment was done.
Pleased I changed the lot though, enough overall improvement to justify the spend.
Didn't replace o/s arm cause it looked new but will replace that when I get paid, like I say no play at all on any of the components I can see other than the top mounts, it's pulling quite badly so just hope that new arms sort it. I had made another post about knocking from the front end when slow turning/stationary turning but it was doing this before anyway. Just seems that now I've changed arm it's all driving by itself, I'm wondering if maybe the o/s is a bit worn and is lagging behind when I accelerate. Will try a brand new set of bolts aswell from ford
PositronicRay said:
How long have you had the car and when did the symptoms appear? If the other side looked new why was it changed? Has someone stuffed the car into a kerb at speed?
Had it 2 months and appeared literally the minute I changed the lower arm. The n/s lower arm was changed because the balljoint had excessive play, the o/s looked new so wasn't changed. When I refitted everything, the steering wheel was of centre and now pulls. I'm not sure if it just needs alignment, or the other arm, or bolts retightened etc. I've swapped all wheels round, even put my other wheels on to no avail. Seems to be a huge coincidence something has failed after fitting arm, or arm has knocked it all out PositronicRay said:
Steering wheel off centre? That's a clue to alignment.
If it were me I'd recheck the work done, fit new top mounts, the other arm and then alignment.
It won't cost you much more than £100 and give you some peace of mind.
Yeah that's probably best way about it, will try get it aligned in work first see if that sorts it If it were me I'd recheck the work done, fit new top mounts, the other arm and then alignment.
It won't cost you much more than £100 and give you some peace of mind.
Edited by PositronicRay on Monday 12th October 17:43
PositronicRay said:
Steering wheel off centre? That's a clue to alignment.
If it were me I'd recheck the work done, fit new top mounts, the other arm and then alignment.
It won't cost you much more than £100 and give you some peace of mind.
Yeah that's probably best way about it, will try get it aligned in work first see if that sorts it If it were me I'd recheck the work done, fit new top mounts, the other arm and then alignment.
It won't cost you much more than £100 and give you some peace of mind.
Edited by PositronicRay on Monday 12th October 17:43
If you didn't have the wheels dead straight when tightening the nut on top of the strut on a MK2 Escort, it was possible to "wind" the rubber top mount into a twisted position meaning the steering pulled.
Could you have inadvertently tightened something up when it wasn't in the correct position IYSWIM?
Could you have inadvertently tightened something up when it wasn't in the correct position IYSWIM?
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff