Pulling To The Left

[mos 1]

one of my 205 keeps pulling to the left regardless of road camber etc, in fact the only time it goes straight is when braking

i have replaced everything on the front end, shocks, top mounts, sterring rack, track rods ends, wishbones and genuine bushes, drop links, new goodyear f1s and one drive shaft (passenger side)

i did think it might be my quaiffe diff but others using it dont seem to suffer this

what else could cause this, i was going to sell this partcular car but i have now decided to keep it as well as the new one i am building so i want to fix it if possible

i know i am clutching at straws but what else could it be, other driveshaft, uneven tyre wear, one front wheel is smr and the other is not, could it be the rear beam even although it does not seem seized the ride is definately harder in this one than my other car and both are supposed to be standard suspension

no obvious camber etc but the wheels do seem to toe in slightly on the rear , is this normal.

 

help please i am at the end of my tether with this!

 

thanks

 

mark

[S33GAV 0]

I had a prob with my 205 pulling badly to the left under excelleration and it was the driveshaft - the gator has split.

 

Do a search though as I know I've seen loads and loads of posts about this kind of problem, with lots and lots of responses with suggestions.

 

Here's my post with peoples suggestions:

 

http://forum.205gtidrivers.com/index.php?s...0under&st=0

 

And another one:

 

http://forum.205gtidrivers.com/index.php?s...hl=pulling+left

 

Gav

[mos 1]

if its the driveshaft it would really have to be the drivers side one as the passenger side one is virtually new less than 5k and the problem was there before i fitted it and it remained

would a drivers side shaft cause a car to pull left

its not that violent a pull left more like bad tracking but thats been done and rechecked and the car goes to the left regardless of power on or off so its not likely to be the wishbone bushes particularly as both wishbones are new and i fitted pugeot bushes

the car does seem to go straigh on medium to hard braking though!

the only thing that made a huge difference was the genuine wishbone bushes they made the car feel more planted on the road and no where near as skitish.

it just with everything i have replace this persistant pulling to the left remains

the car has been tracked at 0 degrees toe in, no differnce, i really cant think of anything else on the front to try as everything bar one driveshaft has been changed

could it not be rear beam in some less than obvious way causing this as the front is all virtually brand new with no component having covered more than 5k

[j_turnell 137 3 Cars]

Get your tracking checked again.

Edited December 4, 2006 by j_turnell

[Guest BrainFluid]

Clutching at staws here also...

 

If the left drivshaft is new and the drivers side is old, maybe the pass one is just working better than the drivers one hence the pull to the left?

 

Ive only ever taken a rear beam off and have no idea if a rear beam could be put on a bit squew-whiff or not.

 

Good luck, it must be doing your nut in!

[mos 1]

well i am hoping to get the car up on the ramp again possibly as soon as saturday

any tips anyone, perhaps the way i am checcking things is not correct

 

also, could a pull to the left be caused by a rear end fault, so i have been looking in the wrong place thus far, if the back could be the cause is this the one of the usual traits

 

i have checked and replaced this bloody car what feels like a million times as has my friend an 15 year time served mechanic and a trained mot tester so unless we are both missing something simple i dont know what the hell is going on!!!

 

thanks

 

mark

[jonah 1]

Don't go just replacing things at random hoping that it'll cure the problem. Get it down to a wheel alignment place that can measure all the angles including caster, SAI etc. That will almost certainly tell you where the problem lies - post the results up here if you need help interpreting the numbers.

 

Have a look here to find somewhere near you that can do the measurements (click on Centre Locator)

http://www.alignmycar.co.uk

 

FWIW I've found in the past that a pull to one side is caused by a difference in caster angle between left and right. It can be corrected if it's not too far out.

 

Just to add, you mentioned uneven tyre wear - is there any?? Are both tyres on each axle the same type? Pressures even all round? (check the obvious things first!!)

Edited December 6, 2006 by jonah

[Guest BrainFluid]

one front wheel is smr and the other is not

 

Just noticed that the speedline will be lighter than the smr. So, really, before you do anthing, wouldnt it be best to put 2 wheels of the same weight on the front mate?

[mos 1]

Don't go just replacing things at random hoping that it'll cure the problem. Get it down to a wheel alignment place that can measure all the angles including caster, SAI etc. That will almost certainly tell you where the problem lies - post the results up here if you need help interpreting the numbers.

 

Have a look here to find somewhere near you that can do the measurements (click on Centre Locator)

http://www.alignmycar.co.uk

 

FWIW I've found in the past that a pull to one side is caused by a difference in caster angle between left and right. It can be corrected if it's not too far out.

 

Just to add, you mentioned uneven tyre wear - is there any?? Are both tyres on each axle the same type? Pressures even all round? (check the obvious things first!!)

 

 

once i have had the car up on the ramp etc one final time i will do this

thanks for the offer to interpret the numbers, i will definately be requiring help with that if it comes to it

the tyres are the same type, goodyear f1's all fitted at the same time on reconned wheels i got from autofive.

been on about 5k and i havent noticed any uneven tyre wear, pressures are correct at 29psi

one of the biggest problems i have is when i built this car i renewed everything i knew was shot on the steering/suspension before i actually drove the car on the road (seemed a good idea at the time)

but this has now put me in the situation that as i have not changed one item at a time i cant really narrow it down to when i changed a specific part

the car has had a bump at some point so its very possible the castor/camber etc may be out but that is i would have though this is going to be virtually impossible to put right if its the shell and not the subframe is bent etc!

how can this be corrected easily?

 

thanks

 

mark

Edited December 7, 2006 by mos

[mos 1]

Just noticed that the speedline will be lighter than the smr. So, really, before you do anthing, wouldnt it be best to put 2 wheels of the same weight on the front mate?

 

 

good point i will eliminate this as a possible cause first

 

thanks

 

mark

[Grim.Badger 15]

If it's not violent and you're not getting uneven tyre wear I'd be tempted to ignore it, as I am on my car. I learnt my lesson on my old car trying to stop it clunking on the passenger side; you can throw as much money at this as you like and you will probably still find nothing wrong as there are so many things that can cause this.

[jonah 1]

the car has had a bump at some point so its very possible the castor/camber etc may be out but that is i would have though this is going to be virtually impossible to put right if its the shell and not the subframe is bent etc!

how can this be corrected easily?

Any idea what sort of bump it had? Was there impact to the wheels or just the bodywork and if so whereabouts / from which direction? It could well explain the alignment being a bit out of shape.

 

If it's not too far out, then you can compensate for most front suspension geometry errors by filing out or re-drilling the mounting holes for the strut top. The printout from the wheel alignment place will show you which angles are out of spec and by how much, and this can be used to calculate which direction and how far to move the strut top position. I've done this to both my current and previous 205s, both of which drove perfectly straight afterwards!

 

The printout will also show up any problems with the rear (e.g. bent stub axle).

 

If the angles are a long way out then you might run out of space in the turret to move the strut top. But in that case the damage would probably be visible (e.g. one wheel too far back in the arch / uneven panel gaps / creases around the subframe mounts etc.).

 

Good luck!

[mos 1]

Any idea what sort of bump it had? Was there impact to the wheels or just the bodywork and if so whereabouts / from which direction? It could well explain the alignment being a bit out of shape.

 

If it's not too far out, then you can compensate for most front suspension geometry errors by filing out or re-drilling the mounting holes for the strut top. The printout from the wheel alignment place will show you which angles are out of spec and by how much, and this can be used to calculate which direction and how far to move the strut top position. I've done this to both my current and previous 205s, both of which drove perfectly straight afterwards!

 

The printout will also show up any problems with the rear (e.g. bent stub axle).

 

If the angles are a long way out then you might run out of space in the turret to move the strut top. But in that case the damage would probably be visible (e.g. one wheel too far back in the arch / uneven panel gaps / creases around the subframe mounts etc.).

 

Good luck!

 

the damage is to the offside suspension turrett

i bought the car with a knackered engine once the engine was out you could see where the strut had been welded in the engine bay as the block/head and cambelt cover were masking your view prior to this and the front end wings/bonnett and bumper have all been resprayed

when i bought the car for i think £80 i knew about the sprayed panels etc but not the damage to the strut, if i had seen this i probably would have walked away but as i didnt notice it i though the car had had a minor front end shunt

 

thanks

 

mark

[Guest BrainFluid]

Ah...2/1 odds that thats got something to do with it then!

[Guest Intrepid Limpit]

Different weight tyres could definately cause this problem. I would suggest also trying different wheels on it.

 

As for the tracking, what tracking system are you using? If it's the same one each time then does it need re-calibrating? Unlikely I know. From checking the tracking, you should be able to see if the car is straight or not.

 

First off, check the rear toe of the car first. If you're using a laser type then they need to go on the back wheels with the flags on the front. If the rear beam is bent, mis-aligned etc etc then you will see this here. A check of the rear cambers at this stage could also bring up some answers. Swap it all over and check the front by setting the toe to even. If the car is straight you will see an equal thrust line. If the rear end was fine and the thrust line is uneven at this stage then a simple adjustment of the front tracking should bring it straight.

 

If after all that and everything is ok with the car and there's nothing more you can change then you can counteract this pulling by adjusting the tracking accordingly.

[mos 1]

hi,

 

did not have the chance to get the car on the ramp today as when i left home this morning the clutch cable snapped

after a trip to gsf i fitted a new one, far lighter clutch than before which i know is pretty usual when changing a clutch cable, but this feels lighter than any new clutch cable i have fitted before to any of my 205 over the past twelve years, i wonder if gsf are using a new supplier with a superior cable as the one that snapped was less than a couple of years old and had only covered about 5k since!

besides the point, but while i was playing under the bonnet i got to thinking could a badly adjusted strut brace cause the problems with pull to the left?

to be honest its been a good while since i have been under the bonnet on this car and i had forgotten about the upper and lower strut braces i fitted when i built it

i am going to remove the top strut brace as its only six bolts but its occurred to me that the omp brace i have has two ways to tighten on the car depending on how you adjust it

it could either push the strut tops anyway from one another of you can tighten it so its pulling the struts in towards one another (hope i have explained that clearly!)

 

what do you guys (and gals) think

 

thanks

 

mark

[jackherer 543]

Its my understanding that the brace should pull inwards.

[mos 1]

Its my understanding that the brace should pull inwards.

 

thanks for that will be useful when i refit it

as its not the upper brace that is causing me grief, a road test has confirmed that.

[jonah 1]

If after all that and everything is ok with the car and there's nothing more you can change then you can counteract this pulling by adjusting the tracking accordingly.

No you can't. Adjusting the tracking asymmetrically will just change where the steering wheel points when driving in a straight line. It won't affect how the car pulls.

 

Believe me, the only way you're going to solve this is by getting the full set of angles measured, and then correcting the ones that are wrong. Just measuring toe and camber alone is not enough!

[Guest Intrepid Limpet]

No you can't. Adjusting the tracking asymmetrically will just change where the steering wheel points when driving in a straight line. It won't affect how the car pulls.

 

Believe me, the only way you're going to solve this is by getting the full set of angles measured, and then correcting the ones that are wrong. Just measuring toe and camber alone is not enough!

 

 

Like I said, 'if there's nothing else you can do'.

 

i.e. every angle has been checked (including ride height, caster angle), everything with the car is in good working order, there's nothing left that could be causing this problem, etc etc.

 

If nothing else can be done then you CAN get it to drive better with some, admittedly, small adjustments. Too much, I'd agree would cause uneven tyre wear. We get many reccomendations for our geometry where others fail.

 

Just a suggestion. Just trying to get stuck in and help people out, seeing as this is what a forum is about.