3 weeks ago I had to take my jeep to a shop where they found that every bolt in my front and rear subframes was loose (which caused both of my alignment to get so bad and have so much negative camber that the rear tires wore down to the cords. They also found that I needed a new outer tie, and said that my struts were wearing (but didn’t need to be replaced now). I had the outer tie rod (not sure which off the top of my head) replaced, alignment done, and new rear tires put on.
Since then, when I accelerate, my steering wheel pulls to about 11 o’clock, but my car takes off to the right. When I brake the wheel realigns to straight and will track normally. It feels like something is loose in the front because when I go over a bump it sounds like metal is clunking and shifting, and my left front suspension has the feeling like it wants to roll over. It is getting progressive worse too. All of these issues came about after the alignment (aside from the tie rods, the alignment was the only work done on the front).
Ask the best steering/suspension tech in your area to put your car on their lift and take however much time it takes to figure out what’s wrong. There are many possibilities; my guess is there’s some play in the steering or suspension system not yet detected . Has any work been done recently involving the front driveshafts? (presuming your Compass has a fwd component to its mix)
Have an appointment on Wednesday. Yes its a FWD but as I said, also has 4WD. This wasnt an issue 3 weeks ago before the alignment, so i cant imagine the half shafts going bad THAT quickly after.
The symptom sort of seems like “torque steer”, and could mean there’s a part with the wrong dimension in the front axles or steering system. Google that term. Does it seem like the same symptom you have?
Similar to Torque Steer. But again, this wasnt an issue at all before the work done and the alignment. They also said that they checked everything over and only found the issues i listed above, and the only things thr worked on in front were the tie rod and whatever they messed with when they aligned it. It makes me wonder if something was left loose after they worked on it.
When they checked things over the first time (after I had the issue with the subframe), they said the bushings were fine. I’ve seen this suggestion though and is something I’m going to ask them to check (I will be frustrated if I brought it up the first time, was told they were fine, and then a week later they seemingly fail).
Also, doesn’t seem to make a difference in either. That’s another reason why I’m leaning toward outer suspension components instead of half shafts or anything like that. I will say though that it is more of a dramatic response at higher speeds.
So we don’t think it has anything to do with them leaving something loose after the alignment or anything? The only reason I lean away from control arm bushings is that they said they were fine when I had the car looked over.
Between the time when it didn’t have this symptom and now (when it does), was the tie rod the only part replaced? I presume you mean the tie rod end was replaced. Or was it an entire tie rod?
The only thing that was replaced was the outer tie rod end. Again, I’m not sure which it was, but that was all.
They did the alignment too, which is why I’m sitting here thinking they left something loose. Nothing else was replaced and the symptoms started very very quickly following the work done before.
You mentioned two new rear tires above . These seem unlikely culprits, but if other idea don’t pan out you may have to swap them for a test drive to eliminate them.
At this point it seems like something about the new tie rod end is the most likely culprit . Did they give you an alignment data sheet? If so, suggest to post a photo of it.
They did not give it to me. They showed me the data from the alignment and the front tires had negative camber and were toed to the right. Rear tires had so much negative camber that they wore to the cords, but they didn’t give me the exact data.