I have a 2006 Honda Accord that has pulled to the right for a few years. I recently purchased new tires and got the car aligned. It continued to pull right so I took it back and had them align it again. It is still pulling to the right. Any ideas?
Flat Roads, By Design, Are Hard To Find. Roads Are Made With A “Crown” (Hump), On Purpose.
This causes many cars to pull right, some more than others.
Let’s make sure we’re talking about a “pull”. When you are driving straight, is the steering wheel straight or crooked?
Is that your concern, a “crooked” steering wheel?
Are you saying that when you loosen your grip on the steering wheel, the car heads to the right, every time?
Which is that bothers you, the car keeps going right by itself or the steering wheel is crooked?
I’d never advise anybody to drive down the centerline of a deserted stretch of highway that has unlimited visibility in both directions, on a clear, bright, dry day, but if you did and let go of the wheel would the car still pull right? Are you sure? Would it pull right even from the left side of the centerline where you’d be if you were overtaking another car?
Has the car ever been in a collision with an other vehicle or object? If so what was repaired?
What did the wear pattern look like on the “old” tires? Was it fairly even or were one or more tires unevely worn?
Did they align all four wheels or just the front both times?
CSA
Stuck caliper or bad ball-joint just to name a couple.
Had the same problem with a 1993 Caprice, it still pulled to the right after two alignments. Try switching the front tires side to side. I’ve done this with 2 sets of tires on the Caprice to eliminate a pull to the right on New Jersey’s high crowned roads.
Ed B.
When I am driving straight and I let go of the steering wheel, the car heads to the right every time. I have never tried driving down the centerline so I can’t say whether it would pull right in that situation.
The car has never been in an accident.
They told me the old tires had a very uneven wear pattern. Supposedly they aligned all four tires.
I agree with a stuck caliper. Either the piston or the slides. It’ll cause the pads to drag and it’ll pull to one side.
If this car uses the small center brake drums molded into the disc centers with the little shoes for parking brakes, one of those dragging is another possibility.
You can checkfor a drag easily by jacking up the corners of the car and sinning the wheels by hand. You’ll feel a drag if you have one. That’ll also either eliminate something dragging as a candidate or tell you where the problem is.
Who is doing the alignment? If this is a dealer or a tire store chain, there may be a problem here. I had a very bad experience years ago after an alignment at a Sears service center. I think your best bet might be to find a good independent alignment shop or an independent tire dealer with a good alignment specialist.
Ed, I Know That Will Sound Hokey To Some People. But Your Advice Is Certainly Worth A Try. I Have Had A Similar Experience And Wouldn’t Have Believed It If I Wasn’t There!
CSA