# Car intermittently pulls to the left **URL:** \ **Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\ **Tags:** saturn\ **Created:** [July 17, 2013, 12:26am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/car-intermittently-pulls-to-the-left/80377 "2013-07-17T00:26:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bgbr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@bgbr](https://community.cartalk.com/u/bgbr)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2013, 12:26am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/car-intermittently-pulls-to-the-left/80377/1 "2013-07-17T00:26:44Z")
After a brake job (rotors & calipers) on my '97 Saturn SW2, the car started pulling severely to the left. The mechanic re-aligned it; checked all the hardware, tire pressure etc & pronounced it fit. The pulling is still present, though not nearly as severe. The pulling has also become intermittent: it’ll go for miles tracking straight as an arrow; then start pulling to the left. By the way it does not pull when I brake, & there does not seem to be any undo front tire wear. My mechanic states that he cannot find anything the could be causing this. ---
**Author:** ![VDCdriver](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/vdcdriver/32/30_2.png) [@VDCdriver](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VDCdriver)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2013, 1:07am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/car-intermittently-pulls-to-the-left/80377/2 "2013-07-17T01:07:32Z")
It sounds to me like a brake caliper (most likely on the left front wheel) is sticking. On a car this old, it is possible for problems with the flexible brake lines to cause caliper problems, so the solution might be to replace the flexible brake lines. ---
**Author:** ![Barkydog](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/barkydog/32/2470_2.png) [@Barkydog](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Barkydog)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2013, 6:06am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/car-intermittently-pulls-to-the-left/80377/3 "2013-07-17T06:06:31Z")
One guess is the left front caliper is intermittently sticking. Right calipers usually go first, due to salt and ice, live in a salt zone? Replace the caliper, my thought ---
**Author:** ![RemcoW](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/remcow/32/2471_2.png) [@RemcoW](https://community.cartalk.com/u/RemcoW)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2013, 6:33am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/car-intermittently-pulls-to-the-left/80377/4 "2013-07-17T06:33:34Z")
Along with those thoughts, the caliper’s slider pin may not be moving freely. Your mechanic must have checked/greased it. Your mechanic is an actual mechanic, right? Not Pepbozos or any of the other chains, right? ---
**Author:** ![bing](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/bing/32/4619_2.png) [@bing](https://community.cartalk.com/u/bing)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2013, 7:03am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/car-intermittently-pulls-to-the-left/80377/5 "2013-07-17T07:03:01Z")
Agree with the sticking caliper but now the alignment is all screwed up. ---
**Author:** ![George\_San\_Jose1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e5b9ba/32.png) [@George\_San\_Jose1](https://community.cartalk.com/u/George_San_Jose1)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2013, 7:46am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/car-intermittently-pulls-to-the-left/80377/6 "2013-07-17T07:46:32Z")
A problematic caliper is a likely culprit. But if this were my car the first thing I’d do is switch the right/left tires, and see if the problem went with them; i.e. after the tire switch, does it still veer left, or does it now veer right? And I’d check for temperature differences in the brakes left/right after a freeway drive when this veering was going on. If a brake is dragging, it will get warmer than one not dragging. Someone here mentioned a easy accurate way to do this is with an laser-guided infrared thermometer. Sounds like it would be an expensive tool, but some are quite reasonably priced.