Hi, I went to the shop today and the shop decided to rotate the front tires. However, I still think that the car drifts to the right (by a similar amount) and the steering wheel has to be held at a 2:30-8:30 angle (as opposed to a 3:00-9:00 setting) to drive the car right. Any additional suggestions? Many thanks again!
They let you drive away with the steering wheel like that? You need to turn this over to a more qualified shop - ask around for a good front end and alignment shop (they may do brakes and other suspension work, too) and start over. Good luck. There is still hope.
Hi, Thanks! Btw, he did say that the (new) used wheels were not perfect, but they âzeroed outâ and passed. Also, that if things did not improve, I should go back and he would see what he can do.
One thing that has bothered me about this is that he claimed that the wheels had not been straight (so he had had to adjust the steering wheel). I have had this car for 15 years but I never found the steering to be an issue (even after hitting the unmarked curb at night, but for now).
I think I am going to go in tomorrow or whenever I can get in an appointment and see what he suggests. This is also the guy who wanted to repair the wheel â instead I went and bought the two used wheels. I am not sure what to do if indeed the wheel rims are the problem.
I will keep you all posted.
Thanks again!
I donât think the wheels are the problem. The shop is questionable by allowing a vehicle to leave with a canted steering wheel. After an alignment, someone should give the car a quick spin down the street and verify that itâs not pulling, the steering wheel is centered, etc.
If the steering wheel is canted by that amount then someone has not adjusted the toe correctly.
Toe can be dead on but the steering wheel can be off due to the way the toe was set.
Correct toe means not only adjusting the front wheels properly but adjusting it to center the steering wheel also.
If the steering wheel is straight at a creeping crawl on level pavement and then becomes canted at speed then something is off on the alignment or thereâs a tire bias causing the pull.
This shop absolutely smacks of incompetence and poor work habits
Find another shop
If itâs not too late, be sure to keep or recover the two bent wheels that were removed.
So, after a while (i was away, and other things also got my attention) I went to another shop about this: the car drifting to the right. This shop claims that the left lower control ball joint is bad and needs to be replaced. This is what is causing the car to drift to the right. The ball joint may indeed be bad, but can this cause the car to drift to the right?
He is charging $350 for the replacement and labor, but the price includes an after-market part rather than OEM. (The difference is $200 from what I can tell). Is it advisable to insist on the OEM part?
(Btw, he says that all cars are aligned here to drift a little to the right in order to protect us from falling asleep and crossing the median (which, but my car never drifted previously, so I am not exactly sure whether this will solve the problem.)
A worn lower front left ball joint could cause negative camber at that wheel which would cause a drift to the right. Can you tell if that wheel is tilting a little inward at the top?
Sorry, I can not tell this, thanks!
Btw, should I insist on the OEM part? Thanks!
I think youâll be fine with the aftermarket control arm
There are some exceptions, but Moog usually makes decent aftermarket suspension and steering parts, for example
Iâll expand on what OK4450 said.
When a car is aligned without straightening the steering wheel first, the steering geometry comes out wrong. The steering works by the rack (as in ârack and pinionâ pushing the steering knuckles back and forth via âlinksâ between the ends of the actual rack and the knuckles. There are articulating joints (joints the angles of which can change) on the ends of the links that follow the steering knuckles as they move up and down and also allow them to turn as the rack moves back and forth. The links travel in arcs. Adjusting âtoe inâ is done by adjusting the lengths of those links. When the links arenât both adjusted evenly to the same lengths, not only does the steering wheel end up canted, but the arc lengths of the links become incorrect and donât follow the arcs of the other suspension and steering components the way theyâre supposed to. And movement of the other suspension components, as well as the forces caused by simply driving, can cause handling weirdness and pulling to one side.
I apologize if this seems wordy. Iâm straining to find simple ways to describe this. I wish I could add some drawings to help, but Iâm not exactly a computer whiz.
The thing about cars being aligned to drift a little to the right in order to protect us from falling asleep and crossing the median is pure BS.
Honestly, Iâm not getting a warm, fuzzy feeling about the competence or honesty of this shop. It sounds like their work is less than competent and they cover themselves with unadulterated BS. I think you need to take the vehicle to a reputable shop and tell them all the gory details.
Thanks! This is small-town midwest, so competence of everyone is in question, IMO (and this is a different shop). OK, so I will insist on having them straighten out the steering wheel first (I was assuming that they would do that anyway, since what is the use of doing anything if the steering wheel is crooked?)
Btw, the aftermarket part is Lemforder. Apparently, they make premium parts and the shop âhighly recommendsâ them, fwiw.
Very good . . . Lemforder IS the the oem for many steering/suspension parts
Just wanted to follow up with this thread because I have a similar question. Did you end up getting the wheel repaired or replaced? How did it work out for you?
A front wheel on my Mazda needs repaired or replaced. The mechanic said it was pretty standard procedure to repair a bent wheel. It makes me nervous though, because there are a lot of mixed messages in regards to this when reading up about it online.
I also found this site: http://www.blackburnwheels.com which seems like a good option. I might go ahead and just order the replacement oem wheel, unless I can be perfectly convinced the repaired wheel is safe!
Thanks!
Needing a replacement OEM wheel is a great opportunity to take care of it locally and quickly: auto recycler (junkyard)!
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Warning: This is over 1 year old.
Agree though to just go to a salvage yard or order a new one. Back when I bought two steel wheels to replace bent ones for about $25.
I will disagree somewhat on the quality of a small town alignment shop in the midwest though. After an alignment was bungled by my normal computer equipped high tech shop, I sought another shop. I found the old Bear Alignment guy I used to use back in the 60âs. Different location and no computers anywhere and still using the same manual equipment used 50 years ago. But he did a fine job and some major front end work for less than $300. Just because a shop is in the big city with high tech equipment, doesnât mean they are any good.
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No, it NEEDS TO BE repaired or replaced.
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If you donât know what youâre doing, the best equipment in the world isnât going to make a difference
The OP is probably in or near Western Pennsylvania. This is a common grammatical construction there.
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