The other day when I started driving home, I noticed that to go straight, you had to turn the steering wheel a bit to the left. I know this is common in old cars, but it just began the on a car ive had for a couple months… The only thing I can think of that MAY have caused it was me driving in 4W drive on the ice and snow. Anyway, what can cause this and is it hard to fix? If I took it to a shop to get fixed, what do think the average price would be? It is a 1992 Jeep Cherokee
Hitting A Curb, Large Hole, Or Other Object Can Do It.
You don’t mention anything of this nature, so I am going to tell you that there are many individual components that can cause this or a combination of things. I will give some examples. A defective tire, worn ball joints, worn tie-rod ends, dragging brakes, worn/damaged steering gear, broken springs, worn bushings, etcetera, etcetera.
It would be anybody’s guess as to what is wrong. You didn’t tell how many miles this Jeep has on it. That could help somebody guess at wear items.
There is no “average” cost. The cost would be even harder to estimate since we don’t know what it needs. I would think that for $50 to $100 an alignment technician could safety check it and possibly do an alignment if it “passes” inspection.
“Failing” the inspection, you will probably get a more realistic estimate of repair cost. Repairs could be fairly inexpesive or go into hundreds of dollars and may be necessary prior to an alignment.
For that problem, you may have a caliper that is stuck or frozen (same thing). You might need a new one. Have it checked soon. Tell the shop what the symptom is. Don’t try to tell him the cause or he will be so impressed, the job might cost double.
Check the tire pressure first before considering a suspension or alignment problem.
I noticed that to go straight, you had to turn the steering wheel a bit to the left.
Most roads are higher in the center than the edges. It is normal for many cars to require a minor amount of steering to the left to stay straight. Of course this is a matter of degree and varies.
Also it is possible someone did not align it properly. I have had this several times.
Finally it may be one or more tyres involved in this. Are all your tyres the same make and model and are they equally worn?