still off after alignment

[YellwMonky]

I installed Ksport coilovers a few months ago. I knew I needed to get an alignment done, but put it off until a few days ago. I noticed since I intalled the coilovers my car would drift a bit to the right. I needed to hold the steering wheel a little bit left to copensate. I just thought when I get my alignment it should cure all that. SO I get my car aligned and I find that my car still creeps off to the right when I let go of the steering wheel. They were telling me that they were having problems getting my car on the rack. What i'm wondering is if they didn't properly align my car. If my car was properly aligned, wouldn't the problem go away? Is there anything else it could be?

[TokyoNights]

I have this problem on my s14. They told me the caster is off on the passanger side from when I hit something a while ago. Adjustable tension rods would cure it. Did they mention that your caster was off? Has your car ever been in an accident?

[KiDyNomiTe]

Did you check tire pressures? And did you ask for a printout of your alignment?

[YellwMonky]

yeah i have my printout right here. I have adjustable tension rods and asked them to adjust to caster to the max specified my manufacturer. i got a printout and it says that my right front had -0.34 of toe and they fixed it. but still keeps going off to the right...

[wootwoot]

then take it back..... could even be with tire rotation

[KiDyNomiTe]

Back to the tire pressures? If your alignment shows normal number toe = 0 or a very small number, caster doesnt matter so much other than being even, camber even. And none of your stuff is loose and changed, then it is in your wheel/tire. Are your wheels bent? Tires bald? Enough air in them?

If you pass all those then take it back.

[blu808]

Frame could be twisted latterally.

[ledzeppelin240]

Play in rack and pinion. Again tire pressure, what kind of roads and tires, they do sometimes play a roll. At the worst it could be bent frame...That might be why they had problems getting it on.

[KiDyNomiTe]

probably had problems getting it on because of height.

[thx247]

did they check thrust angle?

[kazuo]

Everyone's covered the basics.. unever tire wear, possible kink in the frame from an accident, tension rods.

My guess is its the tension rods.. my frame is fine, the shop tried swapping the wheels, and after an alignment I still have the same problem as you. Have crappy stock tension rods with leaky bushings :D

[YellwMonky]

my tires are a bit old...that could be the problem. I know my frame didn't all of a sudden get bent. I haven't been in any accidents or anything. I was just seeing if the alignment is all it could be. I guess there are a lot more for me to check out. I haven't checked my tire pressure in the last week or so, but my pressure was even a month or so before. I'm thinking it may be my bald ass tires cause I've had them for a while and haven't rotated them once. Could bald tires really create a tendency to push to one side?

[idlafie]

I installed Ksport coilovers a few months ago. I knew I needed to get an alignment done, but put it off until a few days ago. I noticed since I intalled the coilovers my car would drift a bit to the right. I needed to hold the steering wheel a little bit left to copensate. I just thought when I get my alignment it should cure all that. SO I get my car aligned and I find that my car still creeps off to the right when I let go of the steering wheel. They were telling me that they were having problems getting my car on the rack. What i'm wondering is if they didn't properly align my car. If my car was properly aligned, wouldn't the problem go away? Is there anything else it could be?

Problems getting your car onto the rack could have possibly been due to ride height. The lower your car is to the ground, the harder it is to drive up the ramps to the alignment machine. How slammed is your car??

Also, have you ever pulled your steering wheel off your car?? How bout replace the inner & outer tie rods?? Any drag on the brakes or wheel bearings?? Run into any curbs or parking bumper stops?? These could explain why your car drifts to the right. Yes...bald tires & tire pressure can affect how a vehicle track the road. You can lose a few pounds of air in a month, that's why you want to check your tires every 2 weeks or so.
http://www.consumerreports.org/static/0111tir4.html

Anyhow, hope this helps.
ID

[XxJaPxOxNeEs23xX]

well ionno if this could be it but your street may have a crown that you may not see but your car responds to it. but also about because it lowered i had a problem with my car. my car is on just tokico nd some springs but because of that extra drop, when i tryed to align my car the sensors ddnt seem to match up right. so my alignment wasnt too perfect. but if the guy charged you, he should have givin you a print out of before and after. if he ddnt you should ask for one next time. otherwise you wouldnt know if its the guy , could be the street and its crown, or it could be that he couldnt align it the way you wanted because of the frame being tweaked. but he shouldnt charge you if he cant get teh right alignment and just leaves it the way it is.

[XxJaPxOxNeEs23xX]

Everyone's covered the basics.. unever tire wear, possible kink in the frame from an accident, tension rods.

My guess is its the tension rods.. my frame is fine, the shop tried swapping the wheels, and after an alignment I still have the same problem as you. Have crappy stock tension rods with leaky bushings :D


also wat he said ^^^^ if your busshings are bad, any of them on your suspension, while your moving the alignment will move derastically. if you have worn bushings or bad joints, the guy should have told you that you need to repair. its part of a mechanics job to find out if it has bad bushings and stuff before going for an alignment.

[YellwMonky]

my car is pretty slammed...that's why it was hard for them to get on the rack. I think they needed to use some kind of wood boards to get it on there.

What does pulling off my steering wheel have to do with the alignment? I ask because I just recently put a new steering wheel on. If I put the steering wheel on wrong, is it possible for my car to steer right?

[WILDACEX187]

i had this same problem with my car. i got an aligment, hit the highway and still drifted to the left. so im like fug it i can deal wit it. ordered sum coils and tc rods and when i went under the car i noticed that my driver lower control arm had like a dent on it or a lil bent. i checked the other side just to make sure i wuznt seeing things and it didnt. i changed the lower control arm and the drifting was gone but still drifts once in a while i still dont know why. check ur suspension components under car. we have old cars and to know the whole history of them is hard. i do hate to be constantly holding the wheel too but i guess its safer than driving with ur hands on something else or doing something else right? :)

[XxJaPxOxNeEs23xX]

my car is pretty slammed...that's why it was hard for them to get on the rack. I think they needed to use some kind of wood boards to get it on there.

What does pulling off my steering wheel have to do with the alignment? I ask because I just recently put a new steering wheel on. If I put the steering wheel on wrong, is it possible for my car to steer right?


no if u put the steering wheel on wrong, but when you drive u may force the steering wheel strait and move to the left or right because its off centered. but it doesnt matter bout steering wheel, because if you let the car go strait, it can still go strait even if the steering wheel is offcenterd. but the problem with putting the steering wheel offcentered is when they do an alignment, they will try to adjust the toe in or out facing the steering wheel in the center. and when they do that you may turn one way more than the other.