Boogerburns

Hey guys, I've got a 2000 UCF20 that is new to me since April. I've been lurking on here and have been trying to find some kind of clue to my problem and I'm just going to throw it out there since I came up empty.

Problem is that the toe is correct and yet the car still pulls hard to the right. If you keep the steering wheel straight and let it go, it will move itself to the right a bit to about the 1 on a clock. It's been on an alignment rack 5 times now. What I've done so far:

Inner tie rods both sides
Outter tie rods both sides
Front passenger side strut bar
Front passenger side upper control arm
Front passenger side lower control arm polyurethane bushing
Front passenger side lower ball joint
Rear trailing arm hub bushing both sides
Cleaned and Greased the rear caliper guide pins
Balanced wheels that came on the car
Replaced wheels with UCF10 Wheels with different tires and got them balanced
Power steering fluid flush

Car does have Meagan Racing coil overs that were installed by previous owner. I don't have major power steering leaks as far as I can tell. They keep saying the front caster is out, but it's less than a degree now after the last round of alignment with replacing all the stuff on the front passenger side. I'm running out of ideas here guys. Any thoughts?

paulo57509

Have you had the rear wheel alignment inspected?

400fanboy

You're saying the steering wheel itself turns itself to the 1 oclock when you let it go?

Does the car drive straight when you hold the steering wheel straight?

Has the car been in an accident? Is there evidence of overspray from repainting? Has the car been on a frame machine, even if there wasn't a reported accident?

Boogerburns

Rear toe was driver side .17 degrees and passenger side .18 degrees. Rear camber was -1.0 on both.

Boogerburns

I didn't get a Carfax or anything like that but from what I can see, it doesn't look like there's any signs that it's been in any major collision or any thing bent that shouldn't be. No over spray or Bondo.

Yes, the wheel turns itself to the right when you let go. Holding it center will drive the car straight.

WhiteUCF

You want a little more caster on the right side. If you have equal caster (or close enough to it) on both front corners, the crown of the road will cause it pull to the right. What are the current caster measurements?

Boogerburns

I didn't get an after, but I did get the before. It was front driver side 8.5 degrees and front passenger side 8.6 degrees. I'm pretty sure they didn't adjust it since they're only interested in adjusting the toe.

WhiteUCF

Max specification is 7.7 if what I have is correct. I won't be able to actually check my alignment machine for another month or so until parts come in to get it working again. I'd set the driver side to 6.8 and the passenger to 7.1.

I'd also find a different alignment shop. At 8.5 and 8.6 the front has more of a tendency to turn "easier" for a lack of better words. Even if they were equally pulled back into specification, it would be geometrically even to where the force was applied, for the most part, correctly. Unlike now where the wheels are too far forward. Alignments are a finicky process and one thing wrong can ruin the way a car should feel.

400fanboy

This only applies to bi-directional roads, at low speeds in town where it matters less. If you're driving on a divided highway in the left lane, it's now working with the crown of the road.

Re: the alignment discussion: I've personally noticed my car is extremely sensitive to alignment setup in the front end. Plus or minus a few notches in each direction can influence steering weight, how nervous it is on the highway at speed, whether it tramligns or is blow about by the wind. This being said - this is also probably exacerbated to excessive bushing deflection in the bits of the suspension I haven't replaced yet. Specifically in the rear for my case. I can feel things are really... unsettled as the car loads up back there as time has gone on (and I've video'd the problems my rear end has).

But my car drives straight. I have no idea why OP's car is pulling that hard. Best of luck - I'm out of ideas.

Boogerburns

Do you run roll center adjusters? Do they do much to begin with? I have them but haven't had a chance to get them on.

WhiteUCF

I'm on completely factory suspension other than coilovers. I'm not low enough to justify roll center adjusters. I don't experience any sort of bump steer or anything to justify having to truly correct the geometry of my suspension.

My post responding to 400fanboy must not have went through yesterday. He's not wrong, but where I'm from, added caster to the right front is a necessity. Our roads have wicked crowns and slants, even on one way streets since both of the cities around me flood like crazy. I let a buddy align my wife's Wrangler after putting tires on and it pulls to the right when you let go of the wheel. It annoys me to no end. My alignments never had that problem. It was common practice in the dealership I worked in as a late teen. From then it stuck with me and has made hundreds of cars drive perfectly on our local roads. Granted, your roads aren't my roads and my roads aren't your roads. What works here won't work everywhere. It'd be a lot cooler if we could share roads. I need friends with cool cars.

Boogerburns

Just a quick update. I got a brand new set of tires put on yesterday, still pulls. So today I plugged the vacuum lines for the air flow valve that connects to the power steering pump and unplugged the computer for the progressive power steering system under the steering column. It still pulls to the right, so it must be something still related to alignment and/or a mechanical issue.

I think my next step will be to do all the work on the driver's front side that I have done on the passenger front side and possibly add in the roll center adjusters. Then take it to Lexus dealer and have them align it.