kasak

The steering is pulling right slightly. What would be the general reasons? The tires don't have a perfect tread on them (aka.. not brand new). I saw that the outside edges of the tire have less tread. Is it an alignment issue? thx.

bob2200

Most road surfaces are slightly banked to the right for rainwater runoff, which will cause a slight pulling to the right. Try a parking lot, or a road surface that you're sure isn't banked. I'd say most likely cause is wheel alignment.

lexus114

Sounds like you should get new tires,and a good wheel alignment.Mostly because of the way you described your tire condition.If you get an alignment with worn tires like that,(some shops won`t even touch the alignment if tires are worn) you would be wasting your time/money.Also,if you have AWD get 4 new tires,or could cause a situation with your drive tran.

code58

kasak- I don't believe the RX's have a caster or camber alignment (a lot of current cars don't), the only thing it has is toe-in. And that will not normally cause a pull. The 1st. thing I would do is make sure all 4 tires are aired to proper pressure. If that makes no difference (or if you have already done that), the next thing I would do is switch the LF & RF tires and see if the pull goes to the left side or at least neutalizes (goes away). I have done front end alignment and always did a road test afterwards to make sure there was no pull. Not to make sure the alignment was done right because the gauges already told me that but to make sure there was no radial pull (all to common). If there was radial pull the only thing to do was switch the tires around to get rid of it. Radial pull is not nearly as common as it once was but it can still happen even after a tire has some miles on it. I just had an expensive set of Yokohama's replaced on my wifes car after 20k because they were never able to cure the problems they had. Fortunately they gave me very good credit on them and a good set of Michelins cured the problem completely. (I'm a patient guy but at 20k felt I had been patient enough and pulled the plug) Let us know how it turns out.
Roger

RX300malib

I recently dealt with a similair drifting issue as my 1999 RX moved to the left. 110.00 later for an alignment didn't help but was told to replace the tires which I did. I found that when riding in the left lane with a slight pitch to the road she drifted. When moving to the right hand lane, guess what, no drift and the car drive straight. My guess is that the Lexus RX300 has a sensitive front end and drifts easily. My previous 1997 Mitsubishi Diamante was great as I could drive the same roads with one finger on the steering wheel and she always drove straight. Different car with different behaviors I guess.

kasak

The tire pressure is good. I will try swapping the LF & RF tires. But, can we do that? I guess it depends on the tread direction. I heard that some tires can't be swapped like that.

Thanks for the nice information. You guys are amazing here. Lexmex, Lexus114 and some others like you are bagging a lot of good karma I would say. I only wish someone experienced is near me who can watch what I am doing. I never done anything on my vehicle but really want to.

code58

Kasak- If the tires are "directional", no, you can't switch them but if they are not directional, most of the time you won't have any problem. It was a long time ago that you really had problems if you changed direction on a radial tire. In doing front end alignments you have no choice but to switch tires around to get rid of the pull or drift if the alignment and pressure are right. I have seen guys drop a pound or 2 on 1 side or raise it on the other side to compensate for a slight drift, it won't actually hurt anything with that small a difference and may cure the problem. (no 5 or 6 lbs. difference though) You don't actually have the radial pull problem like you once did. I hope the guy that paid $100.+ for the front end alignment got a 4 wheel alignment or he really got ripped off!

code58

RX300m- Steering geometry is much different on all the cars than it used to be. 3 or 4 degrees of caster kept the car going straight down the road. You had front engine, rear drive which was pretty simple as far as the dynamics go. You don't have to deal with torque steer much like you did 20-25 years ago on the front engine, front drive- that was fun! Because you often don't have a lot of caster (Honda Accord actually had 0 caster,0 camber, 0 toe- in at 1 time), you more have to steer the car wherever you want it to go, they don't tend to keep themselves going in a straight line like the older front engine, rear drive with a lot of caster did. Front ends (actually 4 wheel independent suspensions) are quite complex now.