06 Rx330 Pulls To Left Under Hard Acceleration

[Boyd]

Whenever I put the pedal to the floor to accelerate rapidly, especially at low speeds, my RX 330 with FWD (front wheel drive) pulls to the left. At higher speeds it's not quite as noticable. I have 10,000 miles on the vehicle and haven't really noticed this before. The dealer had to replace the left front tire (manufacturer defect) and the service manager said that might have something to do with it and it would probably return to normal after a few miles. Has anyone else noticed this pull to the left?

[retired00]

Whenever I put the pedal to the floor to accelerate rapidly, especially at low speeds, my RX 330 pulls to the left. At higher speeds it's not quite as noticable. I have 10,000 miles on the vehicle and haven't really noticed this before. The dealer had to replace the left front tire (manufacturer defect) and the service manager said that might have something to do with it and it would probably return to normal after a few miles. Has anyone else noticed this pull to the left?

I'd move it to the left rear, or if the spare is still new put both new ones on the back. See if it changes. If it's FWD, any front driver may have a little bit of torque steer but I have not noticed any yet.

[Rx330driver]

i have not experienced this, but then again, i have never floored by rx330, just because it sounds like its going to explode, lol. I would tell them to align the car again and see how it goes.

[wwest]

Torque stear...??

[Boyd]

Torque stear...??

Could very well be, just wondering if others had experienced this.

[wwest]

Torque stear...??

Could very well be, just wondering if others had experienced this.

If I'm being somewhat of a leadfoot in a tight turn I very definitely experience torque stear. Turning right seems to be the worse. The left halfshaft is the short one so that doesn't make sense to me.

[retired00]

Torque stear...??

Could very well be, just wondering if others had experienced this.

If I'm being somewhat of a leadfoot in a tight turn I very definitely experience torque stear. Turning right seems to be the worse. The left halfshaft is the short one so that doesn't make sense to me.

:chairshot: good point, I had not researched which was longer. Thanks.

[Grumpa72]

I agree that all front wheel drive cars exhibit some degree of torque steer. I would suggest that the aggresive the acceleration the more torque steering is evident. I think I remember from college physics (I think we called it the right hand rule) that the resulting force to the left is a result of rotational force. Beyond that, it is too fuzzy. I also remember reading in the car magazine reviews that they usually discuss the amount of torque steering.

Maybe I will do a Google search on "right hand rule" and "torque steer.

Ok, here is my first hit on Google on torque steer.

Torque steering is an effect in front wheel drive cars caused by large amounts of torque affecting steering in such a way as to make the front wheels "squirm" (oscillate) from side to side under heavy acceleration.

This effect is noticeable to the driver by the steering wheel being tugged back and forth by the wheels.

This effect can be engineered out of front wheel drive cars, using techniques such as double wishbone suspension or advanced multi-link suspension systems.

Torque steer is mainly caused by uneven half-shafts between the transaxle and wheels. When excessive torque is applied, one shaft flexes more than the other, thus causing one wheel to momentarily spin slower than the other. This causes a steering effect. Ford engineered a simple method of eliminating (or at least reducing) torque steer by expanding the transaxle a little further to equalize the lengths of the halfshafts found on front wheel drive cars.

Torque steer can also be caused by the steering axis of the wheels not passing through the contact point of the tyre. IE. When steering the car stationary, the contact point of the tyre on the ground should not move. However most cars have an offset on the wheels, therefore when you turn the steering, the front hub assembly rotates on the bottom ball joint, but the front wheels move backwards and forwards slightly on the ground. This slight movement is emphasised by the power of the car when driving, due to the steering assembly and struts being under a load. Therefore when power is applied to the wheels and one wheel hits a bump, the offset of the wheel will amplify this and the car will pull towards that side.

Any car with a high output (especially turbocharged) engine and front wheel drive is likely to exhibit some degree of torque steer.

Excessive torque steer may be caused by damage to suspension/steering components, tire defects, etc.

I wouldn't worry about it unless it causes stability or control problems.

Gary

[Boyd]

Gary,

Thanks for the research.

Boyd