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Pulling To The Right?


Tyler121

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My 1994 ES300 is running insainly well for being this old. The only problem i have is that it pulls to the right. I took it to Firestone and got an alignment done on it. They showed me the before and after specs saying that the front left and rear right were miss aligned. They fixed the problems, I get in my car and it still pulls to the right. So now my car pulls to the right, and the steering wheel is turned to the left while going strait...is there anything else that could be wrong instead of the alignment?

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If your steering wheel is off center now, I'd seriously second guess the Firestone alignment. They can show you all the specs they want, but if it's still pulling, and now the steering wheel is off, then your alignment is still out of whack. I'd take it to another shop (I've never heard many good reviews of Firestone's work).

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Was the steering wheel straight before the alignment?

I see this sometimes in the shop. I do an alignment, the specs are nearly perfect, and someone comes back in a month with a pull, thinking that alignment is the only thing that could have done this! But alignment happens to be the least likely candidate for a pull. I have found these things that have been responsible for a pull in the past:

Tire pressures

tire sizes, tire tread depth

unusual tire wear

tire pull- it's how the cords in the tire make the vehicle pull

roads (yes, road crown can screw with you!)

alignment

seized brakes

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oh yeah, I don't mean that in a negative way towards you, just keep these things in mind.

It does sound like a bad alignment from the fact that your steering wheel is not centered. Also, worn parts will make that happen, but that is why a pre-alignment inspection is done.

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Improper centralizing of the steering wheel does not mean that the wheel alignment is bad. In other words, all they have to do to correct the steering wheel is to adjust the tie rod ends. and then recheck the proper toe-in.

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well i hope it doesnt have anything to do with my tires since they are new. They are about 3 weeks old...so is there anything else that could cause the pulling to the right?

Did it start when you got the new tires? Tires aren't perfectly flat across the tread and one side may be bigger than the other. There is a spec for conicity on tires and OEM tires are held to a higher standard than replacement tires. Try swapping the two front tires to see if it pulls the other direction to rule out the tires. You may have a bad tire.

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  • 3 weeks later...
take the front and put it to the back, both sides.

or have them balanced at a shop...should be like 10 bucks a tire.

I had the same issue with my 99 ES and went round and round taking it to 3 different alignment shops...... Lexus dealer ship

was totally usless saying that it could be the frame misaligned and cost me $100 for nothing. I finally put new tires on

and still pulled. Took it to Sears and the guy switched the the front tires, aligned it and it and got me straighted out. So in my case it turned out to be the tires. But the guy at Sears was willing to work with me whatever it took to alieveate the

problem so find someone that feels your pain. To be honest I was ready to trade the car in because of this.

It was a drag to have to pull on the steering wheel the oppisite direction the entire trip whenever I got on the road.

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  • 2 months later...
omg!!! thank you so much. it is so annoying to drive like that an i am so ready for it to stop. once again thanks man!

I had this same problem with my 94 shortly after I got it, as well as a high speed wobble. new tires+balance and an alignment took care of it. It doesn't take much, just a rough bump or a pothole to throw your alignment out of whack, especially with low profile tires. I think one of the biggest killers of my alignment has been railroad tracks.

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