Car Pulling to one side -

[click.mine]

Hi All.
Well not much to say except the past couple of months my sedan has been getting on my nerves. my main problem right now other than the stiff steering wheel and vibrations is The car pulling to on side (90% of the time - right) on the road especially on the freeway.

I can't take my eyes off the road for more than 2 sec or it will stop going the right direction which overtime becomes frustrating and embrassing.

People Say I'm being to picky about this; Now I'm no Licensed professional driver but you could say that I've got more skills in driving than half the town and so I know when my car is pulling to one side.

Long Story short, I DO NOT know if it's the suspension, if it's the tire's alignment or what. But If anyone out there has the same problem where your car is constantly pulled to one side (at a slight-mild level) I would appreciate the info.

THANKS TO ALL THE HELP ALREADY RECEIVED IN OTHER TOPICS
Steve

[YAR1S]

alignment off?

my old car did this A LOT.
If you've hit a curb recently it may have thrown your alignment off... or maybe uneven tire wear? look at your tires.

[supmet]

alignment off?

That's my guess. I have an 07 sedan, and the rear is sagging a little, but nothing that would make it pull. Unless you go offroading in the yaris, the suspension should be good for 100k minimum. If you're that worried about the suspension you could feel test it. Go to each corner and push down right above the tire. The car should resist downforce and bounce back up evenly between front left/front right and rear left/rear right.(the back will probably be softer than the front, but that won't make you pull - differences in left/right will.)

low tire pressure/alignment/uneven tire wear(which would almost assuredly mean alignment is bad) would be the first places I'd check.

[YarisSedan]

Common sense tells me to take the car to an alignment shop to have the alignment check or done for you. Usually cars should get thier alignment checked once a year or whenever they have a puling problem. Before you go in check your tire pressure as most cars loose a pound of air a month on adverage. If one tire is considerably lower than the other that will cause a pull as well. This wil also cause the steering wheel to feel stiffer as it requires more effort to turn the wheel. I remember on my old ford escort that had no power nothing. It had manual steering. It was CONSIDERABLY Harder to turn the wheel especially when parking if i didnt keep my tires properly inflated.

If you have the tendency to bump curbs when you parellel park then your alignment is probally off. Or if you hit a really hard pothole.

[click.mine]

WOW. thank you all for your super quick responses. I feel like a VIP member of some sort.

You guys are right. Here in san diego THERE ARE SOME BIG POTHOLES ESPECIALLY AROUND WHERE I WORK. & yes 2b honest 1 or 2 times I've bumped the curb in rushing conditions (on my way to my classroom when there was no parking spots left).

it used 2b i could take my eyes off the road & drive for a few seconds w/o any problems but now it's a matter of frequent pulling on the steering to stay in lane.

as for the air pressure I do it once a week. brakes, steering fluid & such are good.
MY TIRES SEEMED TO HAVE SOME WEAR ON FRONT DRIVER BUT I ROTATED THEM LAST WEEK. It's also my theory that best bet is to take it for an alignment especially since my maintaince required light came on yesterday for oil change. +Also the test SUPMET suggested.

Thanks again.

[silver_echo]

the tire that is on the left front... where was it before?

[Shroomster]

well if it's pulling to one side hard, you could swap the front tires side to side snd see if the pull follows. but odds are it is an alignment issue from reading about your parking habits and the road conditions....

[click.mine]

In ur response: front left's been there since last dealer oil change about 4500 miles ago (9000miles). since i rotated them last week now it's rear right.
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So here's my summary so far:
slight pulling of the car due to road conditions & other physical factors is normal. HOWEVER DUE TO THE BUMPS & BANGS AGAINST THE TIRE(S) PLUS TIRE WEARING, OVERTIME IT HAS RESULTED IN BEING HARD TO KEEP IN LANE.
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Changing tires and/or alignment will definitely help even though the guy at the dealer said it's ok since "it's a relatively chap car & not much insulation or material are used in it" when I took the car there to repair the airbag defect & had them look at this problem as well.

[MUSKOKA800]

If it was mine I'd first confirm that all tires had no unusual wear and equal inflation and then once that was ruled-out I'd check for a dragging brake followed by at trip to the alignment shop.
You say you've bumped some curbs and perhaps pounded through some pot-holes so the alignment is likely buggered. These days cars are make light-weight and suspension components can't take the pounding they could in the yester-years. They're only designed for their purpose, not hits from other directions.

[markitect]

If you have vibration too, then your wheels are probably off balance. I've had the weights get ejected when hitting a pothole before. A good tire shop will do that, alignment and inspect your wheels for damage if you tell them whats going on.