Car that tracks left and right? - Toyota Yaris Forums

detroiter · 03-03-2010, 10:59 AM

Well I had an alignment done a while ago and everything was fine, but it seems after anytime I get an alignment, before too long, the car "feels" like it has too much toe. The steering wheel itself will stay straight and not move, no vibration either. But the car very,very slightly seems like it's trying to go left or right.

I don't understand why it would feel that way. So I always have to very slightly turn the steering wheel left or right to keep the car going straight, it's more noticeable at highway speeds.

kazama82 · 03-03-2010, 11:50 AM

it was said to be the electric steering behaviour..same as my yaris sedan 09

yaris-me · 03-03-2010, 09:26 PM

I think you need to run it a while to let the tire wear set. You can use a higher tire pressure.

why? · 03-03-2010, 09:59 PM

mine seems to do that too. the steering seems to be very sensitive to anything on the road.

TheSilkySmooth · 03-04-2010, 07:43 PM

Thats a junk strut front suspension for you. Lower tire air pressure may help stabilize tracking - oTW you got a suboptimal alignment. Most shop alignment racks are WAY WAY out of calibration and the shop could care less. Hav them show you a calibration certification record - hopefully within the previous 6 months before having it done.

Boost Addicted · 03-12-2010, 12:54 AM

If the car has a pull (steering wheel moves when you let go), or when driving in a straight line your steering wheel is off center, that indicates your toe is out, and your tie rods need adjusting. If the vehicle has a lead, meaning the steering wheel is straight ahead and you start drifting to the left or right, that means your camber is out on one side or the other (the car will tend to drift in the direction of the positive camber side). Could be front or rear camber responsible for this. Improper toe tends to have a choppy wear pattern, where camber has excessive wear on the inside most tread of the tire.

And high tire pressure will actually help make your allignment feel worse by excessively wearing the center part of the tire tread. You should fill your tire pressure to what it says on the sticker inside your drivers door pannel, not what the max psi is on your sidewall.

But before you blame your allignment, check your tire pressure first to make sure they're all equal, and at the proper psi!

detroiter · 03-12-2010, 12:59 AM

How do you adjust the tie rods? Or how would you know what that's what it could be? I just had an alignment done like 2 weeks ago and it already feels "off". never even ran over anything significant.

Boost Addicted · 03-12-2010, 01:06 AM

Well I work in a shop lol, the toe allignment (inward/outward facing of the wheels, literally like looking at your feet pointing inwards/outwarsd) is adjusted and controlled by the tie rods. They're very easy to adjust, but impossible to do so accurately without an allignment rack. Sometimes .10 degrees out of spec can be enough for you to feel it majorly. But if one side is further out than the other, thats when you get a cock-eyed steering wheel. Sometimes its just slightly ''out'' enough to cause a pull.

Edit: Tie rods are adjusted with regular open end wrenches (sometimes requiring heat, first, to break the locking nut loose). Gotta do it from underneath the car... But again, you need an allignment rack to do so. The cameras used are highly sensitive.

I'd go somewhere else to get it alligned. How much did you pay? Typically if its too cheap to be true, it is. They typically run in the viscinity of $80-$100 depending on locations.

Boost Addicted · 03-12-2010, 01:10 AM

Also, the allignment could've been done incorrectly if the guy doing it didn't make sure all four tires were the same size, brand, and pressure.

And hey, I don't mean this as an insult... But it seriously happens.

If you're a real heavy person, 275lbs or heavier... You can actually change allignment enough (just b/c of the weight being on one side of the vehicle) to send it all out of whack. Often times the shop will kindly ask you to sit in the car while its being alligned, to avoid this.

detroiter · 03-12-2010, 02:32 AM

I'm about 165 and the tires are all the same haha. I know what you mean though, anything can happen and nothing is surprising. So adjusting the tierods is different than adjusting the camber bolts? Usually the front end alignment runs about 50 dollars at belle tire. Just kind of aggrevating that I havn't even hit any bumps but it gets the left and right tracking feeling along with an excessive toe feeling as well.

Boost Addicted · 03-12-2010, 12:28 PM

They probably just did a crappy job... I've even seen people put weight on the side of a car to trick the machine into thinking camber is good, then quick hit the ''save'' button on the computer and print out the numbers for the customer and tell them their car is finished. There's a lotta dirt bags out there haha.

I'd go somewhere else and have it done, or have the original place print out your measurements. I believe they're required to save them.

But by the sound of your first post, it seems you have more of a camber problem than a toe problem. Again, both allignment angles will affect the direction the car goes, but toe usually has your steering wheel off center a bit and/or will pull the wheel from your hands if you let go. Camber wont... You'll just start drifting.

And there are fewer camber adjustments... Infact, some cars (like my Jetta lol) do not have camber adjustments. You probably have limited adjustment through the camber bolts (do they have actual camber ''kits'' so to speak, or is it just the control arm/strut knuckle that has slight play in when the two bolts are loosened? I haven't inspected the Yaris much, it's my girlfriends car). But, after you make minimal adjustments to the camber via camber bolts, you need to use shims to get the angle where it should be. Maaany shops are too lazy to do this, especially if they have older software that doesn't tell them where to cut the shim to make it angle properly.

03-03-2010, 10:59 AM	#1
detroiter Drives: 2008 Polar White LB Auto Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Metro Detroit Posts: 1,238	Car that tracks left and right? Well I had an alignment done a while ago and everything was fine, but it seems after anytime I get an alignment, before too long, the car "feels" like it has too much toe. The steering wheel itself will stay straight and not move, no vibration either. But the car very,very slightly seems like it's trying to go left or right. I don't understand why it would feel that way. So I always have to very slightly turn the steering wheel left or right to keep the car going straight, it's more noticeable at highway speeds.

03-03-2010, 09:59 PM	#4
why? Only Happy When it Rains View User's Garage Drives: Yaris LB Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: harnett county NC Posts: 4,097	mine seems to do that too. the steering seems to be very sensitive to anything on the road. __________________ Colin Chapman disciple

03-03-2010, 11:50 AM	#2
kazama82 Drives: VIOS Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Malaysia Posts: 42	it was said to be the electric steering behaviour..same as my yaris sedan 09

03-03-2010, 09:26 PM	#3
yaris-me Learn to Relax Drives: 2007, Meteorite, LB Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Anaheim, CA Posts: 2,070	I think you need to run it a while to let the tire wear set. You can use a higher tire pressure.

03-04-2010, 07:43 PM	#5
TheSilkySmooth Drives: 08 3DR 5M Bayou Blue; 09 Fos Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: New Hampshire Posts: 622	Thats a junk strut front suspension for you. Lower tire air pressure may help stabilize tracking - oTW you got a suboptimal alignment. Most shop alignment racks are WAY WAY out of calibration and the shop could care less. Hav them show you a calibration certification record - hopefully within the previous 6 months before having it done.

03-12-2010, 12:54 AM	#6
Boost Addicted Drives: 2008 Yaris 5spd, 2005 GLI 1.8T Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Albany NY Posts: 33	If the car has a pull (steering wheel moves when you let go), or when driving in a straight line your steering wheel is off center, that indicates your toe is out, and your tie rods need adjusting. If the vehicle has a lead, meaning the steering wheel is straight ahead and you start drifting to the left or right, that means your camber is out on one side or the other (the car will tend to drift in the direction of the positive camber side). Could be front or rear camber responsible for this. Improper toe tends to have a choppy wear pattern, where camber has excessive wear on the inside most tread of the tire. And high tire pressure will actually help make your allignment feel worse by excessively wearing the center part of the tire tread. You should fill your tire pressure to what it says on the sticker inside your drivers door pannel, not what the max psi is on your sidewall. But before you blame your allignment, check your tire pressure first to make sure they're all equal, and at the proper psi!

03-12-2010, 12:59 AM	#7
detroiter Drives: 2008 Polar White LB Auto Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Metro Detroit Posts: 1,238	How do you adjust the tie rods? Or how would you know what that's what it could be? I just had an alignment done like 2 weeks ago and it already feels "off". never even ran over anything significant.

03-12-2010, 01:06 AM	#8
Boost Addicted Drives: 2008 Yaris 5spd, 2005 GLI 1.8T Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Albany NY Posts: 33	Well I work in a shop lol, the toe allignment (inward/outward facing of the wheels, literally like looking at your feet pointing inwards/outwarsd) is adjusted and controlled by the tie rods. They're very easy to adjust, but impossible to do so accurately without an allignment rack. Sometimes .10 degrees out of spec can be enough for you to feel it majorly. But if one side is further out than the other, thats when you get a cock-eyed steering wheel. Sometimes its just slightly ''out'' enough to cause a pull. Edit: Tie rods are adjusted with regular open end wrenches (sometimes requiring heat, first, to break the locking nut loose). Gotta do it from underneath the car... But again, you need an allignment rack to do so. The cameras used are highly sensitive. I'd go somewhere else to get it alligned. How much did you pay? Typically if its too cheap to be true, it is. They typically run in the viscinity of $80-$100 depending on locations.

03-12-2010, 01:10 AM	#9
Boost Addicted Drives: 2008 Yaris 5spd, 2005 GLI 1.8T Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Albany NY Posts: 33	Also, the allignment could've been done incorrectly if the guy doing it didn't make sure all four tires were the same size, brand, and pressure. And hey, I don't mean this as an insult... But it seriously happens. If you're a real heavy person, 275lbs or heavier... You can actually change allignment enough (just b/c of the weight being on one side of the vehicle) to send it all out of whack. Often times the shop will kindly ask you to sit in the car while its being alligned, to avoid this.

03-12-2010, 02:32 AM	#10
detroiter Drives: 2008 Polar White LB Auto Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Metro Detroit Posts: 1,238	I'm about 165 and the tires are all the same haha. I know what you mean though, anything can happen and nothing is surprising. So adjusting the tierods is different than adjusting the camber bolts? Usually the front end alignment runs about 50 dollars at belle tire. Just kind of aggrevating that I havn't even hit any bumps but it gets the left and right tracking feeling along with an excessive toe feeling as well.

03-12-2010, 12:28 PM	#11
Boost Addicted Drives: 2008 Yaris 5spd, 2005 GLI 1.8T Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Albany NY Posts: 33	They probably just did a crappy job... I've even seen people put weight on the side of a car to trick the machine into thinking camber is good, then quick hit the ''save'' button on the computer and print out the numbers for the customer and tell them their car is finished. There's a lotta dirt bags out there haha. I'd go somewhere else and have it done, or have the original place print out your measurements. I believe they're required to save them. But by the sound of your first post, it seems you have more of a camber problem than a toe problem. Again, both allignment angles will affect the direction the car goes, but toe usually has your steering wheel off center a bit and/or will pull the wheel from your hands if you let go. Camber wont... You'll just start drifting. And there are fewer camber adjustments... Infact, some cars (like my Jetta lol) do not have camber adjustments. You probably have limited adjustment through the camber bolts (do they have actual camber ''kits'' so to speak, or is it just the control arm/strut knuckle that has slight play in when the two bolts are loosened? I haven't inspected the Yaris much, it's my girlfriends car). But, after you make minimal adjustments to the camber via camber bolts, you need to use shims to get the angle where it should be. Maaany shops are too lazy to do this, especially if they have older software that doesn't tell them where to cut the shim to make it angle properly.