Is this a common problem?

[Hawflake]

I've noticed that my car pulls to the left a little, I thought it was slightly out of alignment or have unequal front tire pressure or something in that nature.
But reading throught the forum, it looks like a lot of you are suffering from the same problem, my friend who has a Mazda6 also has this ongoing problem.
Is this common for front drive car with maybe too much HP, i.e., a result of too many episodes of torque steering? Still, don't we have equal length half shafts?

Any insights will be appreciated.

[EvenStar]

Are you sure that saturn doesnt have a problem with alignment from the factory? Or is everyone who has this problem gradually had it, and not when they first got the car?

[Sp00ner]

Not to be an asshole, but are you sure that the road is level? I have a slight pull to the left, but it's only on the highway that I drive back and forth to work everyday. On almost every other road it's fine, and once in a while it drifts to the right, it seems to drift the same way, on the same roads, almost every time. I do know that some people were complaing of a drift to the left, but if the alignment is good, the alignment is good. I had the same problem with my Camaro, always drifted left, I made them show me the alignment sheet after I brought it back the second time, then went to a different shop, and it was the exact same. The guy at the last shop said that if I could find a truly level road around here, he would be more than happy to do the alignment again. He said that they build the roads with a slight angle on them most of the time so water runs off when it rains. He told me to look for the storm drains in the road and see if that's the same way that the car was pulling, and that the road is most likely sloped that direction by a degree or two. I dunno, sounds logical.

[Hawflake]

Originally Posted by Sp00ner

Not to be an asshole, but are you sure that the road is level? I have a slight pull to the left, but it's only on the highway that I drive back and forth to work everyday. On almost every other road it's fine, and once in a while it drifts to the right, it seems to drift the same way, on the same roads, almost every time. I do know that some people were complaing of a drift to the left, but if the alignment is good, the alignment is good. I had the same problem with my Camaro, always drifted left, I made them show me the alignment sheet after I brought it back the second time, then went to a different shop, and it was the exact same. The guy at the last shop said that if I could find a truly level road around here, he would be more than happy to do the alignment again. He said that they build the roads with a slight angle on them most of the time so water runs off when it rains. He told me to look for the storm drains in the road and see if that's the same way that the car was pulling, and that the road is most likely sloped that direction by a degree or two. I dunno, sounds logical.

I noticed that about the road and the pull is more obvious when I am on the highways, where the roads have a noticeable slant towards the medium. But it's still there when I am on a city street, if anything, the road slants to the right there, which is proved, like you said, by the locations of the drains all on the right side by the sidewalk. Heck, maybe I just need to get it aligned.

[John]

I would say you are probably having same radial pull, which basicly means the directions the belts run in the tires are not perfectly straight. if you happen to have two tires on front with the belts running the same way it causes a slight drift in the direction they are lined up. try rotating your tires front to back then see if the drift changes.

[dipolley]

I'm just throwing this out there. Over the years of the vehicles I have had they all pull a little to one side or another. Generally it is always the same. My old S-10 pulled to the right. It had a single posi traction. Basically it is next to impossible to have the exact same amount of power to both powered wheels all the time. More power will always go to one side. Hense the car will pull to that side. But it should be very minor. My Redline pulls to the right durring HEAVY exceleration. It may just be that there is more power to that one tire. This is just a theory mind you. If I'm wrong please let me know.

I wonder if the LSD will solve this pulling problem.

[jpapa]

Hawflake, does your car pull while going at a constant speed or while accelerating? If it's during constant speed, then it's most likely the combination of any of uneven tire pressure, misalignment, or sloped roads like already suggested.
If it occurs during acceleration, then it is due to the torque steer. I know that they put the equal length half shafts in our cars to prevent this, but I still think it will happen some of the time, just not all the time. I'm not sure of the exact physics during acceleration on the half shafts, so I don't know if torque steer is truly solved by the equal length half shafts or not.
From my experience with my car, the alignment is pretty much perfect, but during hard acceleration when all the torque is being laid out on the road, I do have episodes of torque steer. This does not happen every time that I accelerate, but it has happened on a couple occasions while I was driving and while letting my brother drive. Usually when I am accelerating hard, I keep a tight grip on the steering wheel to keep control, so I may not notice if there is any torque steer. I'm just sharing my experience of this, it seems normal to me because I kind of expected this from the power to the front wheel drive. Maybe the LSD will help prevent this, but I just know that it does not happen every time accelerate. It probably depends on certain conditions of the road and the gears you're in.

[Sp00ner]

Originally Posted by jpapa

Hawflake, does your car pull while going at a constant speed or while accelerating? If it's during constant speed, then it's most likely the combination of any of uneven tire pressure, misalignment, or sloped roads like already suggested.
If it occurs during acceleration, then it is due to the torque steer. I know that they put the equal length half shafts in our cars to prevent this, but I still think it will happen some of the time, just not all the time. I'm not sure of the exact physics during acceleration on the half shafts, so I don't know if torque steer is truly solved by the equal length half shafts or not.
From my experience with my car, the alignment is pretty much perfect, but during hard acceleration when all the torque is being laid out on the road, I do have episodes of torque steer. This does not happen every time that I accelerate, but it has happened on a couple occasions while I was driving and while letting my brother drive. Usually when I am accelerating hard, I keep a tight grip on the steering wheel to keep control, so I may not notice if there is any torque steer. I'm just sharing my experience of this, it seems normal to me because I kind of expected this from the power to the front wheel drive. Maybe the LSD will help prevent this, but I just know that it does not happen every time accelerate. It probably depends on certain conditions of the road and the gears you're in.

He does have a great point about the tire pressure too, I checked mine this weekend and noticed that my front right tire was about 5lbs harder than my left tire. I'm not sure if it made it go any more straight or not, since it wasn't bad to begin with, but check the air pressure if you haven't already.

No, the torque steer is not eliminated with the equal 1/2 shafts, just directed to the tires much more evenly than with an unequal arrangement.

[rlinbatonrouge]

I have a drift to the left that I have been complaining about since I bought the car. I rotated the tires and it still drifts to the left. It does not really pull, but if I get down on the pedal it will pull strongly. The car does drift regardless of what road I drive on, so it is not really a road issue. I know that one other person mentioned that he had to have his tires replaced to correct this drift, but I can't remember who that was. I'll let you guys know

[Hawflake]

Originally Posted by Sp00ner

He does have a great point about the tire pressure too, I checked mine this weekend and noticed that my front right tire was about 5lbs harder than my left tire. I'm not sure if it made it go any more straight or not, since it wasn't bad to begin with, but check the air pressure if you haven't already.

I have both of my front tires inflated @33 psi (just a number I've always used for some odd reason). It still happens when I am cruising, like if I let go both hands, you can see it start slowly changing lanes by itself. Who knows, I will ask for an alignment and a rotation next time and how it goes...