Hi folks,

Hope you can help with a steering problem I've had recently. The car is pulling to the left and is wearing the inside of the front offside tyre only. I had the tracking adjusted this week and it seems to have improved it but not entirely cured the problem. I've moved the worn tyre from the front to the back to prevent further wear.


My JTD has 57K on the clock, had new shocks and springs a few months ago and was fine until a few weeks ago. I took the car to a local garage to try and find the cause and they discovered the nearside tie rod end had not been re-tightened after the last garage had adjusted the tracking when I got a set of new tyres.

I put new drop links on last weekend which also made no difference, and tyre pressures are all fine.

I don't know where to look next as the garage found nothing wrong...


Any suggestions?

Thanks for your help.

Go to someone who does proper four wheel laser alignment. Front wheel alignment on its own is a waste of time. And it sounds like things have moved around a bit since the tracking was checked in any case...

pieandapint said:

pulling to the left ... and wearing the inside of the front offside tyre only.
Any suggestions?

Click to expand...

Hmm .... Sounds like the rear passenger side caliper/brakes MAY be dragging or seizing.

Next time you drive the car, pull over (using engine/very gentle braking) after a mile or so, hop out & feel the RELATIVE heat of each wheel/disc ...
IF one is much hotter than the others, it's dragging or partially seized, often due to a sticking piston, or sometimes (on rear) by sticking handbrake cables.

I always do my own tracking by eye measurement and never have any problems
Give us some figures. What figures have they set the tracking up to?
You say tyre pressures are ok but what wheels and tyres and pressures are you using?

Mine was all over the place and a constant battle to keep straight until I experimented with tyre pressures from the base line figures, since then it's as straight as an arrow, never wanders and has all even tyre wear

Find an opposite camber road and see if it follows the slope and steers to the right

If you have already worn your tyres at an angle then it won't go straight until they wear flat again

Deckchair5 said:

I always do my own tracking by eye measurement and never have any problems
Give us some figures. What figures have they set the tracking up to?
You say tyre pressures are ok but what wheels and tyres and pressures are you using?

Mine was all over the place and a constant battle to keep straight until I experimented with tyre pressures from the base line figures, since then it's as straight as an arrow, never wanders and has all even tyre wear

Find an opposite camber road and see if it follows the slope and steers to the right

If you have already worn your tyres at an angle then it won't go straight until they wear flat again

Click to expand...

I'm currently running with 34psi in the front and 32psi in the back. Tyres are uniroyal rainsport 2's in 205/55/16. The car doesn't seem to pull to the left at motorway speeds. I've put the worn front tyre onto the back so it doesn't wear any further.

I've also checked the brakes by coasting to a stop and everything seems fine.

Thanks for your help so far, any recommendations for the tyre pressures?

And if anybody is interested, I think the Avon ZZ3's I had before these uniroyals are much better tyres!

Dave

I would think your current tyre pressures for that wheel size would be fine and not be causing you any problems
What did they set the tracking at do you know? Don't worry if you don't

I woud check your steering tie rod ends for wear. Just jack the car up and check for play by waggling the wheel forcefully from the 9oclock to 3pm postions. Amazing the number of steering algnment centres who don't check for wear there first before getting out the laser toys and lightening your wallet

Deckchair5 said:

I would think your current tyre pressures for that wheel size would be fine and not be causing you any problems
What did they set the tracking at do you know? Don't worry if you don't

I woud check your steering tie rod ends for wear. Just jack the car up and check for play by waggling the wheel forcefully from the 9oclock to 3pm postions. Amazing the number of steering algnment centres who don't check for wear there first before getting out the laser toys and lightening your wallet

Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll give that a try when I next have the jack out.

Dave