i bought the car a year ago MY00, the car had a front accident and the front chassis had undergone repair. The car drove fine until couple of days back. The car goes once to the right side and then to the left side. the alignment is done but problem still persists. when i brake it pulls to the left side, when i say pull i mean really pull, it can cross 2 lanes in seconds if i don't hold the steering wheel. Even when i hold the steering wheel tight when running over 200Km\h the car kinda pulls a bit to the right and then left which makes even easy turns scary. I checked all my tire pressures and they are at 30. i changed my tires almost a month ago with the same that were on before. Potenzas. Could it be that my engine mounting needs to be changed? i had kinda alignment problems with my previous civic and after i changed the left engine mounting the car was stable.

 

just an FYI, no bodyshop can repair chasis 100%. the best bodyshop can do is 99%.

 

Try another shop bro.

Fact is, a good shop can bring it to 115%, since it's about 90 from the factory.

 

I'm assuming that you don't hear a grinding sound when it pulls. I would be inclined to think that your problem is in your steering. It could be a bad steering knuckle. Jack each front wheel up and try wiggling it. If there is any play, you will be able to see where it's coming from. If a steering knuckle is shot, it will have excessive play. Fortunately, this is a relatively inexpensive fix.

Check your control arms to make sure that they are not broken, or if there is excessive play in the bushings. If you can wiggle the wheel up and down, you might have a bad ball joint. Check to make sure you don't have any problems with your rotors, suggesting a brake problem. Spin the wheel with the car in neutral, and check for noises.

It is far more likely that the problem is in your suspension or steering, and not in your chassis, so try to eliminate possible causes. If you hear any creaks or grinding, try to find the source of the noise.

 

^Good suggestions. Go grab and wiggle everything you can find on all 4 corners. The alignment shop should have been able to spot some of these on the rack, but maybe they weren't looking for them. You might find that if you take the car back to the same alignement shop it may not be aligned now, an indication of loose suspension parts. Don't overlook the rear either, left/right pulling could be caused by either front or rear issues.

 

And check your tire pressures once more. I know you've said you already checked it, but that is consistently the cause of these same symptoms.

 

Yeah, go with the simple stuff first. It sounded to me like tire pressures.

But it could also be brakes.

Since it came on suddenly I would choose things that deteriorate rather than look at the chassis since it has been working properly.

Have you greased the sliders on the brakes recently? Have your brakes even been looked at recently.

If on or more brake calipers isn't working properly the imbalance in braking pressures will cause that type of reaction.

 

Thanx guys for the responses .... i went and checked my brakes and apparently all four need to be changed!! the rotors they say need to be aligned or something like that. i was told the rotors need to be removed and straightened. well i'll be doing that probably tomorrow. but that will resolve the pulling to one side when braking, i will check the wiggling and noise tomorrow as its my weekend (this part of the world, thurs and fri) ..... i'm all set up for the MTV party ......

 

[QUOTE=mxt_77,Aug 18 2005, 09:08 AM]And check your tire pressures once more.

 

90% from the factory? Being generous aren't we