Contour Pulls Left

[jbaisch]

Okay guys,
My car is pulling to the left while driving. The higher the speed the harder it pulls. I replaced the front control arms & left front tie-rod ends in February. In march I replaced the front left bearing (i hit a curb hence the tie-rod ends and bearing) and the steering linkages. The pulling wasn't really a problem until about two weeks ago when I had the tires rotated and balanced. I got an alignment done this weekend, and while it did need adjustment this did not fix the problem. The tires have equal pressure between the left and right front and left and right back. Thoughts?

 

[Dyoel182]

Could be an out of whack tire or wheel. Did you replace the wheel when you hit the curb?

 

[mikeswartz]

try swapping the front tires from one side to the other, then see if it pulls the other way, you may have a belt in the tire that has shifted, or like just mentioned a bent rim, this can help you narrow it down and it;s easy to do

 

[jbaisch]

Yes I replaced the Rim, which is now on the back. I also don't think i can just swap my tires as they are uni-directional, so they are supposed to be mounted facing a certain way. I also am getting vibration in the steering wheel over 60 MPH but i wonder if maybe the tire place didn't do a good job balancing - i might go back and make them redo it.

 

[getsum111]

Jonathan, check to make sure the weight they use to balance it didn't fall off, I've seen that happen before.

Maybe an inner tie rod end going? If you disconnect the outer tie rod end from the knuckle, it should support itself without sagging down. If it droops, that is a sign the inner tie rod end is going.

 

[jbaisch]

alright, i'll give that a try Scott.

 

[fulltilt]

If there is a gap between the top strut tower mount (name?) and the body, your failing strut tower bushing could be causing you to pull...

 

[jbaisch]

If there is a gap between the top strut tower mount (name?) and the body, your failing strut tower bushing could be causing you to pull...

There is a gap between the rubberized disk (which is bolted in place) and the steel strut housing / enclosure under the hood on both sides. I heard that that shows the strut tower bushing is failing, correct? I also am going to perform the o'clock test tonight - i thought i had last night but i thought you were supposed to jack up each side of the car and then push left & right (for the 3 & 9) and up down (for the 6 & 12). After looking on the forum it looks like i'm supposed to push in toward the car and pull out toward myself for both of these, right?

 

[getsum111]

Jonathan, check out the pics halfway down in this thread, this is what I was trying to describe last night. If that is your issue, we can swap that out easy. Vacation starts next week. :laugh:

http://www.contour.org/ceg-vb/showthread.php?t=46242

 

[jbaisch]

i don't see any pictures. Is that the right thread (seems to be a car for sale)?

 

[jbaisch]

Okay guys. GETSUM111 (Scott) and I just spent Friday tearing apart my suspension. I got strut mounts and new front brakes (needed them anyway). The strut mounts were compressed due to their age. When we took the system apart we got a surprise - both front springs were broken! Turns out at least one (probably both) were Original and had seen 155,000 miles. In addition my passenger outer tie rod end was shot so we had to get a replacement. Good project, although time consuming and I can't say i was excited to buy more parts. So i basically have an all new front suspension (LCAs, Tie Rods, springs, 2 year old struts, strut mounts, driver side wheel).
One problem - R1 Concepts sent me the SVT rotors so they didn't fit. I've included the few pics I took and you can see the messed up springs. Thanks for the help guys and thanks again Scott for the tutelage.