car question - pulling to one side

[RedexRobB]

The girlfriend has a volvo 440 and it pulls to one side. First instinct was the wheel tracking. So we got that checked and apparently its spot on, but for some reason pulls to the left. Only other reason i can think it may do this is a the wrong suspenion spring somewhere.

Anyone have any ideas?

Need to get her car sorted, handbrake is fecked, brakes now make a grinding noise and the exhaust sounds like its about to fall off!

[lewisdale]

lol rob scrap it, check tyre pressures, tyre wear, if both ok and tracking ok the i would start checking balljoint and track rod ends however these normally knock ywhen worn, otherwise check suspension/wishbone bushes mate, i would sort it for you mate after all the help you gave me on my bike however youre a bit far away now

[RedexRobB]

Cheers Lewis, ill give the simple stuff a go first and see how it is, then delve deeper if need be!

[lewisdale]

thats ok mate, let me know how you get on and if you need anymore help/advice,

[masterofinsanity]

could be a flat tyre, brakes binding on the one side?

[racc]

start simple, change the wheels side to side if its still the same then start checking brakes, ball joints etc

[zimm]

who checked the geometry ?

lots of places will just quickly check "toe" on the front and announce it all clear without centering the rack, checking camber/caster or even looking at the back wheels.

if you are confident the alignment check was carried out correctly and thoroughly then fine, but if you have doubts, get it done again, and properly (anywhere that's done it properly will be able to give you a printout with the readings at each wheel before and after) before shelling out on bits you may not need.

[RedexRobB]

Cant remember the name of the place, used to be called STS Man on Wheels but they got taken over, but i watched the guy do it, put the bits on the back wheel and lasers on the front. It was free to get it checked (as i think it normally is) but im no expert on it so weather he did it properly or not ive no idea.

Manual for the car came through this morning so when the gf actually brings it round when i have time ill know how things should be!

[zimm]

"bits on back wheel, lasers on front" sounds like a basic "toe" check, my 944 flew through a check like that and still pulled to the left and handled unpredictably. Infact, as a stop gap, i was able to improve it by eye, with no gauges, on a sloping driveway !

once on a proper 4 wheel alignment doodah, everything measured as wrong, and even now its not "right" as they ran out of adjustment on one trailing arm, but it drives like a completely different car and is "hands off" stable at any speed

basically, you want a proper "4 wheel alignment", not a "tracking check"

hth

[RedexRobB]

ahh right ok, guess well get it checked then. If i had the money id buy the kit to do it myself then i know itd get done properly.

[Gemini]

if u are ever near the bham area mate, my uncle is a mechanic, will sort it for u in no time

but i guess u prolly wont be coming up narf!

gem

[RedexRobB]

Cheers Gem, no i wont be going that far north any time soon

[rene]

a proper check will include thing like steering wheel alignment to the postion of the wheels, try it somwhere else that has good kit.

My alfa is really bad for it, tracking goes all the time and its not a cheap job due lack of rear axel or something meaning they have to do it differently to a normal car