Alignment off? car leaning after being aligned, Car alignment off after being aligned at the shop any ideas? Options

[Salica]

So,

I took my car to get aligned and they gave me a printout saying the camber, toe, and caster all seem to be well. The problem i have noticed is the car is continuing to lean to the right.... Hmm so i gave the shop a call and i will be taking it to them tomorrow but to be honest im not sure what to look for what could it be and how could it be fixed? Im guessing that maybe the frame of the car might be off or something with the suspension any thoughts or ideas?


Camber Right left
front -.46 -.61
back -1.67 -1.88

toe right left
front -.01 -.01
back .14 .15

CASTER right left
front 1.91 2.23


any suggestions?

[RisingSun1]

Holy crap, mine leans to the right to and I got it aligned a week ago.

[808celica]

your wheels new or old??? tire pressure does it too, also your whole rack and pinion
also tweaked frame or control arms.............but i highly doubt those.

[Salica]

Yeah i just went out a few hours ago and checked the tire pressure. The tires have 5k miles on them so fairly new...
Would the caster have such an effect?

[trdproven]

anything with suspension will let it tug. suspension consists of a lot of parts.

[808celica]

its a long shot but check your axle nut, maybe its lose and its letting the axle have a little extra play.

my friend just changed his rack and pinion on his gen5 gts cuz we checked everything else. i havent driven the car since the rack swap but i was told its driving better. maybe that could be your problem?? again i want to doubt it is because that's a $1300+ part and job.

[Salica]

The alignment guy said blames a bad motor mount that i cant really see. Im kinda doubtful because the car pulls to the right when i speed up and drop it in neutral not just when it is accelerating.

[trdproven]

a motor mount is possible as well.

[Jamchell]

Hello, I used to do quite a few alignments, I know for a fact that caster can be a contributor to steering pull. It will usually pull towards the higher positive number. I don't believe Celicas have any factory adjustment for caster, you will have to buy a kit or slot the upper strut tower mount to adjust it. It's also possible the thrust angle of your frame is off due to an accident if you bought the car used. If you had a 4 wheel alignment done it should state the thrust angle on the printout, you want it to be close to 0.0 degrees.

Do the roads where you live have a significant crown to them. Where I live they have a pretty steep crown and most cars will pull right. I used to have to explain this to customers all the time. One last thing to check is for uneven tire wear, you might notice a tire or two wearing on one side much more than the other. When these tires get rotated to the front they tend to cause the car to pull even if the alignment is within specification. This is even more noticeable when they are rotated in an X pattern.

If you are talking about actual body lean as you look at the car you might want to measure ground clearance on both sides, this is often due to sagging/worn coil springs.


Cheers and good luck sorting it out.

This post has been edited by Jamchell: Aug 24, 2009 - 4:11 AM