After taking my car in for an alignment at firestone, I left with the same problem. My car still pulls left. He says I need to replace my ball joints with an adjustable one and also a rear camber link for adjustment. Some how I'm not sure if he knows what he's talking about. Please let me know what you think! Here's my results:


Front Left (Actual/Before/Specified Range):
Camber: (.3 / .3 / -.8 to .8)
Caster: (2.7 / 2.7 / 2.5 to 4.0)
Toe: (.06 / .00 / -.08 to .08)

Front Right (Actual/Before/Specified Range):
Camber: (-.4 / -.4 / -.8 to .8)
Caster: (2.3 / 2.3 / 2.5 to 4.0)
Toe: (-.06 / -.02 / -.08 to .08)

Front (Actual/Before/Specified Range):
Cross Camber: (.7 / .7 / -.8 to .8)
Cross Caster: (.3 / .3 / -.8 to .8)
Total Toe: (0.00 / -.01 / -.16 to .16)

-----------------------------------------

Rear Left (Actual/Before/Specified Range):
Camber: (-1.5 / -1.5 / -1.5 to -.5)
Toe: (.16 / .14 / 0 to .16)

Rear Right (Actual/Before/Specified Range):
Camber: (-1.5 / -1.5 / -1.5 to -.5)
Toe: (0.13 /0.13 / 0 to .16)

Rear (Actual/Before/Specified Range):
Cross Camber: (0 / 0 / -.8 to .8)
Total Toe: (.29 / .27 / 0 to .31)

 

no takers?

 

Let's talk about the alignment first. Front camber and toe should be set at zero (middle of the range). Both are adjustable in front. Your car may need balls joints, but if so, unless you have hugely modified your front suspension, you don't need adjustable ones. That said, except for the right front caster, everything is in range anyway. The rear camber is fixed, but it's within the range (though at the outside). Ideally, left and right camber should be -1 (middle of the range -1.5 to -.5), but your at the mercy of production tolerances and wear (this is assuming the rear suspension is stock). Many cars come out of the factory with rear camber not at -1. I don't understand the rear toe figures. The left one is worse, and the right one didn't change. This may be due to the rudimentary adjustable trailing arm provided by Honda for toe adjustment. It's pretty susceptible to corrosion from road grime. Not knowing where you are or how old the car is, it may be that they couldn't get it to adjust, or only in one way.

The car pulling isn't necessarily alignment related. It could be something else entirely. It could be a wheel or tire out of round, a bent wheel, or a formerly mentioned ball joint (or something else). If you have the OE tires, you could try swapping the front ones (they're not directional). If you have replacements and they're not directional, you could try the same thing. If the they are, swap front to back. Make sure the tire pressures are equal (this should have been done when the alignment was performed by the way). I kind of doubt it's the alignment that's causing your car to pull. It's not that far off, and more importantly, it wasn't that bad to begin with. All just my opinion of course....

 

Thanks for the response simba! That's what I wanted to hear. My car is an 05, new tires about a year ago (when the left pull started now that I think about it), 68k miles, and everything else stock. I'm getting my tires rotated tomorrow anyways, we'll see if it gets fixed because I do think i have one slightly bent wheel.

 

a bent wheel can cause a pull? i thought it just creates vibration

 

Got my tires rotated and my bent wheel in the rear with the same results, the car still pulls left. I think I'm going to jack up the car and do some detective work this weekend.

 

i just got a alignment and the guy told me my springs were sagging and i needed to replace my rear arms with adjustibale ones or replace the springs i told him to get it as close as he could he got the front alignment within specs but the rears he could not and now my car pulls to the left

 

Don't forget radial pull or push. Especially with this starting after new tires.

The best way to check is to cross the two front tires and see if the drift left becomes a drift right...if no change, then cross the two rear tires and drive, same check. If none of these changes impact the drift, it's probably not the tires themselves...

 

I replaced my rear with adjustable from rock auto and it fixed my problem