The pulling behavior is identical prior and after the alignment was done.

Cliffs: Got an alignment, saw the front toe was severely off, but even after alignment car still pulls left HARD but only under certain circumstances (bumps, high speed). Flat road, low speed = straight steering. Alignment numbers at bottom.


If I'm not going that fast (<30mph) and on a smooth road that car steers straight, steering wheel doesn't move, steering wheel appears centered. However, when I go over bumps, accelerate hard, or brake, the steering wheel turns slightly counter-clockwise and the car veers left.

If the car is on an incline (doesn't matter if the left or right side of the car is on the incline), the counter-clockwise steering behavior arises.

I do not have to keep constant pressure on the steering wheel in order to go straight if traveling under about 30mph and steering wheel is centered. It's just when I'm on an incline or braking, there's a HARD pull to the left...not a slight pull. Whenever I go over bumps, the steering wheel goes in mostly-unpredictable (at least to me) directions. I say mostly because after I go over the bump and the road is flat, I'm pulling to the left.

It also seems that if the steering wheel is centered and I am going straight on a slow road, and then slightly turn the steering wheel left, it's like it gets amplified and the next thing you know there's that hard pulling.

My question is what is the problem and what steps can I take to diagnose? Tire replacement is probably in order but I still have good tread left, and I'm not gonna blow money on them if it doesn't even fix the problem.

Alignment specs:

 

That's some odd behavior.

It might be that the previous misalignment caused non-uniform wear patterns in your tires.

You might want to swap the front tires and see if the car starts to pull in the other direction.

And you probably did this already, but double check your tire pressures.

Did the alignment shop have any suggestions?

 

Sound advice from Bob_F! My parents car wouldn't drive straight even after an alignment. In their case, one of the belts in one of the front tires had broken, and that was the cause.

 

In reality the car doesn't drive straight even at low speeds; it's just more of a minute drift and less prevalent, but is way more pronounced over bumps, high speed, and inclines.

I also am figuring that the poor alignment did cause some abnormal wear on the tires, but to me the tires look okay, or I'm not looking hard enough. I was hoping based on the 'Before' numbers if someone could interpret how they would think the car drove (based solely on the numbers).

Tire pressure is still okay...34 up front, 32 in the back (readings after 12 hours of sitting). I was going to try swapping the tires but for some reason my floor jack doesn't go high enough to get my jack stands under (when lifting from the center point). And it's impossible to jack only one side up & put the jackstand there and remove the floor jack, unless I'm doing something wrong.

I got this done at a dealer. As soon as I left, I thought everything was okay, but as soon as I got on the highway it was there again. Pulled a U-turn, went back to the dealer, and this time he let me drive with him riding shotgun...but he wouldn't let me get on the expressway (so of course he thinks I'm imagining things now). He said that that road is crowned and it's also possible that the belts in some of the tires shifted, but assured me my alignment was corrected.

Any way you can check for a broken/shifted belt?

I traveled 100 miles for an alignment, though there were 4 issues I wanted him to check out; and only one(alignment) was corrected and doesn't even feel like it. LOL.

 

Does the car have the org struts? Sounds like some of the suspension could be worn.

 

I actually bought a new floor jack to handle my TL. My old jack also wouldn't lift the car high enough for my jack stands. If I recall correctly, I needed something with at least a 19 1/2" lift height.

As an interim solution, you could just change one tire at a time and use your spare tire as a "place holder". You'd have to forgo your jack stands for this since you can't get enough height with your current jack.

 

"Wish I Had A TL", to my knowledge these are the original struts....I've never had them replaced but I am the second owner (as of 111K miles) so it's possible the previous owner could've, but didn't see any service records indicating that. One issue I went in for was to see if they could make the ride smooth like it used to be [an exaggeration, but feels like the smallest bump is a huge pothole]. However, he did say that the struts looked fine and weren't leaking.

Bob_F, good idea, didn't think of that. I was also thinking if I just had a wooden block spacer between the lift point & the jack it might help. It's like I just need 1 more inch (and this is with the stands at the lowest height)! I'm planning on doing an oil change, swapping the front tires, and installing my O2 sensors but there's no way I'm gonna do all that without the stands.

 

Here's two video...I'm not grabbing the steering wheel at all during this time (except at the end):

 

Get your tires roadforce balanced. I have had the same problems with different tires, and the roadforce method solved the "drifting" or "pulling" one way or the other during driving on flat roads. Google Hunter roadforce to find a dealer near you.

 

since ur in spec, something has to be bent, check the tie rods first, then check everything else...

 

Then please let me know .. Same issue!pm me please

 

Hey POTROM, your chances of getting any response from this " older '09 " thread are rather slim. But based upon the OP's original issue, could ya elaborate..... describing your situation and what you've tried up to this point ?

Depending upon the overall condition of the car's suspension, steering and braking components.....at over 10 years and 100k of miles driven, anything can start to wear and cause potential problems such as previously posted. It could be as simple as an alignment and new tires, IDK. Help us help you !!!

 

We need a little more info.