Hey Guys,

New to the forum and looking for some advice. This is my first thread so please let me know if there's anything I can improve. I also apologize in advance if/when I sound like a noob.

I have an 03 TL-S. Many years ago, I ran it pretty hard against a curb while changing lanes (and not the most alert). The right front passenger wheel hit the curb real hard. Ever since then, the car has had a tendency to shift to the right. If I hold the steering wheel straight, the car will go straight. However, I can feel the car pull the wheel towards the right (and subsequently the car will move that way too). It is more prominent going over bumps and/or braking.

This lasted for a long time despite re-alignment, new tires, and even some alignment specialist work. This generally mitigated the feeling, but it was always there. The only time it really felt like it was solved was when a shop had replaced the ball joint. However, after the next tire rotation, it seemed to be back. Most recently, the last two places I took it to said they couldn't really find anything wrong with the front end, though one place cited possibly the right front shock was leaking oil. The other place didn't find anything but rotated the tires and it felt better after that.

Given that I'm thinking about keeping the car longer, what should I do? Should I consider getting a whole new suspension? I see some posts on here where people do that. I'm not super handy but I can follow instructions. Would that even help though? Could that right front spring but "looser" than the others?

The car is definitely drivable and safe--I just don't let go of the steering wheel for long periods of time .

Any ideas on what could be wrong? How come the car felt better after the ball joint replacement?

 

Any ideas at all folks?

Would it help if I tried replacing something? Anything? Everything?

I found these online and wondered how difficult it might be to install...
https://www.am-autoparts.com/products/shocks-and-struts/AM-3195188963.html?m=585&y=2003

 

right, so it seems as if your incident with the curb bent some components.
unless you find that bent piece, you'll never get it to track straight.

dont worry tho, ive hit 2 curbs during 2 different sets of incidents and the body and collision specialist got the car to track straight BOTH times.

I wouldnt replace parts just for the fuck of it tho... you'll need to find the bent or broken components. I had insurance to help me, so they sent my car to a body shop and the body shop put the car on an alignment machine both for body and wheels. if not straight, they straighten everything out

 

it could also be your subframe, the 2G TL likes to dump its a/c condensation onto the subframe and will rot it out.. maybe its rotten causing bad alignment and not allowing it to track straight?? Just throwing out ideas...

but for sure you need to find the broken/bent component(s)

 

bent control arm?

 

at this point, we'd be guessing.

it needs to go on a body alignment machine and also a wheel alignment machine...
if something isnt straight, it either needs to be PULLED straight or replaced.

 

hence the emoji and question mark

 

They may be guesses, but I still appreciate the responses!

The part that kind of puzzles me is that the problem went away after one of the shops did a ball joint replacement job. But then it came back after the next tire rotation (I had moved to a different state by then, so this was a different shop). So, is it possible that something isn't torqued properly? Maybe one of the tires is bent?

I just feel like if it did go away once, I can make it go away again... I bought some jack stands and I'm going to try to lift the car and check for any play in the tires. I will also take the tires off and then check myself... but... uh... what should I look for?

 

Look for uneven wear which could indicate a camber problem. Ie... outside edge is like new and inside edge is almost bald.

​​​​Feathered tire indicates a toe problem.

To eliminate a tire pull, rotate the front tires side to side. If the car pulls in the opposite direction after the rotation then its a tire pull. Do not rotate front and back tires side to side at same time. It would be hard to isolate which axle's tires are the ones that's doing the pulling.

Have someone follow your car while driving down a straight road to observe if your car is dog tracking. If it is then you have a bent frame or subframe.

​​​What was the frontend alignment specs from your last alignment, front and rear?

 

I had a similar experience hit a large standing water spot at 50mph and it drove me into a curb. My subframe was pushed out of alignment which you could see from a bolt in the upper control arm you could clearly see it wasn't sitting properly and also the knuckle itself was bent out of alignment. I had both these fixed at a specialty shop regular ones couldnt help. If not those two things did you do damage to the rim itself maybe I had to replace the one that impacted the curb it would have needed about 16oz of weight on it just to balance it. Just some stuff that came up from my situation. Hope it helps.