2nd Alignment and Car is still pulling to the Right! (Algnment Specs Enclosed)

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Old Oct 17, 2011 | 06:21 PM
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2nd Alignment and Car is still pulling to the Right! (Algnment Specs Enclosed)

So the title says it all. Car pulls to the right and I feel like the car easily wanders and dances in lane at highway speeds, not very confident to drive inspiring. 2nd alignment, because I thought the first one wasn't good but didn't save the specs, so got another one done today and its pretty much the same.

The tech told me that outter nut of on my drivers side rear toe arm (don't know if its called that or the trailing arm) is seized, so Acura is going to replace that soon. This problem only happened after the following was just done:

1. Changed both front LCA
2. New Steering Rack


Tires have 10k miles on them
No bends in the rims

Alignment sheet below.. and why the hell is my front camber off when I'm on stock suspsension currently?

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Old Oct 17, 2011 | 07:13 PM
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Also want to add that ... my steering wheel is off centered. If I hold it straight car steers slightly to the left. If I let go of the wheel.... the car pulls and starts drifting towards the right. Hope that makes sense... and does this tech not know what he's doing with the alignment machine?
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Old Oct 17, 2011 | 08:19 PM
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Don’t see any specs, but the first problem, lazy tech. The steering wheel is to be positioned properly, held stable, alignment completed, short ride to see if steering wheel is positioned in the proper straight ahead position and car travels straight. If the wheel is off, car goes back on the rack, steering wheel centered again and the tie rods ends on each side adjusted to now have the wheels in the straight ahead position as dictated by centering the steering wheel.
Have seen cars with stock suspension out of spec, some have both sides out, some only one side. I’m a firm believer that the specs should be within the factory specs, and fairly close on both sides. Meaning the same camber spec should be relatively close when comparing each side. If out, or a great disparity between each side, some aftermarket correction part would be needed. When all 4 corners are in spec, the pull should be gone, but if not, start moving tires around. Swap front side to side, then front to rear.
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Old Oct 17, 2011 | 08:21 PM
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why did you have a new steering rack put in?...how much?
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Old Oct 18, 2011 | 06:33 AM
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Post the alignment numbers when you get a chance.

One item I wanted to clarify was that stock vehicles that are out of spec, one must check to make certain there are no bent or worn parts that could cause this condition as most will stay within range for a lifetime until wear becomes evident. Most of the cars that I was referring to were cars that didn't have tower braces/bar, and the towers would lean in after a period of time necessitating parts to correct the out of camber condition, not the TL. We could at times, jack the car up under the front cross member, let the wheels hang to try and get the towers out, and place an adjustable bar on the towers to get them back into place.
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Old Oct 18, 2011 | 08:04 AM
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Originally Posted by Turbonut
Don’t see any specs.
Wait you don't see the alignment scan that I uploaded? Its in the first post of mine as a jpeg? I c it.
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Old Oct 18, 2011 | 11:02 AM
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Same issue minus the dancing. Just gotthe car a month ago and the steering wheel was crooked and it pulled to the right. If you got it aligned twice and the steering wheel is still crooked then you need to find a new shop. The process of alignment was said above and your tech must be lazy or not have someone holding the wheel still while aligning. But if I were you I would get the steering wheel fixed first cuz then you can start gettig to your other issues. Cant see your alignment specs either so I can't compare it to mine. If it stil pulls to the right try changing your front two wheels. Could be a bad tire bent rim etc. if that doesn't help Then you might have something bent. Read my post some people posted on there a lot of insight. Hope this helps a bit
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Old Oct 18, 2011 | 11:14 AM
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Originally Posted by Elegant TYPE S
Wait you don't see the alignment scan that I uploaded? Its in the first post of mine as a jpeg? I c it.
Nope. If you linked to your azine album, you need to set it to be viewable by the public (or something like that)
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Old Oct 18, 2011 | 12:14 PM
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No pics to see...
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Old Oct 18, 2011 | 02:31 PM
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Ok what about now? Sorry about that guys.
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Old Oct 19, 2011 | 12:22 AM
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out of spec toe doesnt cause a pull.
based on your specs, the steering wheel should be centered.
please have your camber issues fixed. if youre not aware, tls dont have camber adustment from factory.(sure pull in the trailing arms inward, but only gives so much degrees of adustment)
please note identical caster will always pull to the side with the greatest road crown.

...so this rack, why was it replaced? and next time you drive your car, after making turns, note the position of the steering wheel. if it so much changes position once youve centered the car, you either have A-an unsecured rack B-your rack cant be fully torqued due to stripped nuts(sit inside the subframe) or stripped mounting bolts.
keep us updated
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Old Oct 19, 2011 | 06:24 AM
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Holy hell, look at your front toe before specs! Was this the alignment after that work was done? If so that would explain those numbers. Did you have the stock or aftermarket wheels on during the alignment? When I ride with my work wheels my car pulls a bit to the right, when I ride on the factory A-specs the car drives straight. I did align my car with A-specs then decided to see the number with the Work wheels, It will throw the alignment off, basically telling me my toe was out of spec again.. That's due to different size wheels and tires vs each other. Your camber isn't terrible at all, the other guy I am helping out has a lot worse camber. As I suggested to him I will suggest to you, stock wheels with excellent tires + camber kit + a very reputable alignment place and let us know the difference.
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Old Oct 19, 2011 | 06:51 AM
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Originally Posted by 04WDPSeDaN
Holy hell, look at your front toe before specs! Was this the alignment after that work was done? If so that would explain those numbers. Did you have the stock or aftermarket wheels on during the alignment? When I ride with my work wheels my car pulls a bit to the right, when I ride on the factory A-specs the car drives straight. I did align my car with A-specs then decided to see the number with the Work wheels, It will throw the alignment off, basically telling me my toe was out of spec again.. That's due to different size wheels and tires vs each other. Your camber isn't terrible at all, the other guy I am helping out has a lot worse camber. As I suggested to him I will suggest to you, stock wheels with excellent tires + camber kit + a very reputable alignment place and let us know the difference.
Thanks Gus... I'm on stock wheels right now and stock suspension but I do have a camber kit in the rear. No camber adjustment addition in the front, seems like I'm going to have to add it though.. I don't get why on my stock setup I'm showing negative camber in the front out of spec...

Also.. these numbers were after the rack was replaced.
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Old Oct 19, 2011 | 08:15 AM
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Go to another shop. If those are the specs from the latest shop and you have a camber kit on the rear, why would anyone let the car go with those rear camber settings -.9 degrees and .2 degrees along with .08 and -.04 toe. They should make each side the same.
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Old Oct 20, 2011 | 12:05 AM
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Originally Posted by eg5
out of spec toe doesnt cause a pull.
based on your specs, the steering wheel should be centered.
please have your camber issues fixed. if youre not aware, tls dont have camber adustment from factory.(sure pull in the trailing arms inward, but only gives so much degrees of adustment)
please note identical caster will always pull to the side with the greatest road crown.

...so this rack, why was it replaced? and next time you drive your car, after making turns, note the position of the steering wheel. if it so much changes position once youve centered the car, you either have A-an unsecured rack B-your rack cant be fully torqued due to stripped nuts(sit inside the subframe) or stripped mounting bolts.
keep us updated
Without being rude, I would like to note that toe can most certainly cause a pull depending on the split between each wheel. Secondly, the spec does not determine the wheel angle, the technician does. Based on the specifications listed, the car could very well have a pull to the left, based on excessive negitive camber, but shouldnt feel "Dancy."(the dancy feeling comes from excessive toe in)
The rear wheels are causing the car to dog track because they are pointed the same direction(to the right), so I wouldnt expect the car to feel straight, including a crooked wheel. Turbonut is exactly correct with the reason for excessive negitive camber on a stock car and DKumar454 made a good point about cross rotation, being that it could be a radial pull, even one that previously existed, but countered by a poor alignment. Pay attention to what the steering wheel does when you let go of it. An alignment pull will typically not cause the steering wheel to dart in either direction, while a radial pull will do just that. The caster being even can also be a problem because the car will follow the road undulations or tram line based on the quality of the road. You really need to wait to get the toe adjustment fixed from acura before you can expect the car to perform like a properly aligned car should.

Common misconceptions about alignments:
-If the wheel is crooked, the alignment is out
-If the wheel is straight, the alignment is fine
-If a problem occurs, the technician is to blame
-Wheels effect alignment specs(usually true)
-Inner edge wear is usually caused by camber
-camber and toe doesnt effect pull(It actually doesnt directly)
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Old Oct 23, 2011 | 11:50 AM
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could be radial pull. what kind of tires are you running?. try to cross rotate them or sometimes you got a bad batch of tires. always stick to name brand tires and correct load/speed ratings. good luck. alignment is good...
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Old Oct 23, 2011 | 08:03 PM
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I am thinking possibly that a tire might have a radial pull as well, especially if you have had it aligned twice. I have had some very good brand tires but every once in a while you can still get a bad tire as it does not take much to give a tire a radial pull. Just switch the tires from one side of the car to the other and see if it pulls in the other direction. If they are directional tires just rotate front to back. Do one side at a time if directional tires. If it gets better than you know which tire is bad. Good luck.
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