Hello all sorry for the long post this is my first post looking for some help losing my mind with my 2008 TL it has 217,000 miles going strong and drives great except it’s pulling to the left pretty badly especially on the highway and vibrates kinda bad on highway and slightly in city but that’s another problem I’ll have to try to address. as far as the pull it’s not horrible but if I take my hands off the wheel for a split second it noticeably pulls to the left and I have to constantly fight it while driving on the highway and it’s very frustrating. if I was in the right lane and let go it would go into the left middle lane in fully in about 2/3 seconds and the left in 5/6 not horrible but I feel like it’s getting worse and very frustrating. I feel like this problem really arised after I replaced the passenger upper control arm with an aftermarket one that came with a ball joint because a shop told me I needed to do that cause my old one was loose and probably causing the vibration after replacing that I started to really feel the pull and still vibrated so I took it to a dealer and they said everything looked good except it needs a lower driver side ball joint and my steering rack has a slight leak and the back brakes are 80% worn fronts only 30% so I replaced the ball joint thinking it would be all good but it still pulled the same so I took it to another shop for an alignment and they said I needed a wheel hub with bearing nut or it’s gonna keep getting misaligned while they were doing it called me and said it was an actually an “axle nut and it needed a caliber and abs sensor” not a wheel hub with bearing I feel like this shop scammed me because it feels the exact same and they charged me 600$ for essentially nothing granted he showed me under the car befire and it had okay and after it was nice and tight but it is what it is that’s where I’m at now -600 after that a couple days ago and still pulls and vibrates he said it was likely the motor mounts cause the car jerked when it was in the air when it started and vibrates or steering rack but I’m not sure what to try to fix next and need some help could it be the control arm I replaced being overtorqued or something? Or because I replaced only one? Both sides are tight and don’t have any play so I’m not sure what to do dealer gave me a print out that said tires weren’t terribly worn says 6 and 6 for fronts and 4 and 5 in back uneven? but they are old so maybe it’s those? It has michilens so new ones would also be expensive i just don’t wanna spend more money and still have it pull any information or advice is greatly appreciated

 

Dealer print out

 

Did you do an alignment after changing the tie rod? This is always necessary - even just a basic manual alignment done by measuring the distance between the front wheels at a couple different spots.

 

Yes I got an alignment a couple of days ago here’s the report

 

is your car lowered? Did you end up replacing the driver side upper control arm too? have you had the tires rotated and balanced? Has a shop checked the lower control arm bushings? The lowers tend to tear and cause vibration issues frequently.

After you rotate the tires, see if the pull changes at all. If the tire has a bad internal cord, it can cause the steering to pull one way or the other.

Balancing will get rid of the vibration you have at highway speeds (not if there is a bad tire with a bad cord like I mentioned above). Also, they can check for a bent rim that can cause this issue.

I recommend going to a discount tire location since they use the Hunter road force machines that are very good for the balance and rotation. Did the shop check your other wheel bearings and see if they were good? If the wheel bearing is bad the car's alignment will be off no matter how many times you do it.

 

Did they just forget to adjust the rear toe? or did you pay for a two wheel alignment only?

 

Thank you for the reply i appreciate it a lot it’s not lowered I haven’t replaced the driver side control arm so it might be that but was just at a shop and they misdiagnosed the wheel bearing and said it was just a loose axle nut causing it to be loose and have play then replaced a caliber and abs sensor and told me it was tight on both sides I think I’m gonna take it to another shop and see what they think/quote because I’m feeling scammed after that fiasco

And I did recently balance the tires before messing with any of the suspension to no avail it helped the vibration slightly but it was still present and it’s pretty bad at the moment granted I did balance them about 2,000 miles ago so maybe worth doing it again and I haven’t rotated them so that’s a good idea

I replaced the passanger control arm then really started to notice the pull drove about 500 miles because i was waiting to replace the driver side ball joint and didn’t wanna have to do 2 alignments and was assuming the alignment would fix the pull but it didn’t at all what’s the chances its pulling because I only did one control arm Should I just replace the driver side one I just ask because it was a longer job and don’t wanna do it if it’s probably not the reason.

 

Stop replacing parts and start diagnosing first!

Do the rotation and see what happens. Report back and we would be happy to help. FYI - The alignment sheet you posted seems off (like really off) as there is a lot of camber in the rear, nearly +4 and -7 which is totally wrong. The total toe in the rear is near 0, but I think there is something else going on (sagging rear suspension or something else if these specs are accurate). Honestly it looks like they touched the front toe and nothing else which is a bad thing. They should adjust the front, rear, then go back to the front (changing the rear can change the front angles) until it's all in spec.

I think you might need to go to a new shop with this in hand and tell them what you've done and what the other shop has done and that you are really dissatisfied after spending all this money. Pay with a credit card! If the shop doesn't fix it, dispute the charges! If you don't care about going to the old shop, call you CC company and get them to dispute the charge for the money that was spent needlessly.

Wheel balance shouldn't go off within 2K miles unless you lost a bunch of wheel weights or the tire is bad, do the rotation and report back. Make sure the front tires go on the rear, and the rear on the front. Check if your tires are directional (can only spin one way). If yes, they need to stay on the same side (driver front to driver rear and vice versa). If they are not directional, you can take the driver front and put it on the passenger rear.

 

Rotated the tires and there was no difference but noticed tires are pretty worn and bald on inside should I get 4 new tires?

 

My 08 used to pull to the left big time just like yours. Bought new tires and it straightened right up. I didn't buy tires to fix the pull i bought them because they were needed. I thought it was something in the suspension causing it to pull. Luckily i didn't purchase a lot of parts trying to figure it out.

 

Yes, and get an alignment right after from a different place!

 

got 4 new tires got another alignment still pulls I’m losing my mind. Could it be pulling because of the control arm? I replaced the passanger side and it pulls to the left(driver side)

 

 

For simplicity, can you list the parts that have been replaced so far?

It's quite possible this new part is defective... I've had not-so-good luck with aftermarket parts quality lately. Most recently had a duralast CV axle fail after only 2 months and 3k miles.

 

Ive replaced the passanger side upper control arm the driver side lower ball joint and the driver side caliper and brake line in that order and I feel like the pull started right after replacing the control arm.