Hey Guys,

I went to NTB yesterday to get an alignment. After a trip by Jake's garage awhile back to have my wheels put on the right way (the tread was facing the wrong way) my car started to pull to the right hard. I'm talking let go of the wheel and change lanes. Well I go and finally get an alignment and the toe is in the green and everything looks as it should I guess because I don't have a camber kit to bring in the camber. Leave the shop and it is pulling just as it did before. I get home and check the tire pressure and the front left wheel is the one that is 1lb off. not the right as I figured would be the culprit. All other tires are fine. Really confused about what is happening. I bought the 3 year deal so I'm covered for any other alignments I will need. Just very irritating to pay for one and leave with the same problem. I called them back and he suggested that I try another NTB to see if his alignment tools are off. I've attached the before and after numbers. Let me know if you can help or have any ideas about what is going on? And Jake this is nothing on you buddy And yes I want to get a camber kit. Thanks!

Stone

 

I didnt do it! LOL

damn...everything looks good.. Im at -1.7 fronts and about the same for rears on camber.

Im going to see if I can find my old alignment sheet to compare..

 

How worn are your tires? That might be causing the issue.

Also could possibly be a wheel bearing gone bad. That happened to a friends VW a while ago. Alignment was perfect but still pulled hard, replaced the bearings and it was perfect.

Has your car ever been hit in the front?

 

Sounds like a caster issue to me - I have about 9 degrees of caster on the right and I will slowly pull right. Of course, I don't change lanes the minute I let go of the wheel, but I do drift to the right a bit.

I know this might sound stupid or obvious, but I know that many of the tires for our car are left/right side specific. Are yours on the correct side?

 

yeah i hear ya, i just put the Tanabe NF210's for the G coupe and added Ichiba 25 mm spacers (rear) and 20 mm spacers (front), i went to go have my car aligned the other day and my camber WAS TERRIBLE!! the best they could get my fronts were -2.5 and my rears were -2.25. My question is could i get away with just getting the slotted x member for the front and buying the camber arm for the rear?? or am i just going to have to buy kits for both since im at 25.5" ride height all around.

 

^^^you will need camber arms up front...

 

Not to take the focus away from the OP, but that's interesting that you had such a camber problem w/ the NF210s.. I had them on my ride till just 2 weeks ago and I didn't even need a camber kit to get back to spec.. I got my alignment before I put on my 15mm spacers (got those maybe 3 months ago). I'd ridden on my springs for over a year before I took them off and no bad tire wear.. What size tires are you running? I got a little more than the advertised drop in the rear as well.. Still no bad camber issues w/ the NFs.

pics of your ride?

 

i still have my stock 19'' oem rays powder coated black....i got my alignment after i put my spacers on though...not sure if that would make a difference...i haven't taken any pics since i dropped it but i can run outside in a sec and take some....excuse the dirtiness though lol its been raining the past few days...sorry op didnt mean to thread jack...

 

To me it looks like your cross caster is off. Not by much and i would say ship it if it were my shop. You want the car to drift to the right but not pull.

 

My G with the Tanabe NF210s...........




Front driver side


Rear driver side

 

Wait, so its a good thing when the car drifts to the right??? I will put my wheel straight and let go and it drifts right, maybe a few seconds and its going into the side of the road. Is that normal?? I thought something was screwed up on my car.

 

Yes that is normal for the car to drift to the right. Not let go of the wheel and it turns right. Part is so if you fall asleep your car does not drift into oncoming traffic. The other is the roads are shaped like this ^ to get water out of the middle and onto the sides. Caster makes up for the shape of the road. Now some roads Like Jersey have 2 ruts from all the truckers and you do not need as much caster per side.

 

^now that's just dang good info.. I learned something today.

 

Ya I knew the roads are sloped but it doesnt turn right haha just drifts right. Thats good to know cause I thought something could have been wrong, thanks for the info!

Edit: I agree with twalls, very good stuff!

 

check your compression rod bushings... they could be worn out or cracked.

And not sure about drifting to the right. My car drives straight. On the streets, on the HWY, doesn't matter where, it drives straight.

If the car is pulling to the right (immediately after you let go of the wheel, then somethign is wrong.)..