My wife's G35 just developed torque steer, which is something I've never experienced in a rear-wheel drive car. The car pulls left during hard acceleration on the highway and pulls right when coasting.

I took it to Firestone for an alignment and took it to another place, who confirmed the alignment, when it was still torque steering.

Anyone have any ideas?

 

IMHO, you need to find a 'real' mechanic (sorry, i just hate Firestone) to look for the cause. If it just started rather suddenly, then it should be overt; something bent, leaking, torn, worn, dragging, etc..

Alignment is a static setting and does nothing to ensure that the tracking of the car's path stays true under dynamic on-road conditions. An example of that would be a severely worn control arm bushing which holds its position just fine under the no-load conditions on an alignment rack, yet moves significantly under loading, allowing alignment to change radically once you're on the road.

Torque steer on a RWD car is more rare than FWD, but not unheard of. The fundamental basics of trouble shooting apply though; either look for the cause of disproportionate amount of torque being applied to the tire contact patches on the left side vs. the right, or for whatever defect is allowing a dynamic change in steering geometry and causing a steering moment under accel/decel loading.

My first guesses would be CA bushings, diff mount bushings, steering rack issues, wheel hub issues. Heck, the list of "possible" causes is large, but I suspect that if the symptom is that noticeable and repeatable, then it should be equally evident as to the cause to any qualified mechanic.

.02

 

Sounds like you have a VERY worn bushing/control arm in the back somewhere. You are getting "wind-up" of the suspension while under load.

 

could be something as easy as tires also.

 

Yep, this is very true. Looking for a reversal in the steering pull characteristics after a quick rotation of tires from left to right is an easy diagnostic for that.

 

Thanks for the replies! Excellent points. Looks like she's going to the dealer for a suspension check up.

And agreed about Firestone. Not a fan.