Isn't the OP just an advert for an American website?

Be wary about clicking the link.

hey everyone thanks for the replies... i'm trying to get what most are saying but being a complete novice when it comes to cars i probably require it borken down for me lol!

all i know is i took it for multiple 4 wheel alignments using the hunter machines.... had printouts with everything in the green except the caster but as both sides were positive if i remember rightly was told it wasnt a big issue...

so the steer ahead and toe were bang on centre and camber was good on both front and back.....

this time round i feel like they have adjusted the toe to make the car drive to the right when the wheel is centered causing a crazy handling experience.... as i know and can feel the car wanting to go left... but the the steering wheel when held centred will make the car drive to the right.... so there is a constant battle between the pull and the steering direction.... and tbh it is the best the car has felt. even though it is wrong and is a temporary fix...

i've now spent more than the car is worth trying to get to the bottom of it..... alignments, springs, strut top mounts, sway bar bushing.... new tires....

on monday im going to take it for another alignment 4 wheel hunter hawkeye...

so i will keep the printout and post it for you all to have a gander...

and if there is still a pull then it must be a frame/chassis issue ? since new springs/top stur mounts/tires/ bushings... pretty much eliminates a suspension issue yeah ?

Most cars have no adjustment of the castor angles - if it's out of spec on a full Hunter-type alignment then the car's been damaged/distorted or bushes etc worn.

Given the list of parts already replaced, it's not wear so it's distortion - a good accident repair shop would have checked all the hard point alignments before rebuild after an accident but there's plenty of poor repairers around.

If you have the time try my earlier suggestion of following your car for a good few miles on quiet roads, all sorts of terrain, dual carriageways etc, so you can bob around it a bit a watch exactly whats going on from all angles, you'd be surpised how something that can't be seen as wrong with the car parked mainfests itself as the car goes over undulations, if you have a friend thats car savvy it might be good to swap seats so he can watch your car too, then compare notes, might provide some illumination.

Also do that check for binding brakes or a hot running hub during a run.

The bodyshop thought is a good idea, but like you i'd be reluctant to spend much more on it.

I'd be inclined to examine closely the suspension and frame where track control arms and such like are mounted, you'll be checking the body for distortion (measure both sides with the wheels off) and the wishbones/track control arms etc for identical sizes, its possible if it had a kerb whack that a pattern part has been fitted that isn't an exact fit, again measuring both sides accurately might reveal...you could do a lot of this yourself with the wheels off and the car blocked up, or by putting the front end up on sturdy ramps and getting underneath.

Don't forget the back end, this could be nothing to do with the front end, the rear of something isn't right can affect steering badly.

Edited by gordonbennet on 19/12/2015 at 09:39

If it has a front subframe it's possible it's bent and the most probable cause.just a thought ?

The OP said an older mechanic found the left hand side was 11mm lower than the right (after all the supension replacements).

That surely indicates distortion of body shell or subframe.

I'll bet that if you drove down an undulating dual carriageway...maybe the M8 on one of the ploughed sections..:-) in another car to the left of your own car and watched what is happening to the front wheel as it negotiates the furrows it might reveal a lot of what is going wrong.

" i have noticed that if i hit any little bump on the road the car will through itself to the left and i have to hold onto the steering wheel very hard to stop it from happening. "

A good few years ago SWMBO managed to slide our heavy Citroen CX sideways on snow into a curb at Tesco. She only hit it slowly but at about 90 degrees ie the wheel took all the force side on. After that the car would react exactly as you describe above.

I think it was the right side that got clobbered but cause the car to shimmy to the left over any whoop in the road.

When I looked carefully I could see that the right lower wishbone, which was a very beefy component, was very slightly bent so a bit shorter.

A new wishbone restored the car to normal again.

Edited by dieselnut on 20/12/2015 at 13:06

Right, up to a point the alignment being set to right bias won't make any real difference, all other things being equal all it means is you have/had a slight tow out bias, which once moving the tiny amounts involved really wouldn't make a scrap of difference, you might notice a pull to the one side when the other side encountered less grip (friction) such as running the other wheel along a continuouly painted white line in the wet, and you might feel a pull when dropping in an out of lorry wear/tram lines on the motorway.

But everything else isn't equal, the caster, which you already knew, is where the problem lies, in effect the front left wheel is a very small distance further back than the right front (or the right front is too far forward), thats why the car wants to turn left, you could adjust the alignment from now till doomsday but until someone somehow fixes that caster difference it will always steer left.

Plus you don't know if that caster is altering (worsening) when moving as friction forces bushes etc to compress, hence my suggestion about watching it in action.

I think most of are assuming its had a clout of some sort, might be severe whack up a kerb, not necessarily an accident as such, so someone has to find and hopefully manage to fix it somehow, i don't know how cos no one has yet diagnosed this fault correctly despite the figures staring them in the face pointing them, as experts, to where the problem might lie.

By the way the problem might not be at the nsf, it could equally be at the osf, both sides need to match to give you the correct caster.

I notice there is a slight difference in rear cambers too, whilst it won't make a great deal of difference to the left pull, i'd have thought they would mention it, whether its adjustable via eccentric bolts i do not know, but it might be connected to the whack i think the car has had at some point.

You still need someone to do some accurate measuring underneath to find the cause of the caster differences, that hasn't altered and until someone finds out why and comes up with a way to fix it the left pull will stay.

Did the people who aligned it offer no suggestions, do they think the caster difference is the problem, how does it compare to their 'autodata' or whoever they use steering geometry figures they are working from?

I really think you should follow your own car and see if its crabbing and what else you can learn from how the front suspension behaves over undulations.

The above are only my layman opinions, happy to be put right by someone who actually knows what they're waffling about, thats all i can offer, best of luck.

Edited by gordonbennet on 21/12/2015 at 12:19

what else could it leave to replace

I would suggest you just drive it as it is or trade it in. Anything else is just trowing money away.

Daft suggestion, have you tried another, they might all be like that.

If you're uncle has one then you are in the perfect position to do what i've suggested all along, drive each others cars travelling together, each one paying close attention to how the other car behaves on the road, you have absolutely nothing to lose and everything to gain from this, and its free apart from a gallon of juice.

Oh and a fast fit joint is not where i'd be expecting to find a mechanic who will take the time to diagnose the real problem, they are fast fit for good reason.

Edited by gordonbennet on 22/12/2015 at 10:51

hey unfortunetly my uncle is in england and im scotland so unable to try driving together and that...

what i have noticed tonight....

I drove to an empty parking lot with flat surface and centered the wheel, i then let go of the wheel while driving and as i mentioned before the steering wheel starts turning left and the car drives to the left with it which i already knew.

but i then went back to the same starting spot, centered the steering wheel and tried reversing and letting go of the wheel and the same thing happened.

the steering wheel began to turn to the left and the car started to reverse to the left.

Get a tape measure and check the distance between the front and rear wheels. Measure from the front of the rear tyre to the front of the back tyre, at the centre line of the wheel. Compare the LH side with the RH side, I reckon the LH side distance will be shorter. It sounds to me as if you have had a thump on the LH that has pushed the suspension rearwards, alignment measures camber, castor and track but will not necessarily pick up a bent lower suspension arm, especially if the tracking has been adjusted to correct the problem. Similar happened on a family fiesta some years ago. I also experienced a similar fault on s Chrysler Avenger belonging to my son, a tie rod that held the McPherson strut in position was loose, car drove straight until you braked, strut then moved backwards and car shot to the left.. You have a different suspension I believe, so the latter cause will not be relevant .

That makes sense- the cure for an old Mini pulling to the left or right was to strip out the tie-rod from the bottom arm to the front of the sub-frame on the side it ws pulling to, remove the rear rubber bush, cut it in half , and re-install it in front of the anchor point onthe sub-frame, together with the original front bush, giving one and a half bushes at the front of the anchor point and half a bush behind, so that the bottom arm was pulled forward, increasing the steering camber angle slightly.