Hi all,
Brief history of events on my pug 306:
1.Replaced both wishbones
2.Involved in minor accident very next day (cosmetic damage to headlights, grill and bonnet. bumper and wings still in perfect allignment.
3.Insurance write-off, paid up, fixed it myself, passed the DVLA VIC check, car back on road!
However, I noticed that the steering had a slight pull to the right when going straight. If I were to let go of the steering wheel, I estimate it would change lanes in approx 10 sec at 50mph (not that I'd do that on the motorway). Anyway, I was obviously concerned so I had the wheel alignment checked and adjusted (one wheel was off by 1 degree, I have a printout with old and new measurements).
Situation has since vastly improved, but a minor pull is still there (would probably change lanes in about 20 secs).
What could be the possible causes. I will re-check tyre-pressure, and If I get the chance will swap nsf and osf wheels, to see how that affects it (just incase one wheel is out of round due to excessive toe in/out wear).
By the way, if I brake and let go of the the sterring wheel, it does NOT pull to one side.
Any other ideas on possible causes, or things to try?
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check discs and drums for run out/warping. If one side slightly rubs it would effectively slow the side down and steer the car. When the tracking was done was it with 4 wheel laser calibration thing? Rear beam may be slightly going so rear wheel could be toe out slightly? Are the struts in straight and fully seated, springs located properly, drop links OK??
Thats pretty much everything I can think that may be causing it.
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4 wheel alignment was done with laser rig. Front disc pads are approaching minimum thickness, due to be changed next month. Disc and pads were last changed about 40k miles ago, discs still look good, this will be the first first pad change since new discs.
I will go through the laser readings again, to check rear toe etc. Tyre pressure is okay on both tyres.
I notice that if I bring the car to a halt with the steering dead centre (which is true with wheels). When I pull off without holding the steering wheel, it pulls gradually to the right about 45 degrees. Also if I approach a speed bump straight on without holding the steering wheel, the wheel again pulls to the right aboutthe same amount. Does this help diagnose the cause?
PS I have power steering.
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Some thoughts, but no solutions:
1. Toe-in for Mk1 306 with power steering is 0 degrees 10 minutes (0.16 degrees) plus/minus 5 minutes (0.08 degrees). So your original toe-in error (1 degree) was a long way out, perhaps enough to indicate some suspension damage from the accident.
2. A normal car on a normal road will tend to pull to the left slightly due to the camber of the road, so your pulling to the right is even worse than it first seems. But the car goes straight when you apply the brakes, so maybe:
2.1 Right hand brake is dragging (and applying the brakes evens up the drag), or
2.2 Something is loose (and applying the brakes pulls it back into alignment) - not very likely.
3. One way to check if the brake is dragging unreasonably is to spin the wheel by hand (car jacked of course) and see how many revolutions it makes before it stops spinning. Compare left side with right side. I would say two complete turns is OK. One complete turn isn't. And something in between is anyone's guess.
Ian
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Have just seen this site mentioned in another current thread. www.peugeotlogic.com/workshop/base/workshop.htm
Click on "Data" to get full 306 front/rear toe/castor/camber data. But note that these figures are for Australian 306s. Probably the same as UK, but not guaranteed.
Ian
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As a matter of interest.have you checked to see if caliper is working properly.you may have piston side working ok but other side not releasing properly which would cause that.just a thought.
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Thanks everyone,
General consensus seems to be the brakes. Will try out the free spin test. These are the original slave cylinders, 11 yrs old. I guess they do an overhaul kit (new seals etc).
I personally don't think it was the accident that caused it to go out of alignment. It was a bump with the car in front, and my cars front bumper was lower than the cars rear bumper, hence the damage to lights and bonnet. Bumper suffered a scuff, but otherwise wings were completely unaffected.
I am going to overhaul the front brakes next month, so will give them a good inspection then. I will also check the tie-rods for any excessive play.
Thanks
Solara
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drive the car slowly so that it is just pulling to the right, then pull the handbrake up very slightly, if its a rear brake problem it should be quite obvious by either judder through the handbrake or a lot more sideways pull.
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Just to put a final end to this thread.
I finally got around to replacing both front tyres with new, and all is well, steering is now damn straight. Must have been an out of shape tyre.
Thanks for all the suggestions.
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