Wheel Alignment - drifting to the right

[jadeboy]

My 2005 Camry drifts to the right. I went to Canadian Tire to put on Winter Tires and do a wheel alignment to fix the the drifting.

Canadian Tire installs the winter tires and and did the wheel alignment (I got the print out) but after taking it on the road it still drifts to the right. So I went back and they told me it could be the tires, so they charge me to rotate the front tires.

When back on the road again, and the car still drift to the right again.

When back to Canadian Tire to get it fix again, I guess they did another wheel alignment (got a printout). I got the car back and asked them what the problem was and they told me it was related to the directional tires being put on wrong.

So I told the car back, and it's still drifting to the right.

Anyone got recommendations of what I should do next?

[tson]

go to mccall break and muffler they fixed my problem 2912142

[n1zm0]

putting on directionals the wrong way won't effect a car pulling right as far as i can remember, you car is an 05, bring it to Toyota!! they will set it straight better than any crappy tire tech.

[pf0sh0]

canadian tire = shitshow

[DC2]

can you upload a copy of your alignment printout?

[marko polo]

most roads are angled to the right, causing the cars to seem like they are trailing off the road. try driving in the middle of the road and see if it still drifts off to the right

[infected]

It's probably just because most of the roads are crowned. Can we see the print out?

[sr20s14zenki]

^^^most places allow a few degrees for road crowning.

[wardpr68]

It doesn't pull to the right or steer to the right, NO... it

DRIFTS TO THE RIGHT!

[jadeboy]

Originally posted by infected
It's probably just because most of the roads are crowned. Can we see the print out?

I drove both directions of Sacree Trail and Glenmore on the way to Bragg Creek.

The latest printout is Dec 26 (Attached).
The first time I was at Canadian Tire was Dec 20.

[jadeboy]

Dec 20 2007 printout (1st time at Canadian Tire)

[gofastmerc]

The numbers on Dec 26 look deadly. Except for toe.

They set it up to have a very slight bias to the LEFT, which is to account for road crown.

Your toe is set for zero. According the specs on the print out, it should be -.10, +/- .10. I find cars set right at zero tend to be "twitchy" But that shouldn't cause a steady pull.

How bad does it pull? Going 80-100K, strait road, let go of wheel, and what happens? How long before it drifts out of your lane? On a three lane road, Ie Blackfoot, Deerfoot, Crowchild, try it in all three lanes. Each lane has slightly different crown to it.

If I saw those specs on my rack, the only I would change is the toe.

[jadeboy]

Originally posted by gofastmerc

How bad does it pull? Going 80-100K, strait road, let go of wheel, and what happens? How long before it drifts out of your lane? On a three lane road, Ie Blackfoot, Deerfoot, Crowchild, try it in all three lanes. Each lane has slightly different crown to it.

Going on Sarcee Trail both directions about 80-90km. After about 5 seconds it will pull to the right (I centered the steering wheel and let go of my hand or slight hold the steering wheel). It takes about another 5 seconds before I am force to take control and steer it back on center. Same thing on Glenmore both directions going to Bragg Creek. What else could cause this problem? I highly doubt it's the road.

[topmade]

Just make sure you go back to crappy tire and get your money back for rotating the tires and second alignment. That's if you had to pay for it. I had a similar vibration problem that turned out to be a shitty balancing job, but they insisted on a alignment that didn't fix the problem and tried to make me pay for it, but I spoke to the manager who cancelled the invoice.

[jadeboy]

Originally posted by topmade
Just make sure you go back to crappy tire and get your money back for rotating the tires and second alignment. That's if you had to pay for it. I had a similar vibration problem that turned out to be a shitty balancing job, but they insisted on a alignment that didn't fix the problem and tried to make me pay for it, but I spoke to the manager who cancelled the invoice.

I didn't paid for the second alignment only the 1st ($99) and the tire rotation is only $10(which is not worth the time to go back and get $10). I was thinking of just phoning them and telling them that all the effort has not solve my problem and that I would be taking it to Toyota to get it properly repairs. If I had to paid for the second alignment I would never do it a Canadian Tire.

[gofastmerc]

Originally posted by jadeboy


Going on Sarcee Trail both directions about 80-90km. After about 5 seconds it will pull to the right (I centered the steering wheel and let go of my hand or slight hold the steering wheel). It takes about another 5 seconds before I am force to take control and steer it back on center. Same thing on Glenmore both directions going to Bragg Creek. What else could cause this problem? I highly doubt it's the road.

A five second pull really isn't that bad. If you weren't paying attention, you probably wouldn't notice it.


BUT, it is there. And you DO notice it.

IF the numbers from the machine are right, they did a fairly good job. If I was the tech, The first thing I would do is switch the front tires. If that didn't work, I would start looking for a loose suspension part.

That is, if I trusted the machine. It doen't take much from them to get out of wack. It is also really easy to manipulate the heads to print out any number the tech wants. IF the little pull is bugging you bad enough, get a second alignment done somewhere else.

That being said, If I was the tech, and I had a comeback like that, it would leave going strait. Obviously, the customer wants it perfect, so sending the car away with a pull, even a slight one, isn't going to make him happy.

[jadeboy]

Well, the problem is the drifting is the same as it was before I had it aligned, so there is no differences and I don't feel that I got my money worth.

The only thing left is to take it to Toyota and hope can resolve the problem.

Thanks everyone.

[gp36912]

..... take it into a parking lot and let go of the wheel and see where it goes.... the road crown can make any car move around... hell some roads have been driven on so much your car can actually drift left and right inside its own lane.

[jadeboy]

Originally posted by gp36912
..... take it into a parking lot and let go of the wheel and see where it goes.... the road crown can make any car move around... hell some roads have been driven on so much your car can actually drift left and right inside its own lane.

Well, the problem is that is has always drift to the right and never to the left.

[gp36912]

it depends on the road, and how wide your tires are too. the wider the tires the more it tends to drift and get pulled into the slight dips in the road. but a flat parking lot test would be best because even the smallest of crowns on a road can pull a car to the right. no matter if your driving north or south the road is usualy crowned the same way.

[gofastmerc]

Let us know the outcome when you take it to Toyota.

[98brg2d]

Weird that the printout doesn't show run out. You can have all the alignment settings in spec and still have run out out of spec. Every alignment i have had has run out shown for front and rear.

[gofastmerc]

Originally posted by 98brg2d
Weird that the printout doesn't show run out. You can have all the alignment settings in spec and still have run out out of spec. Every alignment i have had has run out shown for front and rear.

Are your refereing to thrust angle?

Its on the very bottom, its at -.01. Nothing wrong with that.

[98brg2d]

Honestly, I am not sure if it is the same thing as my alignments have it for front and rear whereas his only have thrust angle for rear unless I am missing it on the sheets.

[gofastmerc]

What exatly do you mean by "run out"?

[jadeboy]

Well, I just schedule an appointment for Friday at Heninger Toyota, I hope this fix the problem.

[jadeboy]

Here are the result of the alignment for Toyota. It seems to be better, it still steers to the right sometimes but it takes longer to do so and does it slower but that is likely the crowning on the road. Will probably do more testing.

[benyl]

Something is messed on your car.

Notice how every alignment you got, your toe was set to zero on the both front wheels.

But on the last two, you toe is never zero before. It always has to be adjusted back to zero.

[TC Motorsport]

try rotating the tires side to side on the front it mite pull left of fix the problem! if it pulls left its a tire problem.

[jadeboy]

It seems fix, in the past it will steer to the right only. Now it will steer right and left but that is due to the road crown so I am fine with that.. On other street it seems to do and goes straight.

[Cooked Rice]

A bit off topic. But I just got my car alignment done at Precision Alignment and Brake today and they did a great job. My alignment was brutal when I got it to them, it hadn't been aligned since the suspension was bone stock and I installed a new steering rack which made it way off. It costed $65 and my car is lowered, and also has aftermarket adjustable tension rods. My rear toe is 1 degree off on my back rear wheel, they couldn't get enough movement in the adjustment bolt. They believe it may be my spindle/knuckle. They offset the other wheel 1 degree as well so my car wouldnt dog tail. Hank caught me on my way out and talked to me about the alignment, real nice guy. +1 for precision. Looks like I'll be going back when I get adjustable rear toe arms.