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Car keeps pulling left

23K views 41 replies 15 participants last post by  crossland2021 
#1 ·
Hi there, been using this forum for a few months but never really experienced something that wasn't widely discussed here already.

In November time I went into a car park after doing a u turn, whilst going into the car park my left tyre missed the dropped kerb and went straight into the curb (I wasn't being careful enough or slow enough)

I came back out to see my tyre has blew and I had to get a replacement, after the replacement I noticed my car pulling a bit so I went to halfords and had my tracking done, a few months later after only going round the corner to the local school I eventually realised my car is still pulling to the left (no straight roads to and from school).

I went and got the tracking done at a different place, it didn't fix the issue, took it back, they said it is because I have a different tread pattern on an odd tyre, they also put it down to the camber of the road, I eventually got my money back (And dashcam footage of the mechanic joyriding my car :))

Third time lucky... I take my car to get the laser tracking at formula 1 and it tells me my camber is out so I got that fixed and it's still pulling to the left, I bought a new tie/track rod but two of my friends who have always worked on cars are telling me nothing looks bent and one of them said to not buy these things, of course I just want to try and fix the issue... At the moment it's like I am just going to have to live with this until I get a new car..

I've ran out of options, I've spoken with the two nearest vauxhall dealerships and they have both said their tracking machines aren't great, even though I've had my tracking done 3 times despite the second time being out still, I'd expect the 4 wheel alignment at f1 to not be out?

Such a huge nightmare, tempted to just throw my credit card at it.. (Because I have no money!) lol

I've been told it could be a whole different bunch of things and to replace the cheapest but I tried doing that and then told not to buy anything else..

One person mentioned a steering sensor? No idea. :roll:

Just been told by a garage they'll check my alignment free and if its out sort it then check a couple other alignments and if they need doing then looking at 102 quid, going there tomorrow.
 
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#4 ·
Yeah we swapped back to front and left with right too lol.

I'm not going back to halfords, I had the 4 wheel alignment done at f1 autocentre but didnt fix it (been told they might have forgot steering alignment or something?) so im taking it to a garage that the Vauxhall dealership sends their cars to.

Just curious about the other alignments it could be? Ive been told it could be so many different things.. Sorry I cant provide a better diagnosis, not much help to you guys.. Just losing the plot now.. Will update after garage visit tomorrow, thanks for taking the time replying.
 
#5 ·
What a nightmare you are having , have you checked for wheel bearing damage ?
I assume you hit the kerb quite hard to puncture the tyre so maybe wise to get the strut checked whilst at the dealer.
Yes there are many things that can put the tracking out , I remember watching a programme once where the strut top mount was worn on a car and this had an affect on the drive, owner was moaning about pulling to left.
 
#8 ·
Just been told it was out of alignment so they aligned it and its still happening been told they swapped the tyres and it pulls right said it's because its a newer turanza causing it?

My old car had different tyres on every wheel and never pulled to the side so bit dubious now, don't think the tracking was out as it was done 2 weeks ago but yeah.. :/ buy 4 new tyres and I doubt that will fix it :(
 
#10 ·
Yeah, I was told that and because of the camber and one of my friends did say I was being paranoid but I showed someone else and then I showed the friend saying I was paranoid and both of them were like yeah that shouldn't be happening.. After about 30 minutes of driving my right hand is aching from pulling the right side down constantly even though it's only a small amount required, I can't do long drives which is what I why I got the car, it just ruins the experience of driving.

Mechanic said that after swapping from one side to the other it caused the car to pull the other way which makes him think it is the tyre, asked if I could have my money back if it wasn't but sadly no as I guess the tyre is classed as used after it's been driven on which makes sense, just sucks for me.

Mechanic suggested Buying two budget tyres to test and see if it fixes it so I said yeah, this is the third garage I've taken it to so I just don't know what to do, will update in an hour or so after the new budget tyres have been tested.
 
#11 ·
Budget tyres didn't fix but they didn't charge me for them in the end which obviously I was very grateful for, I was charged an hours labour which was £60 but he said he did my tracking like 6 or 7 times, every time he'd swap wheels and test then redo tracking etc..

But yeah, no solution to my problem sadly, he said when he swapped the wheel on the other side it pulled to the other side but I thought I had already tested that, will give it a test drive tomorrow when it's not rush hour on a straight road and see if it's pulling right now, if it is that makes me think I maybe broke the wheel when I popped the tyre on the curb? - But it was never noticed when changing my tyre a few months ago?

Been told to take it to vauxhall for the warranty because it'd cost me too much to leave it with them.

Absolutely gutted, no one can see any issues with the mechanical parts too.. Feel like scrapping it now! The amount of weeks money and effort going into essentially just ruling out xyz is painful.

But still, I believe the garage I went to today did put in the effort which was somewhat nice, the two garages prior seemed like they had no time to talk to me..

So, looks like I'm ringing vauxhall tomorrow morning :-(
 
#12 ·
Sorry to hear of ur problem ,if you are noticing a marked difference to what the car used to behave like on the road mabe tracking and balancing isn't the route.Is it possible for a vauxhall accident repair assessor to check the car out as they understand the stresses caused by a multitude of impacts however small and could hopefully suggest a course of action to solve the problem .Don't give up on ur wee car just yet there's a solution out there and it might not cost millions to sort just a professional eye who deals with these mysteries daily...Bill
 
#13 ·
Thanks, love the car to bits, will find out about the accident repair assessor cheers.

Driving it today is so much better than before I gave it to the mechanics.. So they have almost stopped the pulling, not sure if its a wheel now or if they offset the tracking to stop it pulling as bad.. Not sure, gonna ignore it for a few days as just been stressed too much lol
 
#14 ·
Last update for now - not sure if it has been fixed and the mechanic didnt realise? It's so much better now.. Will reuse them in future, really decent people dealt with me.

I will eventually swap wheels and see if it happens again but for now its more than tolerable

Thanks for everyone taking an interest, humbling!

Speak soon my astra buddies thanks a lot, really reassuring knowing this community exists.
 
#17 ·
Tzrwesku said:
"Hit to kerb" = possible damages? Wheel alignement, tire and/or rim, frame and/or suspension, bent steering tie rod, faulty steering servo? Another possible cause to "drag" = brake dragging? If all of these are okay, then what? Hope Your problem is solved.
Yeah, first thing I did was replace the tyre then have the alignment done, a few months later I realised it wasn't driving straight due to only going local streets around my house which are all bends, had the tracking again and it didn't fix it at all, so I went and had 4 wheel alignment done at formula 1 for better tracking? Still didn't fix, tie rod looks new, a friend said he didn't want to replace a perfect tie rod.

Not sure what faulty steering servo is? Not heard of that

Doesn't drag after applying brakes/accelerating or decelerating, seems to do it all the time regardless.

2 matching tyres have been tested on the front with 2 different matching tyres on the rear and it made no difference, I could only think something was bent but only so slightly that people aren't able to notice..

Tested it today and don't feel as upbeat as I was last night, think I was trying to downplay it in my head but it's still a clear problem for me.

24/mk 7 said:
Sp32 , am glad you have had a result with your astra I really love mine and would hate a passionate owner put off by a small misdemenor start enjoying your car again....Bill.
Cheers, changed my tune since last night though, now I am unsure whether to buy a new wheel and test that but it's £200 or to take it to vauxhall and claim warranty? I doubt vauxhall are going to want to let me use my warranty though as companies usually don't like paying out for obvious reasons, especially if they think I am at fault, but I still need it diagnosing and finding regardless. :-(

Update:

I've booked in into vauxhall for monday, they said if they deem it as my fault I'll be charged £99 but I guess at least I will know what needs fixing.. Unless what they deem as the fault doesn't end up being the fault and I wind up at square one again.. Expecting them to tell me my tracking is out..
 
#18 ·
In the 1980's my ex-wife hit a Metro up the bum (can I say "bum"?). There was apparently minimal damage to the Polo but the Metro was Fubar .... utterly fubar!
Afterwards the Polo pulled to the nearside and any adjustments to tracking etc did not help.
It wore out the nearside tyre in about 5000 miles, offside was ok.
After much messing about and lots of re-tracking the conclusion was that either the car was twisted out of shape or the syspension was bent. Repair was not economic (in those days ins co weren't imterested). It was eventually part-ex'd and went straight to auction.
Don't know for sure what happened to it after that. There were hints but that was 25/30 years ago.
 
#19 ·
Bogbody said:
In the 1980's my ex-wife hit a Metro up the bum (can I say "bum"?). There was apparently minimal damage to the Polo but the Metro was Fubar .... utterly fubar!
Afterwards the Polo pulled to the nearside and any adjustments to tracking etc did not help.
It wore out the nearside tyre in about 5000 miles, offside was ok.
After much messing about and lots of re-tracking the conclusion was that either the car was twisted out of shape or the syspension was bent. Repair was not economic (in those days ins co weren't imterested). It was eventually part-ex'd and went straight to auction.
Don't know for sure what happened to it after that. There were hints but that was 25/30 years ago.
Lol yeah hoping my car isn't ruined!! It was around 10 mph I went into the curb but I was told it doesn't really matter what speed just what angles things are facing that cause pressure on weaker parts but wouldn't surprise me if I bent something, hopefully it is still economically viable lol if not I'm driving with a wonk..

Will update on monday after I have heard back from them, thanks everyone, really appreciate it.
 
#20 ·
Hope they can fix Your car. This kind of "small hit to kerb" can do lots of damage. Your cars weight is over 1000kg (near 1,5 ton) and when that mass hit kerb, even slightly, oh boy! Now days these cars are so sophisticated that even small change to balance can make big difference. So, good luck and hope they find the problem!!
 
#21 ·
Good move even if they deem the fault is yours so what ? At least you will know what is wrong with the steering set up and what u need to do to rectify it, don't sugar coat the issue because that will lead them to possibly investigate the wrong area be truthful about the cause and forget the warranty route that doesn't cover human involvement.Sorry to be blunt but if they know the real cause that area will be stripped down and checked and a solution offered....Bill
 
#22 ·
24/mk 7 said:
Good move even if they deem the fault is yours so what ? At least you will know what is wrong with the steering set up and what u need to do to rectify it, don't sugar coat the issue because that will lead them to possibly investigate the wrong area be truthful about the cause and forget the warranty route that doesn't cover human involvement.Sorry to be blunt but if they know the real cause that area will be stripped down and checked and a solution offered....Bill
Yeah good advice, I figured it'd be pretty obvious if it was caused by myself unless it was an electronic malfunction, and yeah, sadly at this point £99 is not a bad price to find out what is the actual cause.

Thank you my friend, will post on monday with the verdict and hopefully the resolution! :)
 
#23 ·
I took it to vauxhall this morning and had a lift waiting for me after I dropped it off but after entering and explaining my situation I was left with a lot of doubt in regards to them finding and fixing the fault, as I had already been advised their tracking machines weren't good at wellingborough or northampton branches which is why I spoke to a floor manager and took it to the place where vauxhall send their cars, so I had to ring up the garage I had the tracking done on friday to hand the phone over to explain the tracking was done, as they were demanding a print out which I didn't have, regardless the tracking was still aligned on friday for like the 5th time in past few months..

They basically said they'd check for a buckled wheel or broken tie rod, I already know it's not a tie rod unless it's a non visible fault until dismantled and the pull to the left is severely reduced after the garage on friday inspected it even though it's still present.

but vauxhall want £99 for the first hour which was undeniable after I told them I had hit a curb, it was instantly definitely 100% not a manufacturers fault, which is silly because it could still be and me hitting the curb could be unconnected, however that is extremely unlikely but I didn't like the attitude, they said I could go wait over in the corner and think about it but the fact is the other garage had the car for hours and couldn't find the fault and I need vauxhall to find it within 1 hour or it's more than £99.. And I'm guessing it'd take them 20 minutes putting the car on the ramp and filing the paperwork..

Will try and swap the wheels around at some point and see if it makes it worse, if it does then I'm going to blindly assume it's a wheel, whether right or wrong I don't know what else to think.
 
#25 ·
Don't know, not sure if the garage on friday looked at that or not, I don't think they unscrewed stuff and examined it, just looked at what was visible, obviously don't know and will have to investigate, I know like 3 different people who can do more than the average thing with cars so I have help on hand, it's just they don't know what to look for apart from the obvious, it's so subtle now it really is only noticeable if I am on a straight flattish road which there doesn't seem to be many of, not for long anyway..

I was told if it was a buckled wheel I wouldn't notice if it it was put on the back two, and that there would be vibrations in the steering wheel but then if it was such a tiny buckle? I don't know.

I'll mention the steering rack to the next person I can persuade to have a gander lol, cheers.
 
#26 ·
When I took my car for a test drive (8200 miles on the clock) I asked the arnold clark rep who came out with me if I could give it the beans?) On doing so heard a drumming noise resonating in the car that dissappeared below 70 there was no massive pull to the left and the car drove straight so I asked if a tech would check it over,so on picking the car up I was told it was the aftermarket tyres on the front . Having been payed I duly forked out 200 bangers for new turanzas on the front ,the tyre fitter called me over to the balancer and said watch this ,Christ a big dent in the wheel on the left and as smaller one on the opposite wheel so much for after market tyres !!!!!! So kicked up a stink and arnold clark gave me the back wheels from a similar aged car on the forcourt and half my tyre money back after swapping the new tyres over.......the moral of this story go to a" Tom Farmer " tyre fitters or National to get tyres fitted they won't lie to you and deffo try your back ones on the front cause a small kink can cause problems p.s.the car only ran straight and smooth until 70 was reached by the humungus amount of stick on weights that had been used to compensate for the imbalance looked like somebugger had glued a bar of dairy milk to the inside of my wheel ...try the wheel swap like you said mate might be your answer keep us updated....Bill
 
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