gmrulz4u Posted June 2, 2003 Report Share Posted June 2, 2003 My 89 Cutlass Supreme has been pulling to the left for some time now, not by a HUGE amount or something, but enough to be annoying and noticable. So, I finally took it to get a 4-wheel alignment last Monday. The whole time that I was waiting for it to be done I was assuming they would come back and tell me something steering related was "worn out" and needed to be replaced. No big deal if that was the case, I thought at least something on my 14 year old car would be "worn out". But, to my surprise, they did the pre-alignment check and NOTHING was found to be wrong or "worn out". So with no steering problems, and tires still in great condition(they're only 1 year old), they went ahead and did the alignment. Well, I had to go back the very next morning because it was STILL pulling to the left, in fact, there was practically NO change at all!!! So this time they just switch the two front tires and tell me to drive it and see if that chances anything. And, it didn't! It made it a little worse actually. SO, I bring it back this morning for the 3rd time in 7 days, this time they show me the print out of everything and point-out the fact that everything is well within specs. They say "we can't do anything more". I say, "well what the hell could it be than?, especially if every steering component is working fine?", they said it could be the rack and pinion itself, or the frame needs to be aligned, which they don't have the equipment for. So I ask YOU guys, what are your opinions?? I hate having to have the steering wheel held to the right while trying to drive straight!!! What should I do?? If anything?? THANKS! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GnatGoSplat Posted June 2, 2003 Report Share Posted June 2, 2003 Take the horn off and make sure the steering wheel is on straight! Penny's '88 Cutlass tracked straight when she bought it, but she bought new tires and had them do a 4-wheel alignment. After the alignment, the car wouldn't track straight. Same story as you, we took it back, they said everything is aligned, gave us the computer printout and everything. They had no idea what was wrong with it. One day I had to take the steering wheel off for some reason, and I noticed someone had previously taken it off and put it back on crooked! Apparently a sleazy car salesman had reoriented the steering wheel so that the car appeared to be in correct alignment when it actually wasn't. After I reinstalled the steering wheel with alignment marks in perfect alignment, the car tracked straight! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
95 3-4 Posted June 2, 2003 Report Share Posted June 2, 2003 and im sure they already have your money right ? i would say yea, they told you what their problem is "they cant do anything" they must have bought that equipment thinking it would do the work for them.... .......find a reputable shop with a good 4 wheel allingment rack and tell them your situation, one where they check allingment andtell you whats wrong before any repairs would be made Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JS91Z34 Posted June 2, 2003 Report Share Posted June 2, 2003 I do alignments at work. Now this may be a dumb question but you wouldn't by any chance be running mismatched tires on the front would you? A mismatched tire will cause the car to pull. If not, start checking your tire pressure up front. If everything checks out fine take it back to them and tell them to recheck it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeZ34 Posted June 2, 2003 Report Share Posted June 2, 2003 I remember reading something on aligning the subframe as well. If it's misaligned just a little bit, then that can cause some steering issues.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robby1870 Posted June 3, 2003 Report Share Posted June 3, 2003 :withstupid: Robby Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JS91Z34 Posted June 3, 2003 Report Share Posted June 3, 2003 If they did the alignment right and checked everything. They would've found the misaligned subframe. That will cause a caster and camber problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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