Xtreme57

iTrader: (6)

The car pulls to the right while driving, and especially while braking. I checked my tire pressure, no problems there. My brakes have been squealing, but they still look like they have life on them (and i don't think it would pull while i was driving if it was the brakes ...)

I just had the car aligned a few months ago, could it need it again so soon?

Any ideas????

flyin red TA

Probably not the alignment, since you just had it done...unless you nailed a curb recently.

Most likely the brakes. One side has more power than the other.

Dans2000SS

Check the right side front brake caliper and glide pins. Make sure everything moves freely.

Kirby

Sounds like your caliper pins aren't sliding properly. They either need to be re-greased or just to be safe, go by an auto store and get a new set with the rubber bushing and some silicone grease. After this is done, the caliper should move freely side to side. When it doesn't move freely, one pad will have constant contact with the rotor causing premature pad and rotor wear, bad gas mileage, and as you've explained a car that pulls to the side. Its gonna be the side that it pulls to that you need to work on.

382WS6

Try bleeding all the brakes again and see if that helps.

del3000

you might try switching your front tires(l to r and r to l) , i had my tires do that once .if it pulls the other way it is the tires .

Kirby

It pulls hard to the side but do you notice any vibration or noise also. If you notice a vibration coming from the front, more than likely it is a warped rotor. A warped rotor at high speeds acts like a thicker rotor causing the caliper to brake harder on the warped rotor than on the good rotor. Another thing to check is your shock. You may have a blown shock on the right side. If this is blown, it will be harder to support the weight of the right side of the car causing it to sag and pull, especially when braking since the weight is transferred to the front of the car.

Z28LS1camaroguy

iTrader: (3)

have you had your tires rotated lately, but the only thing that caused my car to pull to one side was the alignment was off and after they got the alignment back right i could drive with no hands on a straight stretch.

Xtreme57

iTrader: (6)

I'm going to check the brakes/shocks on wednesday. The car feels really weird at speed. I can't quite put my finger on it. It also doesn't help that my DS loop is rattling against my TSP y-pipe (another problem i have to deal with ... )

But it feels like the car tracks too much ... I thought maybe the tires, but they are brand new firestone firehawks (less than 3000 miles on them). I set up an appt for an alignment on friday .. .

What would the shock look like if it were blown?

Kirby

Push down on the front end. If it doesn't pop up quickly, the shock is blown. A shock should rebound quickly to handle dips in the road causing the tires to drop at a dip keeping the tires in constant contact with the road.

DaddySS

Most likely:
Binding caliper
Bad tire

Xtreme57

iTrader: (6)

Well, I checked the caliper pins on the right side, everything was well greased and the rotor spun freely with the wheel off. The rotors are in good shape, no visible damage and even wear on both sides ...

The tires don't look unevenly warn at all ...

Xtreme57

iTrader: (6)

Well, I checked the caliper pins on the right side, everything was well greased and the rotor spun freely with the wheel off. The rotors are in good shape, no visible damage and even wear on both sides ...

The tires don't look unevenly warn at all ...

Which leaves either the shock being f#@ked, or the alignment (friday appt) or something I havn't thought of yet ....

Comments?

DaddySS

Bad tires don't show in the form of wear, they just don't act like the other three. Move the rears to the front if you want to check. A bad shock will not cause the car to pull. Either the caliper is binding or the caster is off due to a bad lower control arm but since you said you recently had it aligned I am assuming that the shop did not find any bad parts and that it was able to align to spec. If you dropped it in a major pothole or something the alignment could be off but these cars hold alignment pretty well. Or like I said, a tire could be bad.

Armageddon

iTrader: (41)

Is it possible the alignment people just did a shitty job? I've seen people not know what they were doing and send out bad work... people make mistakes. Take it one step at at time.

Xtreme57

iTrader: (6)

This is true.

I was driving the car today and it feels kinda 'floaty' when I get on it hard. Like it's all over the road when I'm hammering it ...

Could be the tire or alignment I guess ... ?

JAvenger007

iTrader: (9)

I agree with Armageddon. The alignment techs at the shop i used to work under did bad jobs every once in awhile. For ex, if they had a lot of other cars to work on, theyd do a quick align job and scoot the car out. Folks were always coming back.

Im sure they would double check the alignment free of charge for you, especially for how recent it was done. A good shop will always back up their work. Where did you have it done?

Keysplayr

You can also check the left front caliper to see if it is seized up. If the left front caliper is seized (doesn't necessarily have to be seized in a clamped state but could be relaxed) then the car would severely pull to the right because there is no braking happening on the front left. Right? LOL.

shawn's SS

iTrader: (5)

If its pulling to the right you'll wanna check the LEFT caliper

Xtreme57

iTrader: (6)

F#$k. True. I'll check that one out too.

I took the car to the local STS and they did the alignment. Now i remember the guy saying something about not having the car set to the GM settings b/c it pulled one way or the other ... so i suppose that could be the issue?

My car's not very stock anymore though - adj torque arm, alum driveshaft, as far as suspension stuff. Could that have any affect?

Should it be at the stock GM settings?