Car Pulls to The Left

N

newstemp

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Hello,

I have a two year old Fiat Panda. For perhaps a year it has had a slight but definite pull to the left and will only drive straight when the steering wheel is noticeably to the right (clockwise). I have tested it on flat roads (many roads have a left lane that slopes down towards the left edge). I have had several cars before and none have had a pull like this that was not fixed by having the tracking alignment corrected.

I have had the tracking alignment set at least twice at different shops, the wheels swapped L/R, F/B, the steering examined, all to no avail.

Today I was looking at the end caps where the front wheel suspension bolts to the chassis under the bonnet. The chassis apertures are ovals allowing for about an inch of variation in the forward direction. I noticed that the right cap is fixed about 1/2-3/4" further back (probably at the end of travel) than the left cap. Could this be the source of the steering imbalance ?

Thank you.
 
All from-wheel drive cars have a tendency to pull to one side or the other (usually the left). With transverse-mounted engine driving the front wheels through the gear-box the drive shaft on the left (driver's left) is almost invariably shorter than the one on the right. This shorter drive shaft transmits slightly more torque through that wheel resulting in a pull and usually, greater tyre wear on that side.
 
That is totally incorrect. The length of the shaft has nothing to do with torque. I have had front wheel drive cars for years and none pulled to one side, one had an effect of torque making the steering stiffer when accelerating, but still pulled in a straight line
 
Camber angle is probably wrong

Despite having top of the range alignment equipment a lot of garages only do the tracking settings and don't bother doing the sideways angular alignment of the wheels ~ camber angle, because there's a bit more work involved in it.

I did my own diy camber angle alignment using a spirit level not long ago. The front wheels should be about 90° to the ground and both angles should be equal.

I did the tracking too with a measuring tape. I'm less sure about the correct figure for that for my vehicle. But it's driving very good and self centering so it's not too far wrong.
 
The car tracked correctly when purchased, it is unlikely to be a torque issue.

It has been serviced, however they did not find the fault.

I have not seen an oval aperture for suspension end caps before. Why this form of backwards/forwards adjustment ?
 
If there's adjustment up on top of the suspension it would be possible to set Caster angle. The gap should be the same on both sides.
You'd probably need to get the rest of the alignment done again after moving the shock.
 
Good tip. I have found information on caster (search "Wheel Alignment Explained"), the side angle of the steering pivot axis, and apparently this is what the backward/forward setting of the endcap affects.

"If the caster is different from side to side, the vehicle will pull to the side with the less positive caster" and this is exactly what is happening. The LHS shock absorber endcap is further forward, which means less positive caster, and the car pulls to the left.

"Like camber, on many front-wheel-drive vehicles, caster is not adjustable.", however not so for the Fiat Panda. The new Fiat Panda Haynes manual for post 1995 models has recently arrived and I will check this before making an adjustment.
 
Last edited:
roker said:
That is totally incorrect. ...
Click to expand...
I'm afraid not.

"making the steering stiffer when accelerating" is not an effect of torque, it is an engineering solution to prevent "torque steer" which happens in FWD cars due to the drive shafts being different lengths, hence torque delivery to the front wheels under acceleration is not balanced.

Extra tyre-wear on the near-side front tyre is a fact of life on FWD cars - ask any VW tech.
 
If you can get to Limerick I would recommend getting your car into Paul in Victory Tyres and he will soon tell you the problem and is capable to do the camber adjustment amd the rest. €40 I think the last time I got tracking done.

No affiliation just a satisfied customer who likes getting a good job done by competent people with value for money and no BS.
 
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