Car pulls to right

[Tube Audio]

Hello

The steering wheel pulls to the right on my car.

If I hold the steering wheel centered the car will drive straight.

If I let go of the steering wheel at high or low speeds the steering wheel
turns a bit to the right, and stays there, this is it's natural position.

I've had the car aligned and then the alignment rechecked and the problem
still exists.

I guess its time to check the front suspension? Control arms? Bushings?
Brake caliper?

Any ideas?

The car is a 1990 Lexus ES 250, basically a Toyota Camry

[St. John Smythe]

Post by Tube Audio
The steering wheel pulls to the right on my car.
If I hold the steering wheel centered the car will drive straight.
If I let go of the steering wheel at high or low speeds the steering wheel
turns a bit to the right, and stays there, this is it's natural position.
I've had the car aligned and then the alignment rechecked and the problem
still exists.
I guess its time to check the front suspension? Control arms? Bushings?
Brake caliper?

Because it's been aligned, before you start wrenching, swap the front
wheels from left to right and see whether the pulling changes sides or
goes away.

A good alignment shop should have advised you if they detected any wear
in front suspension parts.

[Jay Somerset]

On Mon, 8 Dec 2008 05:13:10 -0800, "Tube Audio"

Post by Tube Audio
Hello
The steering wheel pulls to the right on my car.
If I hold the steering wheel centered the car will drive straight.
If I let go of the steering wheel at high or low speeds the steering wheel
turns a bit to the right, and stays there, this is it's natural position.
I've had the car aligned and then the alignment rechecked and the problem
still exists.
I guess its time to check the front suspension? Control arms? Bushings?
Brake caliper?
Any ideas?
The car is a 1990 Lexus ES 250, basically a Toyota Camry

This may be caused by the camber on the road. Most streets slope to
the right, for drainage, and any vehicle with wide, low-profile tires
will follow the slope.

Try driving in the left lane of a freeway where the camber should be
to the left, and see which way the car pulls.

My GS300 with the factory-supplied 225/17-50 Dunlops (summer, not all
season) pulled viciously with any road camber. Changing to 215/17-55
Bridgestone tires cured this problem, and made the steering much
lighter and more responsive. Overall car handling and traction does
not seem to be compromised with this change.

[mcbrue]

Its a safety factor! If it veered to the left, it would put you into
oncoming traffic. So they have built this into the car to keep you
safe. Now the amazing part is that if you buy an English version, you
do have a tendency to veer to the left. So if you ever think of buying
a "gray" Lexus, you should be carefull to have the steering changed
before you bring it into the US. Of course you should also change the
numbers and writting on the dash from English to American, also a
safety factor to prevent spendign too much time translating. And then
there are of course the cars from other countries. No wonder it costs
so much to get a Lexus worked on! The Mercedes does not have all those
fancy options and it costs less to get it worked on. So you see, you
really have stumbled into a very serious issue here. I think that
maybe you should bring this to the attention of the US congresss and
senate as they work out the rules for how American cars should be
built after the loan. So do call your congresman and senator
immediately and direct their attention to this all important matter,
unless you live in Illlinois, of course. And if you do live in Ill,
just wait a few days until somebody has come up with the right amount
of money to replace Hussein Obama, and then contact them. Of course
maybe BO has some money left over that he has not committed to other
causes, and he can figure out a way to use it to get a friend
appointed. Well, good luck with the government !