2000 GLE MAX PULLS TO RIGHT, BAD!

[pepzigdoo59]

Car continually pulls to right while driving (at any speed). I have had front end aligned 5 times over last 2 yrs. Every time i get fed up with fighting to keep the car on the road, I take it to a front end man. Which, by the way, leaves me with another new part/expensive bill, not to mention leaving with the same problem I went in with.Took car to Firestone this morn. Reason: 1) Bad wobble when brakes applied. (rotor's turned problem fixed). 2) Tires rotated. 3) A popping or clunking sound that seems to come from the left font end. This has drove me nuts every since i've had the car (2 yrs). No one could ever tell me what it was, or fix it. Well, when they called me with their diagnosis, the said the right cv boot was cracked/leaking grease (on left side half axle). Said they would only replace entire left axle, as the other boot would crack soon. Told them to do it. I figure i'll eventually have the entire front end replaced and maybe the problem will be fixed. I think it actually was the culprit of the CLUNKING! I'm not positive, though. It may be that the car was driving better/quieter due to the EXTENSIVE LIGHTENING OF MY WALLET. I'll know for sure after this week end.So, to date: Multiple line ups (with no results), new lower left control arm, new left wheel bearing.Oh, Firestone also recommended replacing the following(which I declined as i could not afford the total bill, $850, in one wack!) : 1) Both outer tie rod ends (extensive play) 2) Install sway bar link kit 3) Alignment 4) Rear rotorsIf your not asleep by now, any comments/suggestion for pulling to the right would be well received.

[SmithSR]

Has the car been wrecked?

Has your alingment man listened and understood clearly your main complaint, that the car pulls hard to the right?

The car pulls right at any speed.. but under all conditions? accelerating, braking, and cruising?

Are the tires matching brand, size, and PSI ?

If every visit to the alignment shop leads to another repair bill that doesn't address your main problem, find another quality shop IMO.

[pepzigdoo59]

Thanks for the input.

Based on reports, car has not been wrecked. However, it did come from Ohio (pot hole central).

As far as the alignment man understanding my main concern: None of them seem concerned. Most don't even want to test drive the car. They want to go through their normal routine and thats it. On this recent trip to Firestone, I made sure they drove it before and after. When I picked the car up, they told me all was well. I can't seem to find a good front end man.

As far as pulling under all conditions, I'm going to check that this weekend. Thats something i haven't thought to check.

All tires match, and properly inflated.

Thanks again.

[alms24sebring]

the same thing happens to my car, but slightly different. If I turn the wheel atleast halfway in either direction, it clunks and the wheels stick pulling to either way I was turning but it eventually clunks back into place by turning the wheel the opposite way. I looked under the car and the right CV boot is destroyed.haha. It also leake power steering fluid pretty bad. Im thinking about just replacing the entire rack and pinion or half axle, whichever it is, I just need to get it in the air to take a decent look at it.

[pepzigdoo59]

Yep, that does sound like a cv joint. I'd fix it before ya end up WALKING !

[pepzigdoo59]

Update on frontend pulling to right:

Went back to Firestone this morn. Went straight to garage area (bypassing service manager) to talk directly to frontend man. Praised him for solving the CLUNKING by replacing the left half axle. Of all the places I've been to, no one has noticed or said anything about the cvjoint/half axle.

Told him the "pull to the right" was still terribly bad and asked what he thought i could do to fix it. He stated it could be tire pull. I told him that he rotated the tires so it didn't seem likely that the rotated tire would cause the same pull.

As noted on my initial visit, he again said replace the outer tie rod ends as there was too much play. Then line it up. Then we'd go from there.So, I made an appt. for Mon. morn to do the tie rod ends, line up, and while there go ahead and install the sway bar link kit, as was recomended on my first visit. So.... here goes another $500 for all that. It will be worth it, though. The car is sweet and still has a lot of miles to go, with only 85k miles showing.I have been studying this front end pulling problem and have found that camber may be the underlying cause. I understand that there should be no more than 0.2 or 0.3 degrees difference in each side. Mine has -0.7 left and -0.2 right, with a cross camber reading of -0.6.I tried talking to the front end man about ways to adjust the camber to get them closer. He didn't really have much to say. I'm gonna work on him though!! He said he would try to resolve the pulling, but no guarantee.