steering problem

[gvlbukowski]

I have had my 1993 240SX for almost 3 years. It pulls to the right immediately after you let go of the steering wheel. I have taken my car to numerous alignment "specialists", including a nissan dealership and no one can determine the cause of the problem. I have put on new struts, new tires, and have had numerous alignements and the car still pulls to the right. I suspect something is messed up with the suspension, but no one can find anything wrong! But something is not right. Any ideas? I love my car but this problem is driving me crazy!By the way, the car has never been wrecked.Thanks

[ninjak84]

Hmm... no one has replied, heres a list of random crap that it *might* be:

- power steering belt?- bent rim?- bad tire on one side?- incorrect wheel balancing

I have a very good feeling that it is incorrect wheel balancing. Your problem sounds like a friend of mines, and when he had his 17" rims re-balanced, the problem went away.

[QuinGarcia]

maybe the brakes are dragging on the side it is pulling to?

[drjohn]

Balance in almost all cases won't cause a car to pull. There is what is called radial tire pull and you can get it from new tires. To check for it swap the 2 frt. tires with each other and if it pulls to the other side you have a bad tire. Also the caster reads can be in specs but 1 side can be at the top of the specs and the other at the lower end of the specs and the car will pull. This is also true in the case of the camber. And if both cam and cas are out the car will literally dive to one side or the other.

[capt_dalton]

Most roads have what is called a "crown". The road slopes from the centerline to the sides, so water will run off in rainstorms. If you have really good grippy tires, you'll likely feel a drift to the right, no matter what lane you're in on a two lane hiway. However, it generally isn't as noticeable on a multilane interstate. If you're always pulling to the right, with no noticeable tire wear, I would take a look at the wheel bearings on the front right.

Good luck finding the culprit and let us know.Capt. Dalton

[gvlbukowski]

Thanks for the replies! I finally have figured out that one of my wheels is the culprit. It's good piece of mind to know that I don't have any major suspension flaws. I thought that a 'bad' wheel would have been detected in a wheel balance, but apparently not.

[Q45tech]

There are balances and there are precision balances: any wheel [without a tire] that requires more than 10 grams to balance on inside or outside lip has a problem! Any combination tire and wheel that requires more than 20 grams inside or out has a problem.Any wheel that has more than 0.012" lateral or radial runout has a problem.

I doubt that 10% of the aftermarket wheels made that sell for less than $350 EACH [without chrome] meet this oem spec after a year of use ............many don't meet it new!