Wheels Changing Direction On Their Own ?

[Dicer]

Just wondering how normal this might be (I'm pretty sure it aint...). I picked up my car this week, 2000 Skyline R34 GTV (N/A) coupe. The steering holds to the left mostly so I went to get the wheels aligned. Was told it was 4mm out at the front, 2mm at the back. Was told camber and everything is set up 'right'. The car still holds to the left, I went back and told them. They drove it again and eventually agreed so changed the tyres. We went for another quick drive and he tells me it's holding to the right now so it must be the tyres.

I drive off and realise it's still holding to the left. The steering seems to very easily change direction when driving depending on the angle of the road. Even on seemingly flat roads it will veer and happens with / without braking so probably not due to the discs. So my question is how normal is this in a Skyline ? I will go to centerline suspension and try to sort it out when I have some spare time but alas that won't be for a while so just hoping to get some ideas in the meanwhile

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[MrStabby]

Pretty sure its just alignment. If you can get more castor added that will help, or maybe a bit of toe. If you got a printout of the settings post it up so the gurus can take a look, and give you real answers instead of my guesses.

[battery]

none of the imports i have owned have steered straight...

i dunno if its normal but i reckon its got something to do with all the after market gear making the car stiff...

[SmittyR33]

Most roads aren't flat. Helps water runn off when raining. Would explain a small amount of pull to the left

[(B1) MR_fanny]

yep...i was told to drive in the cente of the road...ie half on the opposite lane to get a better indication of wonky wheels.

[Duncan]

a print out of the alignment settings (after not before) will reveal all Apart from alignment settings I once had a trouble with badly uneven tyre wear which casued a pull. but start with the alignment - what were the results?

[Dicer]

These guys didn't give me a printout It was my local Bridgestone. After driving my other car and comparing I may have been overanalysing this. BTW my suspension is stock (as with every other aspect of the car).

[turbo_brian]

If they dont give you a print-out, they haven't done it properly!!!

I had a Firestone dealer in Deception Bay Qld do the same thing, perform an alignment on my car because it was chewing the inner corners of the tires off premeturely.

I had new tires and an alignment done at the same time, drove home from Brisbane to Sydney, and found that I had chews excess wear on the inner edges AGAIN

Anyway, took it to a guy in Sydney who I trust 100%, got the alignment done, got a print out of the before and after settings, was told to take the sheet back to the previous aligner and laught at them, and the tires worn evenly ever since.

Sometimes you will get people that cant align wheels for their life, it doesn't take much to "tell" someone you can align their wheels, but unless they are willing to provide a printout of the settings, either they haven't done it, or haven't done it properly, and either way, I wouldn't go back there.

B.

[Dicer]

It's strange that they didn't give me a print out. I saw them hoist up the car and have the things attached to the wheels to measure/align.

[LoNg_ShaNks]

hmm a printout hey

[turbo_brian]

Diver, find someone else to align the wheels.

It's not uncommon for import owners to shuffle between 4 or 5 places until they get the perfect alignment, because imports are not commonly known cars, and some places just assume it will have similar figures to another car.

As mentioned before, I had a Soarer aligned in Firestone Deception Bay Brisbane, no print out, but there was marks on the bolts, so they had changed settings under the car, and done something.

It originally went in with an issue of scrubbing the insides of the tires, and pulling slightly to the left, this was before and after I swapped wheels and tires, and had just gone and put 95% worn 2nd hand 17" tires on the beast.

Anyway, got the car back, it drove straight, but as it was scrubbing insides, this was more my concern.

Anyway, drove home to Sydney, did about 15,000kms of other trips (I am a high milage driver) and the insides of the 95% 17" tires where stuffed AGAIN.

Took it to my normal guy, 4 new Pirelli Tires, and an alignment, and he printed off the before and afters of the alignment, and there was a HUGE difference in the figures.

I am now up for tires on those 17" wheels again, but this time I have done 62,890kms on the wheels, all 4 tires ahve worn the same amount all the way around, AND all 4 tires have worn perfectly even from the outside edge, to the inside edge.

These wheels are now on my Skyline GTR as well, and the tires will be changed in a few weeks (there is still 1.3mm of tread left).

I will be going back to the same guy for the next tire and wheel alignment, because he actually knows what he's doing.

B.