Pull to the left............. unFixable ??

Hello

Bought a new 03 -Focus ZX5

When I drive it a highway speed (100 to 110 K/hr) it always wants to go a left. Took it in to service and complained............ they put it on a wheel-alignment system and spent some time making adjustments ................ but did not correct it.

The mechanic told me that "The Focus does not have an adjustment for that problem"

Thoughts anyone ??

Fud

Reply to
Fuddzy
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Weird, I've had bad tires that caused that and it had nothing to do with a balance or alignment. I'm not sure, maybe somebody else can shed more light on this.

Mojo

Reply to
Mojo JoJo

In message , Fuddzy writes

Time to look for a different mechanic.

Reply to
Paul Giverin

"Fuddzy" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@news3.accesscomm.ca:

The mechanic is correct, most front wheel drive cars just have a toe adjustment. (in or out) If you cross switch the front tires that will probably fix the problem, because this problem is usually caused by a tire.

Reply to
vince candline

In message , vince candline writes

The mechanic is not correct. Both track rod ends can be adjusted to compensate for incorrect tracking. It may be a tyre causing the problem but this would be unlikely if both front tyres are the same make and worn to the same extent.

Of course on the Focus you can adjust the alignment on all four wheels. A buckled wheel or damaged lower arm would also cause this problem.

Reply to
Paul Giverin

I went through this with all of my front wheel drive cars.

My Focus drifts to the right only when I really accelerate hard and more so at low speed acceleration, then steers straight when leveled off. In fact my focus is my first front wheel drive car that does not wander to one side or the other while cruising.

First thing I'd do is switch the wheels - left front & right front. If anything changes, it was the tire(s). If nothing changes and the alignment was not bogus, that points to your front wheel dirve system doing it.

On my other FWD cars, I under inflated one tire slightly and ovr inflated the other, leaving both within specs. but up to 10psi different.

I know, I know, I know, this is supposedly "VERY DANGEROUS", but I find it less dangerous than drifting into oncomming traffic or off the road or worse, off a mountain !

Did this on my '87 Shadow for years and once got out of a 180 deg. spinout just fine on the Eisenhower Expy. after another ciizen decided to break the laws of physics that dictate "no two objects can occupy the same point in space". I just applied the same instincts that I use in snow and came out of it no prob. No metal was crunched.

Scared the hell out of my two boys though. After we calmed down and changed our undies (not really) they said they thought it was "COOL". Later that year I introduced them to "douhnuts" in the snow with our old mini pickup in an empty parking lot. Sadly, only rear wheel drive vehicles do proper doughnuts.

John

Reply to
John Doe

DUDE THIS MECHANIC IS VERY WRONG! every car has a camber ,caster, toe adjusment. The only two things that will make a car pull is CASTER or TOE being way off. CAMBER will not make a car pull it will just chop the tires very badly.i would suspect that the CASTER is way off. Now the next thing i need to know is does the car drift to the left or pull to the left?What i would do if i were you is take the car back and make the tech put the car back on the alignment rack and ask to see him set the car up and look at the specs of the car on the rack and then have him show you what the specs for the car is supposed to be , and compare the two. SOME TECHS OUT THERE THINK A ALIGNMENT IS SET THE TOE AND GO AND THEY DONT WANT TO TAKE THE TIME AND SET CAMBER CASTER AND TOE THE RIGHT WAY. also take a look at the included angle of the car this is the center line.This will tell you if the car is bent or if there is a bent component i hope this helps

Reply to
badraptor

Paul Giverin wrote in news:nhqvsnKssnx$Ew7u@10.0.0.3:

The camber and caster is set at the factory, and can only be changed by installing after market kits. This site shows where they go, and what they look like.

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I stated the "rack rods" are adjustable to change the toe,while centering the steering wheel.

Reply to
vince candline

In message , vince candline writes

I'm perfectly aware of how the steering system works and what adjustments are possible but you stated that the mechanic was correct in his assertion that you can't carry out adjustment to correct a pull to one side. In fact the mechanic was incorrect because the track rod ends are adjusted to achieve this.

Reply to
Paul Giverin

Reply to
badraptor

The dealer is right that he can only change the toe-in, which is not going to help your problem.

But places that repair accident damage, many body shops, truck garages, and any place that has frame straightening equipment can easily take care of this.

Every time you nudge a curb or even hit a speed bump to fast, you are changing the unibody alignment. Ford should have built in the means of changing camber and caster that third party companies sell, but anything that can be changed one way, can be changed back. They basically chain hydraulic rams to different parts of the car, and restretch it back to the right orientation, while carefully checking alignment as they tweak.

Reply to
maat333

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