"Steer Ahead"

__________________

Is it just me, or do I ask the weirdest questions on rec.autos.tech??

Come on, somebody must know what it is!

-CC

The Hunter web site mentions it, but does not define it.

Dave

It's the relationship between the steering wheel and the wheels, ie. 0 deg's is when the steering wheel is centered the wheels point straight ahead.

Ulf

________________ Thanks Ulf!

Actually, to keep my car pointing straight ahead, I need to "force" the steering wheel to the right about the 1 o'clock position. This is after two 4-wh alignments from what I consider the best wheel alignment facility in Fairfield County.

If I let go, or just hold the steeringwheel loosely, so that it returns(settles as a function of SAI) to high noon, the car will soon cross the double yellow or drift into the interstate lane to my left. I find this very dangerous although no one else(the shop, my wife, etc.) who drove the car seemed to notice it.

BTW 2005 Malibu Epsilon-based, 3.5L V6. All alignment specs are well within-close to the middle - of the ranges specified by GM, although one spec(apparently not adjustable) caster - is 4/10th deg less positive on the left than on the right. L Caster = 2.9deg, R Caster =

3.2deg. The thrust angle is positive +0.01deg(virtually straight), and I think the steer ahead is positive +0.05(whatever that means since this is the first time I've ever heard of it.)

The shop is reluctant to check for bent parts or to mess with the toe because no one in the shop who drive the car feels this pull to the left.

What else??

-ChrisCoaster

Find a better shop. If this shop won't check for bent parts then they have a problem. Take someone from the shop out on the road with you and demonstrate the problem.

Tires Don

When a non adjustable part like a ball joint goes 'out of spec', it is normally worn out or on it's way to worn out. When a ball joint goes bad, the steering can pull just like you feel. My car is going into the shop for that exact thing today.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail >> snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com wrote:

Already rotated.

-CC

sweep, sweep sweep...

Plobrem is Mike, the car has just under 25,000mi. I couldn't imagine it being anything worn. Some roads around here resemble Swiss cheese, but I'm not consistently on them.

-Chris

I have seen a bunch of under 25K ball joints worn out. The S-Blazers eat them in that mileage with regularity. I would check them. I would also go to a second shop and have them check it over. Nothing says you didn't get the Friday car that they forgot to grease parts on prior to assembly.

Continued "pulling" to one side or the other is usually a sign of a bad tire on a vehicle with a non-zero scrub radius. Depending on whether the scrub radius is positive or negative, the tire with the high rolling resistance can be on the side pulled toward, or the side pulled away from. Most cars have a positive scrub radius so they'll pull toward the tire with the high rolling resistance, but the usual test is to swap the front tires side-to-side and see if the pull disappears or switches sides, then replace the tires as a pair if it does.

_______________________ I did a front to rear tire rotation as a side swap cannot be performed with the directional Yokohama AVIDS on the car.

I hate to keep giving you guys excuses as to why I "can't" do this or can't do that. I did, however, decide to overinflate the left tires by 1lb psi. My cold pressures currently are 32 in the lefts, 31 on the rights. The door placard says 30lbs all around. The car still drifts left.

I guess it's time to get the opinion of a "second doctor" in town.

-CC

ChrisCoaster wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@q39g2000hsf.googlegroups.com:

Sure it can.

You just sholdn't leave it like that permanently. There's absolutely nothing wrong with temporarily running directionals the wrong way on a dry surface.

By failing to swap side-to-side you may be ignoring the most obvious culprit. Remember the "monkey license" scene from one of the Pink Panther movies?

If a tires causes a pull to the left in the front and gets moved to the back the pull should be to the right or gone shouldn't it?

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 'New' frame in the works for '08. Some Canadian Bush Trip and Build Photos:

It can make a diff on some vehicles, so I'll ask- how much do you weigh?

More, or less than the guys who don't feel it pull?

If you ride with someone on the right, does it still pull?

I've had to tailor an alignment once or twice in my life (dawn of computerized alignments)

Dave

___________________ I had a tech at a Town Fair tire/alignment place suggest that my own weight was pulling the car to the left. Now that was in a 2003 Impala at that time, and I weighed in at an unimaginable 175lbs.

Therefore, two conditions had BETTER exist before I even THINK of buying this "driver's weight" jive: FIRST - The driver had better weigh minimum 250lbs, and SECOND, the car had better be a YARIS, a YUGO, or a SMART 4 TWO!!

Let's keep flying pigs and the boogeyman out of this thread, please!

-CC

Well, I didn't want to out and ask if you weigh 250lbs, I was trying to be polite!

If the normal loading of the car results in a significantly different ride-height or attitude (L/Rt or F/Rr) than when the car is aligned, on some cars that'll make a fair bit of difference, and on some cars not, so no jive, flying pigs, or boogeymen here, just good science and having been there, done that.

A 175lbs driver in an impala, yes, the ride-height difference effect on the alignment will be negligible.

Dave

___________________ No offense taken. :) From my perception, the weight of a driver compared to his mount is akin to the proverbial fly on a cow's butt, that's all. So I just figured that except in extreme cases, the driver's weight(or position - for those of you who drive on the LH side of the road) didn't matter at all.

Thanks,

-CC

Mike Romain wrote in news:478f7131$0$5413$ snipped-for-privacy@unlimited.newshosting.com:

In my experience, a pull from a tire when it's on the front will go away entirely or be greatly lessened when the same tire is moved to the rear on the same side; I have not seen the pull change sides. If the tire is moved to the other side of the front, the pull will be in the reverse direction.

Of course, it is critical to consider road crowning, which I find is a confounding factor in these cases. It helps considerably during investigation to have ready access to the other side of the road (easier in rural areas) or a divided highway which has a crown that goes in both directions.