Car pulls to one side on acceleration
 

Midway through a track day, my car started to [b]pull significantly to the right [/b](on acceleration only) but I didn't really pay attention to it as I thought it could be because I was getting tired and jerking the steering wheel during a gearshift. It's perfectly fine on cruise/deceleration/braking.

On the way home from the circuit, the problem was quite noticeable. I pulled into a gas station to make sure I had equal tyre pressure on all 4 tyres. The problem persisted so that ruled out tyre pressure.

After some thinking, it could be uneven tyre wear as the circuit is very taxing on the left front tyre. The front left tyre was indeed looking a little worse for wear. Today I had my tyres rotated in this manner:

[img]http://www.abbsrytire.com/tireRotation_rwd_4wd_awd.gif[/img]

Now my car [b]pulls significantly to the left[/b] on acceleration. Do you think the root of this problem is uneven tyre wear?

The symptoms are non-existent below 50kmh, appears once I cross 50kmh and gets worse at higher speeds. At freeway speeds, the pulling is so strong it almost feels like it's trying to attempt a gradual lane change.

Tyres are RE070s. It will be a b*tch to have to change new tyres as 2 of them are still in rather decent condition, just the ones that have been on the front left corner are looking kinda sad...

The interweb has proven to be a nuisance this time, providing me a multitude of possible problems - cv joints/ball joints/bushes/gearbox mounts/engine mounts/top hat bearings/alignment/driveshafts/wheel bearings/wheelhubs/uneven tyre wear.

I'm inclined to think that it should be tyre related if it started pulling in the opposite direction once I rotated the tyres.

Anyone experience this before and have found a definitive solution? Much appreciated, cheers!

Yep tyre wear usually on an edge
does it tram track really bad as well

[QUOTE=Rexy03]Yep tyre wear usually on an edge
does it tram track really bad as well[/QUOTE]

Yeah it is tramlining more than it was before...

Try working out which tyres will give you the best mirror image when put together and put the closest looking pair on the front and the shabbiest on the rear.

Probably won't be perfect but should get it going closer to a straight line. If no joy then see a suspension specialist asap.

I hope you don't have directional tyres, you'd be better just swapping front to back on the same side IE l/f to l/r....r/f to r/r

[QUOTE=BlackSTi]Try working out which tyres will give you the best mirror image when put together and put the closest looking pair on the front and the shabbiest on the rear.

Probably won't be perfect but should get it going closer to a straight line. If no joy then see a suspension specialist asap.[/QUOTE]

I did just that, the tyres are as balanced (in terms of wear) as I can get them to be, with the 2 most worn tyres on the rear. It did help slightly, but still pulling a fair bit.

Pimpreza: The RE070s are not directional so they are fine being swapped about. They are assymetric.

swap fronts over left to right.. can help.

i'd get an alignment done before i started swapping out parts.

I'd say something must have come loose somewhere or bent. I have worn the RE070's pretty unevenly ( and rotated shortly there after to even out ) at times and have never had an issue.

In fact tomorrow is the first wheel alignment it will have ever had in a bit over 3 years and that is only cos an ALK is going in.

Get it looked at asap just in case something is about to fall off ( Crawl under it with a torch and check everything you can tonight. Drive slowly and not in busy traffic if at all possible until fixed.

Did you hit any of the curbs hard or have an off???

Hmm I've already had an alignment done, castor looks fine. I did not hit anything at the track, nor did I go off into any gravel traps.

If something did get damaged, the car should still be pulling to the same side after I had the tyres rotated? Hmm... mystery... first time I'm experiencing in 7 years I've been driving and tracking various subies over the years.