Odd tracking behaviour (after full alignment...)

[AndrewGP]

My son's first car, a Phase 1 1995 Peugeot 106 Ski (Readers Cars thread here) with just 9k miles on, is exhibiting some odd tracking behaviour.



It needed an alignment after we bought it, the steering wheel wasn't quite straight and it was pulling to the left slightly when letting go of the wheel. So it went in today for a full hunter machine setup and the garage, who I do trust, got it pretty much spot on to factory specs. This has cured the wheel being off-centre but it's still pulling to the left when going straight and letting go of the wheel.

It flew through it's MOT last week with no advisories and tonight I've checked tyre pressures (32F, 30R), wheel bearings, and the brakes for binding.

Anything else I should be checking?

[GreenV8S]

If I were you I'd ask that garage you trust.

It could be caused by worn bushes, loose subframe mounts, loose steering rack, uneven corner weights, unevenly worn tyres, that sort of thing. The cause might be at the back of the car rather than the front.

[paul_c123]

Tyre pressures are an obvious thing to check. Also when you say "full" alignment, is it really full?

[GreenV8S]

Oh, also, are you sure that you aren't just feeling the effects of road camber? Some cars are more susceptible to this than others.

[Smint]

A good way to check for weak/worn bushes is to attempt to move the parked (handbrake applied) vehicle by gripping the outside of the tyre and rolling it back and forth (not rocking action as if checking TRE), owners of BMW 3 series and Sierras in particular with worn front bushes will have been amazed how far the front wheels could move inside their arches doing this, Cortina owners and rear void bushes? road/tyre friction once moving does the rest.

It can be revealing to follow a vehicle in question in another car and watch from all angles how the car behaves over undulations etc, especially useful for suspension issues.
Continuous white lines offer less grip than the road, especially when wet, so again running one side of the car on the white line can offer some clues whats happening, ie NS wheels on white line vehicle wants to go right might mean toe out, even if its spot on when stationary tyre drag starts compressing weak bushes.

As said don't assume the issue is at the front.
Also check all brakes for dragging, though i think thats already been suggested.

[AndrewGP]

Thanks all, much appreciated.

It was a full alignment on a Hunter machine (although the rear wheels aren't adjustable).

Tyre pressures have been checked and the tyres are new, but I'll start working through the list of suggestions and report back

[Hondapower]

I had an old Peugeot 205 that when setup as per factory spec would steer itself all over the road. It was a constant fight to stop it following white lines, road camber etc. Old age probably meant play in bushes and steering rack led to this.

I added a couple of mm of toe in and it was transformed into a very stable and predictable drive.

[AndrewGP]

Thanks again for all the suggestions, I’m happy to say we’ve now conclusively found the issue.

I guess predictably, as the car has only just ticked over 9000 miles, (9049 to be precise), the suspension and bushes all appear to be perfect and this was certainly backed up by the MoT result. It does sit a little high but then I think all the base model 106s did.

Despite the tyres being changed for half decent Hankook Optimos not that long ago and with all the pressures being spot on, my son and I swapped the front wheels over and took it for a drive. Immediately it’s pulling in the other direction ie to the right, so it’s definitely a tyre issue. We’re going to change both the front tyres just to be sure.

[E-bmw]

AndrewGP said:

Despite the tyres being changed for half decent Hankook Optimos not that long ago and with all the pressures being spot on, my son and I swapped the front wheels over and took it for a drive. Immediately it s pulling in the other direction ie to the right, so it s definitely a tyre issue. We re going to change both the front tyres just to be sure.

You say it is definitely tyres but (stupid though it sounds) just check that both wheels are actually the same size, as the right tyres on 2 different wheels could also do this.

Just in case!

[Peanut Gallery]

E-bmw said:

AndrewGP said:

Despite the tyres being changed for half decent Hankook Optimos not that long ago and with all the pressures being spot on, my son and I swapped the front wheels over and took it for a drive. Immediately it s pulling in the other direction ie to the right, so it s definitely a tyre issue. We re going to change both the front tyres just to be sure.

You say it is definitely tyres but (stupid though it sounds) just check that both wheels are actually the same size, as the right tyres on 2 different wheels could also do this.

Just in case!

Many moons ago my dad had the same issue, car pulled to the left just after having 2 new tyres put on. Triple checked sizes, etc. When the tyres were off the car he felt the sidewalls, tyre that had been on the right had stiffer sidewalls. He pumped the left tyre up another 5 psi, car tracked true, tyres both lasted the same length of time. Just kept the left front tyre 5 psi more than right front.

(Mind you, that was a 1979 Citreon GS Club, so it always ate a set of fronts every 10k miles, regardless)