Help on Toyota avalon wheel alignment problems?

Question

i owned a 1996 toyota avalon with 116,000 miles. i had a complete wheel alignment done at toyota 5 months ago due to the car pulling to the left. after getting it fixed it was fine. now the car goes to the left again when the steering wheel is held straight. i driven about less than 2,000 miles since the last alignment(5 months ago) and i try my best to avoid potholes and any bumps on the road. The tires are in good condition with the right air pressure. i rotated the tires about 1 year ago. i don't drive crazy or mess around in the car. any ideas what keep causing the car to pull to the left after only a short time?

Answer 1

It's either underinflated, over inflated tires, a defective tire, or the alignment is out. Take it back to where you had it aligned and tell them it's pulling and you haven't put but 2k miles on it, any reputable repair facility would be more than happy to re-check the alignment for you for no charge.

Answer 2

I'm quite sure your Toyota dealer didn't breathe the word caster and camber. If the toe is ok special camber plates should be installed on top of the struts inside the engine compartment to allow the alignment specialist adjust the caster and camber on each side. A car with too much positive camber on each front wheel will wander to the right or left depending where the combination of negative camber and positive camber.
Caster is best explained as looking at the angle of the forks of a motorcycle. Granted cars use between 3 -7 degrees of positive caster. More caster makes the front wheels go straighter.
I will guaranty that the caster is less than it should be on the left front than the right side. Look closely at the tire tread. if the tire has more outside wear than inside the tire can have negative camber, too little positive caster and the toe can be front tires are further apart in the front than the rear. Ask friends or at autoparts stores who has the best reputation for aligning all four wheels. You see, private guys have a reputation to live up to and if you positively ask them to advise you if camber plates are needed or heating and bending would help your car rear suspention. That's certainly what you need at this time.

Answer 3

It could be a defective tyre - I've had this hapen before. Or possibly they didnt tighten something up properly when they aligned it, and it's slowly working its way loose while you drive.

Good luck!

Answer 4

Tires sometimes wear "conical". Try rolling a coffe cup on its side, It'll drift to one side. Same thing happens to some tires. Unless they are "directionnal" tires, try switching the front tires side to side. If it pulls the other way...