Steering pull to right after suspension change

[romero1990]

Folk.. trying to gather some idea where to look before sending it to shops.

Chronicles
1. Originally the car came with KWv3 from previous owner. There was a very slight pull to right when the steering wheel is centered. It was very small and almost ignoreable

2. The KWs are harsh for daily. So I swapped in a set of Bilstein B12 and Volshlag caster-camber plates. Also a new set of PS4S

3. After suspension swap is done, I need to hold at about 5 degree to left to keep the car straight. Don't remember if I needed more at higher speed.(will check on that).

4. So I took the car to the shop, they did the alignment, but still pulling strong to right.


Detail on the pulling. Basically the steering wheel tries to center itself, but when the steering wheel is centered, it pulls to the right a lot. Like changing lane kind of fast.

The car also has aftermarket sway bar and bimmerworld endlinks. I tried to adjust endlinks to make both sides even, that did not work.


What/where should I be looking into to fix it?

[Ajolives]

Originally Posted by romero1990

Folk.. trying to gather some idea where to look before sending it to shops.

Chronicles
1. Originally the car came with KWv3 from previous owner. There was a very slight pull to right when the steering wheel is centered. It was very small and almost ignoreable

2. The KWs are harsh for daily. So I swapped in a set of Bilstein B12 and Volshlag caster-camber plates. Also a new set of PS4S

3. After suspension swap is done, I need to hold at about 5 degree to left to keep the car straight. Don't remember if I needed more at higher speed.(will check on that).

4. So I took the car to the shop, they did the alignment, but still pulling strong to right.


Detail on the pulling. Basically the steering wheel tries to center itself, but when the steering wheel is centered, it pulls to the right a lot. Like changing lane kind of fast.

The car also has aftermarket sway bar and bimmerworld endlinks. I tried to adjust endlinks to make both sides even, that did not work.


What/where should I be looking into to fix it?

Very first step would to swap your front tires and see if it then pulls to the left after, if so bad tire.

[randrews15]

After you disturbed the suspension did you get an alignment? It may of been out of alignment before and made worse after you changed everything.

[romero1990]

Originally Posted by Ajolives

Very first step would to swap your front tires and see if it then pulls to the left after, if so bad tire.

I actually put a set of brand new tires on before doing the alignment.

[romero1990]

Originally Posted by randrews15

After you disturbed the suspension did you get an alignment? It may of been out of alignment before and made worse after you changed everything.

yeah. I did a new alignment at a local shop. the pulling feels the same before/after alignment

[SAMM3Y]

Check front toe with a piece of string running the length of the car.. what's your camber set at? Which shop did the alignment? I'd try a different shop next time, one that specializes in after market modified cars. Do you have adjustable rear toe arms? Check the rear toe too, my rear toe adjuster worked it's way loose once and totally messed up the steering. Alignment shops don't do the rears..

[romero1990]

Originally Posted by SAMM3Y

Check front toe with a piece of string running the length of the car.. what's your camber set at? Which shop did the alignment? I'd try a different shop next time, one that specializes in after market modified cars. Do you have adjustable rear toe arms? Check the rear toe too, my rear toe adjuster worked it's way loose once and totally messed up the steering. Alignment shops don't do the rears..

sounds good. I picked SV bimmer cuz they are right next to my house. Gonna try TracSpec and see how it goes.

The rear axle is stock, only the suspension bit.

[tdott]

did you mention anything to the alignment shop?

Usually they will check the suspension before doing an alignment, and they should have caught something was not right after they took it for a test drive after doing an alignment.

Something is either worn/loose or not installed right, or the alignment job wasn't done properly.

[Richbot]

Either you got an alignment wall job, or their machine is broken. Even if something is installed wrong the alignment should catch something that bd with the wheel straight

Time to cut losses with this shop and ask a new one to check it out

Also, do you have factory wheels with the 5 holes for the factory alignment fixtures, or aftermarket wheels? I've heard tell, but never had it happen to me, of alignment shops trying to use a BMW-specific wheel fixture for the laser racks on an aftermarket wheel, which...doesn't work usually

[romero1990]

Originally Posted by Richbot

Either you got an alignment wall job, or their machine is broken. Even if something is installed wrong the alignment should catch something that bd with the wheel straight

Time to cut losses with this shop and ask a new one to check it out

Also, do you have factory wheels with the 5 holes for the factory alignment fixtures, or aftermarket wheels? I've heard tell, but never had it happen to me, of alignment shops trying to use a BMW-specific wheel fixture for the laser racks on an aftermarket wheel, which...doesn't work usually

that's an interesting point. I'm halfway removing stud conversion. so most of them are back to bolts except 3 got stuck and need to double nut them out. but yeah, definitely gonna try a different shop