Help please Car pulling to right.

[SalioS4]

Hi all. Don’t post much on here but I’m in over my head on a build and can’t figure out why my s4 pulls hard to right.
Long story short, I pulled engine, transmission to install new turbos, clutch and all the other fun stuff that comes along with a build.
Just an FYI subframe was dropped in order to pull motor.
After putting car back together and going for its first road test. I instantly noticed a hard pull to the right. My first thought was maybe something to do with brakes since I replaced rotors and pads. I noticed my passenger front caliper was slightly sticking so replaced caliper.
Put car back together and test drove vehicle. Still pulling to right.
So today I brought it to alignment shop and after an hour of adjustments, the car was still pulling to right.
Alignment shop believes subframe is misaligned or something wasn’t put back together properly. They pointed out to me, the location of the front tires. The drivers side has about 4 fingers of gap from right side of wheel to fender/driver door.
Passenger side tire only has about 2 fingers worth of space.
Really scratching my head on this one and hope for someone to shed some light on what could be the problem.
Thanks in advance.

Sal


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[ReggieNoble]

Sounds like your upper strut mount make be backwards. Did you remove the front suspension?

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[SalioS4]

No not at all. Just lowered sub frame and disconnected axles, upper control arms from pinch bolt.


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[ReggieNoble]

Also it's not uncommon to adjust a subframe for alignment after it has been removed.

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[SalioS4]

How much adjustment can be made on the subframe? There is only 4 bolts and not a lot of wiggle room.


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[SalioS4]

This is what alignment shop did. IMG_3060.jpg


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[SalioS4]

They didn’t believe anything else could be done.


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[ReggieNoble]

Well from what it looks like the castor looks to be in spec.

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[ReggieNoble]

Are you lowered?

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[ReggieNoble]

My guess is they performed the alignment procedure incorrectly.

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[SalioS4]

Yes.


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[SalioS4]

Lowered on st coilovers.


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[christianb5s4]

I assure you that the front sub-frame has enough adjust-ability to throw off alignment, especially if the sub-frame alignment tool wasn't used when it was bolted back up to the car. I had an alignment done which I needed due to an engine pull and they re-aligned the sub-frame which made a big difference although I don't see how it could be so far off that it would make the car pull strongly to one side.

[SalioS4]

Well according to reggienoble he believes the caster is within spec. What else could it be?


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[ReggieNoble]

Try diagonally rotating the tires if they are not directional. How hard to the right is it pulling?

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[ReggieNoble]

Like is it trying to kill you or is it just having to keep the wheel turned a few degrees?

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[SalioS4]

Not so bad after alignment but definitely pulling right. If I let go wheel it will pull right and end up in a ditch. Have to keep steering wheel slightly pulled left.


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[Corradovolksb]

Your alignment looks good. Try cross rotating the front tires and see if it still pulls. It seems like a tire radial pull to me. Tires can have whats called conicity and that will cause the vehicle to pull to one direction or the other.


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[S4James]

freestand the wheels together on a flat suface and see if one or both are leaning over... Could be excessive toe-out wear

[rdcyclist]

How old are the control arms? A toasted bushing will do this.

[SalioS4]

Found a lower control arm bushing to be shot. Replacing that today and will see if alignment may need to be completed again.


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[SalioS4]

Wheels are fine btw


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[JustManson]

Found a lower control arm bushing to be shot. Replacing that today and will see if alignment may need to be completed again.


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That is promising!


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[PZ.]

The alignment is only fair. A touch more caster on the left than the right would help, but it should not be off enough to put you in a ditch. Swapping tires would be the 2nd step after checking tire pressure. It really sounds like you have a bent rear lower control arm on the right front of the car. That will put you in a ditch and still show a good alignment. A bad enough bushing will mimic this, so hopefully that fixes it.