Any Suggestions? My Yaris Likes The Kerbs

[sub77]

I have had this problem for some time now, when ever you are driving the car keeps on pulling to the left.

I have asked the dealer to check and he said I need to take it to a tire guy to get my wheels aligning, I have done that many times but its still the same.

when ever you are driving , I need to keep the steering wheel slightly turned to the right to keeps the car straight. I noticed this happening on all kinds of roads so it cant' be due to the road

My warranty is running out in February and would like to get this sorted incased its a big job.

anyone has any suggestions? what I might be looking for.

Also I have got a new set of tires and the wheels are balanced and aligned. This problem use to occur even before the new tires were put in.

[Yarisboy]

i'm no expert but if u have to point the steering wheel to the right to keep your car straight that is a major thing that toyota should have sorted for you long ago...

I would have recomended the laser 4 wheel alignment as well but if you've done this and it still happens it might be something more serious like the steering rack

take it back to the dealer and demand they fix it lol, phone toyota GB and complain if they won't

[VTRick]

take it to toyota and demand they fix it. dont take no for an answer. my local garage hate me. coz i really rape them on the warranty. if they say no, raise your voice. works a treat. they hate you causing a fuss while customers are there. if they are... tell the salesperson that their customer service is *******.. very loudly. works a treat.

[Leeky]

I know this sounds VERY simple but if it has always kinda been like this then its probably just a simple case of the wheel not being put on straight.

If you line up the wheels perfectly then remove your wheel and re attatch it you should find the problem sorted.

Or seeing as its still in warrenty let toyota do it. Those muppets dont do enough as it is!

Overcharging butt monkeys

[Steve Ratcliffe]

Take your villen lock off the steering wheel.....

[VTRick]

Take your villen lock off the steering wheel.....

[Scot]

I know this sounds VERY simple but if it has always kinda been like this then its probably just a simple case of the wheel not being put on straight.

Have you got a stock steering wheel on?

[Viper_7]

ermm nearly all cars pull to the left...due to the camber of the road.... I guess your allowing for this, and your pull is more pronouced?

If it's really pulling then it's usualy a proble with the breaks not the steering.

find a nice open piece of road....preferably with no road camber..does the problem go away?

does the problem get worse when you break..or is it the same all the time?

Most of the time it's the camber though...go out at 3am and drive on the right..bet it pulls to the right.....

I had my old renault set up so the suspension was lower on the right...gave better road holding..and got rig of the left hand "pull"

Vipes.

[Unity Jon]

check your tyre pressure all round too.

[jimma]

I have had this problem for some time now, when ever you are driving the car keeps on pulling to the left.

I have asked the dealer to check and he said I need to take it to a tire guy to get my wheels aligning, I have done that many times but its still the same.

when ever you are driving , I need to keep the steering wheel slightly turned to the right to keeps the car straight. I noticed this happening on all kinds of roads so it cant' be due to the road

My warranty is running out in February and would like to get this sorted incased its a big job.

anyone has any suggestions? what I might be looking for.

Also I have got a new set of tires and the wheels are balanced and aligned. This problem use to occur even before the new tires were put in.

My cars the same mate, and I know it's road camber. Take your car to a hardstanding or flat car park somewhere

[jimma]

ermm nearly all cars pull to the left...due to the camber of the road.... I guess your allowing for this, and your pull is more pronouced?

If it's really pulling then it's usualy a proble with the breaks not the steering.

find a nice open piece of road....preferably with no road camber..does the problem go away?

does the problem get worse when you break..or is it the same all the time?

Most of the time it's the camber though...go out at 3am and drive on the right..bet it pulls to the right.....

I had my old renault set up so the suspension was lower on the right...gave better road holding..and got rig of the left hand "pull"

Vipes.

Hold on though, by the way you spell Tyre I think your in the US or Canada. If so Then ignore the camber theories. Road camber should pull YOUR car to the right if I'm correct.

[Viper_7]

Sherlock Holmes amougst us! Sorry Excuse my ignorance....assumed you were driving on the LEFT hand side.

If you do drive on the right..and it pulls to the left.... not good at all!!

Check Tyre Pressures / Wheel Alignment.

Check breaks, To ensure they are being thrown off fully and not rubbing...

Does it actually pull....or do you just have to steer off centre... if just steering off centre...as someone has already said...steering wheel problaby isn't on straight.

Vipes.

[mythotical]

As an alignment tech I can explain it, understanding it is up to you.

A pull is most often caused by a camber problem. Camber is the inward or outward lean of the wheels.

When looking at the wheels on a car from the front or rear, if you can see camber at all, it is too much (with the exception of BMW, MBZ and VOLKSWAGON). Anyway when the wheels apear to lean in at the top //---\\ this is called negative camber.

When the wheels apear to lean outward at the top \\---// this is called positive camber.

All cars will pull towards the wheel with the most positive camber or the least negitive camber. (EG ||---//= pull to the right

\\---||= pull to the left and //---||= pull to the right ||---\\= pull to the left. (*think of a motorcycle as it goes in the direction it is leaned towards)

Ahhh and now for the solution (demand that this angle is checked and do not try to fix this without expierance in doing so)

A simple camber correction bolt can be installed on the strut(s) where the strut mounts to the spindle which will allow camber adjustment on the strut it is mounted to. IF you try this on youre own please note that this will dramatically effect toe!

This leads me to the other but not as probbabl cause for the pull.

The combined toe or inward or outward turn of the rear wheels can also cause a pull if they are not balanced or as a mirror image of eachother. (toe at the front wheels will never cause a pull but may cause the steering wheel to be off center and or excessive tire wear) E.G. as if looking down from the top of the wheels and "UP" on this page is towards the front of the car

//---\\= positive toe and \\---//= negative toe.

As far as the rear wheels go if one wheel has negative toe and the other has positive toe, tho they may bolth go in the exact same direction this effects the thrust angle*.

The thrust angle is generally explained as the combined angle of left and right tow. so in other words if the rear wheels looked like this * (see example)

(rear wheels) \\---\\= negitive thrust and will cause the front wheels to pull right. //---//= positive thrust and will cause the front wheels to pull left. (think of what happens to the axles of a skateboard when you lean to one side or the other)

Solution; have theese angles checked and corrected. Most cars with independant rear suspention have some kind of rear toe and thrust angle adjustment. Some cars with beam axles (non-independant suspention) in the back can also be corrected, however this requires shims to adjust toe and thrust. And verry few can also be adjusted by shifting the rear axle in the correct direction.

I hope this helps you solve youre problem and I hope this can explain alighnment solutions for you and all. If all els fails there is a chance of somthing being bent which would cause all sorts of problems. Most likely caster is effected which will lead to the replacment of some suspention componants (the only toyota modle with adjustable caster is the Supra)

If the guy at the dealership or shop of youre choice does not understand this, print this out and bring it with you.

If the guy has a problem with that have him e-mail me =)

:hokus-pokus: Regards: Mythotical

[YKLee]

We've had this problem too! new set of tires etc.... also on the rears they were worn alot more on the insides??? toyota want to chrage me £100 to do the laser alignment but said not guaranteed to sort it out!!

[alanbradley]

I had a similar problem to this, but has just assumed that the monkeys that I had last asked to sort the alignment out hadn't held the steering wheel in the central position when doing the alignment. On my next set of tyres I had everything properly balanced by people I trusted and this lessened it, BUT the best cure was to have all of the rear bushes replaced under warranty (Thank you Struans of Perth! :-) ). This seems to have pretty much fixed the problem...

PS: It seems that you can't adjust the alignment on the Yaris rear suspension, so if there is a problem then it's probably the bushes. I'm told that this is pretty common.

Hope that helps!

[mythotical]

I do live stateside, does the Yaris have rear independant suspention? If so there are aftermarket kits for adjustment.

If it has a beam axle (non independant suspention) It is adjustable using "full contact shims) which are mounted between the spindal and the axle.

Whad USDM car does the yarris resemble?

[YKLee]

thanks for the info! will they just do it under warranty then? will they give me any aggro you reckon? not quite the confrontational type if you know what i mean! :D

[YKLee]

Right, went to the garage yesterday and they were extremely helpful! although the guy couldn't find any play in the bushes they were going to replace them anyway cos Toyota had it on record that these things are quite prone to going wrong! Also because they replacign the bushes they can do the tracking under warranty! result! Thanks to all those who replied! :D