06 accord pulls - after an alignment
 

06 Accord
96,000 miles
Michelin Primacy MVX4 with 36,000 miles

Initial problem - car pulled left at highway speeds.
Steering wheel 'neutral' position was left. if held centered, car drove straight. If steering wheel released, it went to neutral, left of center, and car went left.

Car aligned by Honda dealer.
Still pulled left. But steering wheel now had to be held to right for car to go straight. If released, steering wheel went to its new neutral position which is centered, but car goes left.

Returned to dealer for realignment. Brought TSB 06-068 with me. They said that it only applied to Civics - it doesn't. They did realignment. Still pulls left.

They say they swapped tires L-R and it still pulls they said the swapped F-R and it still pulled left.
They said they put on an set of brand new tires and it did not pull.

So now they say it's my tires.

Question-if tires are swapped L-R it seems to me, that if in fact it is the tires that caused it to pull then the pulling should now swap, in this case pull to right. What am I missing?

No they never did the TSB. Said that they didn't have the tools and besides, it's my tires!

Thoughts anyone?

Thank you all.

I've had problems similar on several vehicles. Left/right pull is caused by camber setting, not toe setting.

The wheel not being centered is caused when toe setting is adjusted from one side only rather than evenly adjusting toe, 1/2 change to each side. I guess it's just too damn much trouble to go from side to side when setting toe.

I installed a camber kit on my 03 Acura MDX and adjusted camber myself after shop said they had adjusted w/ no change in performance. It is now somewhat better but not great. Very difficult to DIY adjust camber kit as wheel must be removed to adjust, reinstall wheel, lower and check. PIA big time.

My 07 Accord intially pulled right w/ new tires, but after a rotation is driving true.

I bought a small camber gauge on ebay, Cut/paste the following URL inside the quotes (we're not supposed to insert links for some reason:rolleyes:):
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Camber-Magnetic-Gauge-Strut-CV-setting-Wheel-Alignment-/190594114548?pt=Motors_Automotive_Tools&vxp=mtr&ha sh=item2c604b63f4"

This tool has provided some insight into actual camber settings and made sense of right/left pulls. Because of road crown (sides lower than middle), a symmetrical camber setting (say -0.25 L and R side) would pull to the right. So camber settings are typically biased to compensate for road crown. A better setting would 0 deg L and -0.25 deg R. This would compensate for road crown. Neg. camber is top of wheel inside the bottom of wheel.

Hope this helps.

good luck

Thank you for your reply and thoughts.

I am still befuddled about swapping tires to opposite side - seems the pull should swap if in fact it's the tires. If its the allignment (camber) it would continue to pull the same way.

Any allignment / tire experts out there?

I agree - if the pull is caused by the tires, it will reverse when you swap the tires side-to-side.

I had that happen on a 98 Accord. Alignment was bad when we inherited the car, so I had that fixed. But it still pulled, because the tires were now worn funny. I swapped the tires & it pulled the opposite way; just to convince myself that it was indeed caused by the tires.

It can be a combination of both camber settings and wear. This can make things confusing.

If problem is purely tires, then pull should reverse when front tires are swapped. However if a combination of both, the pull may improve but not totally reverse. I've noticed that behavior.

I've then swapped front to rear and rear to front to try to find a better combination.

good luck

Thank you both for taking the time to respond. I will post the results after I have it worked on.

Some shops will do a little test drive, then make small adjustment to improve the pull. That results in a combination of affects, & later when you buy new tires THEN you don't want that last little adjustment. Explain that to the shop, or plan on getting another alignment when you buy new tires.

Ok if it still pulls then u might have a caster issue. Typically the camber would have to be out a food ways to give u a pull but u generally want the camber to be .3 of a degree within each other. Caster the same way but with the higher number on the right side to adjust for road crown. I.e. If left caster is 2.7 then right caster should be at least 3.0 with bigger vehicle with bigger tires then split between them should go up bigger tire bigger split. But they should test drive b4 to see what they have to work with when they pull the alignment numbers. Cuz my accord is perfect in the camber and toe but the caster is off which is why mine is pulling

Something might be bent. Or shifter from a wreck