Alfa 33 16v pulling to the left

[Alfapride]

Hi All, well this one has got me stumped! i recently had tie rods and tyres changed on my Alfa 33 16v, ever since it has been pulling to the left, the first people to look at it did the job incorrectly, it was taken to another tyre shop and they corrected the alignment, however it still has a slight pull, i have rotated tyres but everyone I have asked has told me that the car cannot be adjusted any further - has anyone had a similar experience? any ideas how to correct the problem? the car never pulled like this before the tierods and tyres were changed, any help would be appreciated!

[philpot]

Hmmmm...whats the toe out? Has the rack been centered? Are the cambers about even? Are the gaps between the tie rod ends and the ball joints about even? What tyre pressures you running? Were the tie rods new? Correct spec? Just going through the steps here...!

[Brooke]

 have the same problem on my 33, only a slight niggle, i live with it.

It went in for a re-alignment last week, and afterwards, the driving has changed. Turning to the right is normal, but turning to the left feels like it has power steering on, very light. But to straighten out it's usualy weight of turn. It then pulls to the left unless you give I a right turn and it goes away;
no idea why!

[Doug Gould]

Toe does not make a car pull to either side. The front wheels centre themselves. If its pulling you need to look at camber / caster. A spirit level & a stick will give you a rough check on camber. At 600mm 1 degree camber will be about 10mm off vertical. See if both wheels are about the same. Brooke's issue is almost certainly that the rack is moving. Time for new mounting bushes.

Doug

[philpot]

Toe-out will affect the way a car turns in or 'bites' into corners and follows tracks/grooves or 'tramlines' on the road; hence the term 'tramlining'. Camber/Castor on all suds/33's is nominally not adjustable, only toe-out can be altered by rotating the entire ball joint one complete turn (1mm) on the end of the steering arm/s. All things being equal, if everything was straight and unbent, your 33 16v shouldn't be pulling after new tie rod ends were fitted if everything was done properly. Have a sud, series one and three 33's that dont suffer this problem, so someone stuffed up somewhere with yours! Try Benincas or an alfa specialist, not just a tyre place that dont know alfas, (and/or particularly like them...) and 33's in particular, for some specialist advice!

[Frank Musco]

Have had the problem on my 33 and suds where the bearing on the bottom of the spring carrier seizes, and does not allow free momvent of the strut, while the spring remains static. This causes irregular steering, one instance the car wants to pull to the left, then you do a right hand turn, straighten up, and the car decides it wants to pull to the right. As this worsens, the car will be more consistent and pull to the side which the bearing seized last.

[jayarr]

Hi,

can't recall whether toe affects pulling to L/R on 33 (too many years ago!), but definitely affected my GTV FWD as of last week. Had 11 mm toe in, and was definitely pulling to one side. Corrected to 3mm toe in, and is much better.

Cheers.

[Alfapride]

hi all again, can any one reccommend a specialist in the northern suburbs who could look at my 33? my car always drove straight before the tyres and tierods were changed - i have taken it to two different tyre dealers and both ahve told me these cannot be adjusted so i should just 'live with it' . I hope someone out there has better advice thanks!!

[philpot]

Beninca Motors, 581 Canterbury Road, Surrey Hills. Ph: 03 98361519