My 08 Ms3 Pulls Left All The Time

[VAINPIRE]

I have 9000 miles on my Mazdaspeed3 and for about the last 3 months, if I let go of the wheel it drifts slowly left,accelerating and decelerating...dealer has aligned it twice...its perfect...does it with both stock the tires (wich I hate and am replacing in spring) and my snows...rotated etc etc etc many times...the guy that mounts my tirs does it in compatition at track meets and he has no idea...tire pressure right on...they are perplexed at my dealer...I have went for rides with their Mazdaspeed mechanic and he cant figure it out but admits its doing it...btw...Mazda allows for drift left or right if it takes more than 7 seconds to move into another lane!!! but mine does it in about three...most noticable at speeds above 40...I can feel it as i drive subtly pulling the wheel left...since this started I also find the car a bit "hinkey" or touchy at highway speeds...I dont feel safe driving very fast in it now...I ran my cuzin in his STI the other day and was nervous ...I dropped out at 110mph ...it just feels weird ...not like it did for the first 9 months,bought it new btw...HELP

[scatt nasty]

mine does this too, i think its pretty common. It might have something to do with the FWD

[bacarl]

This sounds like a really strange one, esp if everything is in spec, that doesn't make any sense... But FWIW, the car should not pull either way, it's not normal, and it's not due to FWD, period.

Maybe try another alignment shop or dealer? Your dealer's rack might be out of calibration, or they aren't doing a full 4-wheel alignment or who knows what. Very odd problem...

[bgibb68]

just out of curiostiy how much do you weigh??

[Remspeed3]

Yeah my 09 was doing this on the way back home from buying it, i changed out the springs to the Eibach Pro kit and had it aligned and it still does it..its annoying as hell..none of my other cars with stock or modified suspensions acted in this manner..Im thinking its caused by the drivers side rear wheel which seems to have more inward toe then the passenger side. Plus the negative factory camber doesn't help either.

[Silver Ecstasy]

Mine pulls to the left and it's also extremely touchy at high speed. Steering inputs react quickly. I find it hard to just "cruise" on the freeway, because I typically spend more time just trying to keep it centered rather than bouncing back and forth in the lane (its not that bad..but I notice it).

[Hank3]

I got mine aligned about 3K miles ago and my car's steering wheel stayed true for about half that time. It has slowly started to track left if the steering wheel is centered.

[RC08MS3]

welcome to the family, i had to have my front left strut replaced about 2 weeks ago, and the first thing the tech said was "o well if its just pulling to the left then thats normal, theres nothing we can do about that". Mazda is aware but they dont care enough to do anything about it. i dont think it was anything to do with alignment, but its possible.

[bacarl]

Man, this is the first I've heard of this issue, but I have a very hard time believing that there's "nothing they can do" about the car pulling left. That seems rediculous.

When they align it, ask to see the printouts. There's a spec range given and you can see how your wheels are set within that range. Check toe, total toe, and cross caster specifically.

Just had a thought: cross caster is what affects drift/pull, but caster isn't "technically" adjustable. That could be why they're saying they can't do anything for you. However, you can tweak caster by moving the strut top mount fore or aft. Loosen the three nuts under the hood that hold the strut to the body. Pushing the mount forward decreases negative caster; pushing it rearward increases negative caster. The car will pull to whichever side has greater negative caster. If it pulls to the left, make your left-side caster less negative, or preferably, make your right-side caster more negative. Should resolve the pull.

[bacarl]

Silver, you might want to check out your alignment numbers too. Negative caster will slow down steering response somewhat, so will toe-in. If your front wheels are close to the minimum spec for caster or have positive toe it will make your steering twitchy.

Keep in mind too if you're on your winter tires: tires have a huge huge HUGE effect on steering feel, compliance, and sensitivity, so the whole thing might be caused by a set of tires that the car doesn't agree with.

[STRICK-]

could this be due to tramlining possibly?? or would it go both ways in the road, depending on the road i guess..? im curious as to what you find out though, if anything at all. good luck

[RC08MS3]

i can be on smooth highway cruising 60-70, let off the steering wheel when its straight, and it will pull to the left

[AFcadet]

Daaaamn...I thought it was just my car...I guess all MS3s have a problem with pulling to the left.

I have this problem too...its more pronounced when I'm on the highway.

I had my car re-aligned and it still does it...

interesting...

[H3br3w_Ham3r]

Same. I just thought it was me(uhm)

[Nliiitend1]

I agree with bacarl.

Please post your actual alignment numbers, as it makes NO sense whatsoever that your car is behaving strangely if everything is truly to spec...

[Fenrir]

Mine pulls to the right :P

[Saitech]

I recently started pulling to the left on medium acceleration on the highway. It never did that before. It's slightly better on winter tires. I took it in and did realignment and improved a little bit. Tech had trouble setting camber on the left tire and suspected damaged shock. I wouldn't be surprised if it's bent.

The ride is absolutely horrible, even on winter tires. Suffice to say, the shocks are getting replaced after snow season and replacing those flimsy rubber LCA bushings. I'll update if I come across this thread again.

[Fenrir]

I recently started pulling to the left on medium acceleration on the highway. It never did that before. It's slightly better on winter tires. I took it in and did realignment and improved a little bit. Tech had trouble setting camber on the left tire and suspected damaged shock. I wouldn't be surprised if it's bent.

The ride is absolutely horrible, even on winter tires. Suffice to say, the shocks are getting replaced after snow season and replacing those flimsy rubber LCA bushings. I'll update if I come across this thread again.

Yikes, how many miles?

[wisniaPl]

mine pulls to the left propably alightment is needed...

[Saitech]

Yikes, how many miles?

23k miles. But I felt a change driving aggressively around 17k. Then strange thumping/creaking noises during autox and dd. lol

[Fenrir]

Ah. :P Yeah I'd take it in and get everything inspected, if not just to find out.

[Saitech]

For those that are getting the car realigned. Sit in the car while the tech aligns the car or just bring in some sandbags of equal weight.

This is mean but http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8cskk_global-tv-parody_news (boom01)

[MSMS3]

Consider checking tire pressure. If there is a significant difference between left front and right front, the car will tend to "pull" in the direction of the tire with the lower pressure, because it has greater rolling resistance, because the axle on that side will sit just a hair lower, and because this has an indirect effect on "down the road" suspension geometry.

Remember that adjusting tire stagger and pressure is one way race cars make an adjustment to handling.

There may be an alignment issue, but before I had a dealer of other shop mess with the alignment (possibly making it worse), I'd check tire pressure.

[mspeed3420]

It sounds to me like this is not a tire pressure or other problem like this. Mine pulls left as well but what Saitech is saying makes sense that maybe it could be the slight left pull of your weight. Im ganna try out driving with someone of about equal weight on the passanger side and see where it feels like going and if that works Ill sit in it while being alligned but that is not the answer the next most likely thing is definately the caster.
But still regardless of this pull, I never have problems going up to even 140 feeling uncomfortable. after that its just a little nuts lol
Also Im just thinking about torque steer cause I cant picture it right now but I think it definately pulls left a lot more than right if theres any thought or connections on that.

[GhostMercury]

mine pulls to the left as well. I'm glad i found this thread cause i have had my car aligned like 5 times and they can't figure it out.

[Remspeed3]

I've come to the conclusion that its a combo of things causing this..#1 Neg. Camber #2 Torque Steer above a certain MPH..mine is bad on the Highway and as soon as i let off its much better. #3 Uneven weight distribution. When i had my GTI w/ coilovers i always kept my side alittle higher than the passenger side to help out with this problem. I have Eibach's on mine now and the drivers side is sitting alittle lower, and then to add my weight(195 lbs.) just has to be making it that much worse..I noticed this even with the stock springs,but not as bad. Im probably going back to stock when it warms up as bad as i hate to. :(

[Nliiitend1]

Camber won't make your car pull. CASTER, on the other hand, will (if uneven from left-to-right).

[Remspeed3]

Camber won't make your car pull. CASTER, on the other hand, will (if uneven from left-to-right).I will dig up my alignment papers and post the #'s off of it. Camber, Caster and Toe all play a part in this problem were having. Read the articles below.
http://autorepair.about.com/od/glossary/ss/df_alignment.htm http://autorepair.about.com/od/glossary/ss/df_alignment_2.htm http://autorepair.about.com/od/glossary/ss/df_alignment_3.htm

[Nliiitend1]

Camber alone (as long as it's even from left-to-right) wil NOT make your car pull to one side. Hell, even Caster won't make it pull to one side (on a level road surface) as long as it's even from left-to-right. It's when there is a variance from left-to-right that you run into tracking problems.

Having jacked front toe won't really make your car pull to one side more than the other either (unless you fight a mis-centered wheel and therefore steer off to one side) with all other things being equal.

My guess is that most of you that are having this problem have excessive cross-caster or cross-camber.

[Remspeed3]

Heres the readings from my alignment, The readings are after the adjustments. This is with the Eibach's btw...Looks like camber is making a difference to me from one side of the car to the other!

Front Left:
Actual ......... Specified Ranges
Camber -0.9 ... -2.0 to 0.1
Caster 3.0 ... 2.1 to 4.1
Toe 0.09 ... -0.09 to 0.28

Front Right:
Camber -1.2
Caster 3.0
Toe 0.09

Cross Camber 0.3 deg. ... Ranges -1.5 to 1.5
Cross Caster 0.0 ... -1.5 to 1.5
Total Toe 0.19 ... -0.18 to 0.55


Rear left:
Camber -2.3 .... Range -2.7 to -0.7
Toe 0.22 .... -0.09 to 0.28

Right Rear:
Camber -1.9
Toe 0.04

Rear:
Cross Camber -0.3 .... Range -1.5 to 1.5
Total Toe 0.27 .... -0.18 to 0.55

[Nliiitend1]

Yeah, aside from variances due to tire pressures, the only thing in that alignment that could explain the car wanting to pull to one side is the cross-camber. The fact that your cross-camber is switched front-to-back (favoring one side in the front, and the opposite side in the back) probably exacerbates the problem.

I'd try and do the ol' "subframe shift" method of correcting the cross-camber (at the front) and then see if it helps...

BTW, your rear toe numbers are a bit out-of-whack.

It should be the same from left-to-right. The fact that it isn't is also probably contributing handily to your pulling problem as well. Also, evening out the rear toe (making it the same from left-to-right) might even out your rear camber from left-to-right as well, since toe and camber are dependent on one another heavily on the rear of these cars (thanks to the SLA "Control Blade" design of the rear suspension).

[MikeHTally]

This sounds like a really strange one, esp if everything is in spec, that doesn't make any sense... But FWIW, the car should not pull either way, it's not normal, and it's not due to FWD, period.

Maybe try another alignment shop or dealer? Your dealer's rack might be out of calibration, or they aren't doing a full 4-wheel alignment or who knows what. Very odd problem...
Agreed. Mine doesn't pull, 'cept for torque steer (yes). Something is not right here, but I'm puzzled as to what it might be. When I started reading the post, I was thinking tire pressure.

[THATGUYTERRY]

yea my car does that too, but it only started when i rotated the wheels...b4 i did that, it never pulled to the left...

[madvillian]

hah, thats funny. mine pulls the the left too, thought it was just me.

[gonerogue]

Camber alone (as long as it's even from left-to-right) wil NOT make your car pull to one side. Hell, even Caster won't make it pull to one side (on a level road surface) as long as it's even from left-to-right. It's when there is a variance from left-to-right that you run into tracking problems.

Having jacked front toe won't really make your car pull to one side more than the other either (unless you fight a mis-centered wheel and therefore steer off to one side) with all other things being equal.

My guess is that most of you that are having this problem have excessive cross-caster or cross-camber.

Are you sure that camber alone cannot cause pulling? I'm reading my ASE "Auto Suspension and Steering" book and it says this in a section about camber:

"Too much camber in either direction will cause pulling and tire wear."

I'm an amateur when it comes to suspension setups, but from what I understand, camber can cause the car to pull.

[happy and angry]

Has... has anyone suggested tire wear yet? Because, as with most things, start with the most likely source of the problem and work from there. Even with regular tire rotations you're going to get uneven tire wear, either from the right to left on the car, or inside to outside edge of the tires, and there are lots of reasons for this. Road crowning, fairly aggressive stock suspension camber, a tendency to torque steer in one direction, general driving patterns favouring turning right over turning left, etc etc etc. Uneven tire wear is something you can't avoid, and it need not be so uneven to be dangerous to affect vehicle tracking.

I'm gonna guess that most people would see the problem go away with new tires (followed by an alignment).

[Nliiitend1]

Are you sure that camber alone cannot cause pulling? I'm reading my ASE "Auto Suspension and Steering" book and it says this in a section about camber:

"Too much camber in either direction will cause pulling and tire wear."

I'm an amateur when it comes to suspension setups, but from what I understand, camber can cause the car to pull.

As long as it's even from left to right it won't.

It's when you have "cross-camber" (i.e., uneven camber from left-to-right) that you run into "pulling" or "wandering."

Now, that being said, there is such a thing as "too much camber."

It's just that I don't really consider anything up to -2.5 degrees to be too much negative front camber (on a MacPherson strut setup), as in the past I've still gotten pretty even tire wear and as long as I keep my toe settings reasonable.

Actually, tire wear itself is an indicator or whether or not you've got the right camber for you car and driving habits. Of course, it takes a lot more time to see camber's effect on tire wear than it does to take tire temps with a pyrometer or use chalk (not to mention it could get expensive too if you guess wrong), but if you're getting uneven wear across the tread of your tires and your toe settings aren't extreme (excessive toe can be diagnosed by looking for "cupping" or "scalloping" of the tread, and when combined with aggressive camber settings will greatly accelerate tire wear), then you've got too much camber.

[gonerogue]

As long as it's even from left to right it won't.

It's when you have "cross-camber" (i.e., uneven camber from left-to-right).

Now, that being said, there is such a thing as "too much camber."

It's just that I don't really consider anything up to -2.5 degrees to be too much negative front camber (on a MacPherson strut setup), as in the past I've still gotten pretty even tire wear and as long as I keep my toe settings reasonable.

Actually, tire wear itself is an indicator or whether or not you've got the right camber for you car and driving habits. Of course, it takes a lot more time to see camber's effect on tire wear than it does to take tire temps with a pyrometer or use chalk (not to mention it could get expensive too if you guess wrong), but if you're getting uneven wear across the tread of your tires and your toe settings aren't extreme (excessive toe can be diagnosed by looking for "cupping" or "scalloping" of the tread, and when combined with aggressive camber settings will greatly accelerate tire wear), then you've got too much camber.

Ah, that makes things much clearer! When I was thinking about camber causing pulling, it was definitely related to "cross-camber." Thanks for the comments as I'm looking to further my understanding of suspension setups.

[fengrs]

Mines also tends to go to the left. I always thought that it was because of me always driving on the left lane on the highway since the left lane is pitched like this " / " Since its pitched, I would always have to steer a little to the right to keep it straight. Plus I drive like 50 miles on the highway everyday.

[Rubasu]

I recently did an alignment on my 07 and rotated the tires before doing the alignment and noticed that both of the drivers side tires were chopped pretty good while the pass side were wearing normal. Looking at remspeed3's algnment specs I remember that mine were pretty close to his everything was green and so with in spec. what you guys should notice is the large variation in camber from the left side to the right side of the car in the front the difference is about 3-4 tenths and rear is also about 3-4 tenths. I see no reason for there to be any difference in camber from the driver to pass side and I think that these differences may be what is causing the pulling to the left that alot of us are feeling since the car will tend to pull the side with the least neg camber. I will have get out my spec sheet from when did my alignment and see if the variation in camber is the same on mine.....

[aaronc7]

i dont feel like reading the whole thread.

its probably tire pressure or alignment. check tire pressure...if it still does it, get an alignment

[wisniaPl]

pressure helped me a little...propable I will need alignment

[remusrm]

mine does the same thing. and i got only 3.5k miles and just dropped it. also while braking the steering wheel goes left like crazy... i hate it...

[Renzokuken]

Its the FWD. driver is on the left side of the car therefore adding weight and making the the car slightly lower on the left side, and the motion of the car will make it swerve to the left a bit. My car does the same thing.