Not driven much this year except to take out every few weeks for short drives this spring and summer. Last time I noticed pulling to the right which I have not had before. All tires at even pressure. Any thoughts? Lots of bushing noise from dusty urethane and rubber I would guess but no obvious rubbing or bearing or brake noise. Where do I start? lift it up and check for dragging wheels?
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On FL gulf coast - I have a lot of issues with the right hand side brake caliper "freezing" (rust) from salt water in rains along the curb drains. I'd raise and spin front wheels to see if they spin fairly easily. Not change brake fluid can cause this too as the fluid sucks in moisture.
Makes sense, thanks!
pulling to right...quit watching FOX:}
Wheels balanced? Hit any potholes?
I’m with Wolfgang on this. The right brake caliper (or passenger side brake shoes in the rear) are probably corroded up, have become stiff and are dragging, causing pulling to the right. They need to be cleaned/polished and lubed with brake caliper gel.
Front right spins freely. Will check the rear, hadn't thought of that.
Tomm
You know, it could also be the emergency brake hanging up on that side, too. If it seizes in place after sitting for months with the e-brake engaged, sometimes they don’t like to let go and drag.
It could be the shoe hanging up or, more likely, the cable hanging up in the conduit. If it’s the cable, the best fix is remove the cable from the conduit, buff it off with 150 grit sandpaper, re-lube and run it back through. Sometimes it’s a lot easier to just get new e-brake cables.
If you have discs, it's either a caliper dragging in front, or in rear with discs, the caliper OR the cable. Rear discs always have the e-brake mechanism going through the caliper piston. It is possible the caliper is merely stuck or hung up on the sliders, but is more likely a stuck piston or e-brake mechanism.
If you have drums, occasionally a wheel cylinder will lock up, as in the little pistons will not release or push back. This can be fixed without replacing the wheel cylinder sometimes. Remove the offending drum, then squeeze the cylinder closed using a large pair of slip-joint pliers(often called water pump pliers in my area). Squeezing it breaks the rusted-in-place piston. Re-adjust the drums and carry on. If it keeps hanging up(dragging and/or pulling to one side) replace the wheel cylinder.
After sitting for four years unused, my Formula Vee did this on the LF drum. I broke it loose, flushed the fluid with new in the entire system, and it's good.
Brake fluid should be almost clear. If it's brown, flush it down LOL! Brown means full of moisture, bad for braking(it will boil) and bad for your system(corrodes everything). Flush every other year or MORE often if the car is seldom used.
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Hey, it's check-the-easy-stuff-first Mitch here.
Another way e-brakes can hang up is right at the brake lever between the seats. In the relaxed (brake off) position, the cable can slip down out of its little channel and jam the next time the handle is pulled up and engaged. This usually happens on just one side at a time, and could prevent that side e-brake from fully releasing the next time the handle is released.
The stuff other folks have mentioned is more likely, but this is easier to check. The fix is to make sure the cable is tensioned enough so that even in the 'brake off' position it stays up in the channel where it belongs.
Thanks all for your suggestions. The e brake and overall brake system were not the culprits. Almost sorted. Got alignment done, still pulls right. Took matters in my own hands and found the front torsion bar adjusters with one full out and the other (LHS) full in. Ride height was 1.5" different from LHS (low) to RHS (high). This did not seem right to me so in the spirit of experimentation and knowingly ruining that new alignment, I started cranking the full loose adjuster up to see the difference. Got to a point where the car tracked straight then went to work on setting both sides to mid point by re indexing the LHS TB cap and then trimming both sides a bit to get minimum drift to the right (almost nothing) and level ride height. Now within 3/8" side to side and very little drift. Will keep fiddling until I get it fully dialed in to hands free driving.
Good sleuthing! Surprised alignment didn't catch that. Often even if one side in the rear is lower it impacts the opposite side in the front. Wonder if the one/some of the individual torsion spring bars could be broken or weakened?
That was terrific sleuthing, @tomm and it looks like you’ve solved it with only touching up left to get it perfect.
It’s amazing how a little imbalance can affect that much change!
All that shows me is how important corner balancing is.
Kudos, Tomm for figuring it out.
Danny P Now I need some scales!
