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After wheel alignment car still pulls to the right

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Old 07-29-2007, 10:56 AM
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After wheel alignment car still pulls to the right

After I put on the 6th gen 18's I got an alignment but I noticed even when I had the stock 17's the car would pull as well. I figured it was the right time to get an alignment done since I got bigger rims. The place did the alignment w/ the Hunter machine and it still pulled. So I took it back and they did the job right this time. That day and the day after the car drove straight. But I noticed today it started to pull to the right again and I doubt it is shop-error this time b/c it was fine when I left.

All I know is they added a camber bolt on the front right b/c they could not adjust the camber w/o it. I even checked tire pressure and its equal all around. Im wondering what the problem could be. My mechanic checked under the car and said everything looked good.

Edit: When the car is parked and both front wheels are straight the steering wheel is turned considerably towards the right.

Any ideas?
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Old 07-29-2007, 11:01 AM
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you shouldn't have to add a camber bolt with H&R springs...

do you have a print out of your alignment specs?
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Old 07-29-2007, 11:14 AM
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yep I have a print out..ill post up the specs

I did hit 2 bad bumps...could that have anything to do with it?
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Old 07-29-2007, 11:18 AM
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Camber: -0.12 -0.53
Caster Adjust: 2.73 2.43
Toe: 0.06 0.05

other additional info: tires are 245/40-18..directional tires
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Old 07-29-2007, 02:08 PM
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anyone?
10char
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Old 07-29-2007, 02:42 PM
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I think you answered your own question, thats why no one is replying
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Old 07-29-2007, 03:05 PM
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yea those two bad bumps have a lot to do with it.
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Old 07-29-2007, 03:13 PM
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Yeah...it's gotta be the bumps.

Same thing happened to me, along with a bent rim. So avoid them

If you take it back they may fix it without charge.
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Old 07-29-2007, 03:18 PM
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but I have h&rs...people with more severe drops have reported no alignment problems. I dont get it...

how do those numbers look btw?
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Old 07-29-2007, 03:21 PM
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Originally Posted by SLVRMAXX
but I have h&rs...people with more severe drops have reported no alignment problems. I dont get it...

how do those numbers look btw?
I'll check those #'s for you.

My car pulled to the right too so you're not alone.

Also with H&Rs....then it was aligned. Same time the springs were put in.

Then I hit a huge hole and threw the alignment off, and it pulled to the right again.

So I took it back and they fixed the alignment for me.
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Old 07-29-2007, 04:30 PM
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er...I don't like the idea of using camber bolts on one side for correction. If it's that far off on camber without the bolt, then you have something bent in the suspension.

My top suspicioun would be that the strut itself is slightly bent (it might be hard to see visually)....but there is no reason camber should be so far off!
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Old 07-29-2007, 05:16 PM
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if something is bent then that would suck big time. But then it had to have gotten bent just recently b/c immediately after they did the alignment it drove fine. Your saying in the past 2 days I must have bent something?

I know when I had htechs I hit some of the worst, nastiest bumps...bumps that made me feel as if the car would fall apart.

I guess my best bet is to go back to them and say its still not driving straight.
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Old 07-29-2007, 07:42 PM
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When I went to get aligned I had to get the front bumper off for it to clear the ramp.Then they told me they had to take the strut off to elongate the holes so they could get it right.Is that normal?
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Old 07-29-2007, 08:18 PM
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Originally Posted by SLVRMAXX
if something is bent then that would suck big time. But then it had to have gotten bent just recently b/c immediately after they did the alignment it drove fine. Your saying in the past 2 days I must have bent something?

I know when I had htechs I hit some of the worst, nastiest bumps...bumps that made me feel as if the car would fall apart.

I guess my best bet is to go back to them and say its still not driving straight.
ah I see....well that is the other downside to camber bolts - if you hit a hard bump or pothole, they can shift/rotate and screw up the alignment again.

Your best bet is to find out what part is bent, and replace it - and not to use camber bolts at all. They are not reliable, and I've heard more than one instance of them breaking, since they are thinner than the stock bolts.
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Old 07-30-2007, 05:52 AM
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Could be a thrown belt in one or more tires.....
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Old 07-30-2007, 06:50 AM
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Your steering wheel should be straight after the alignment. I just had a problem with Tire Kingdom not leaving the steering straight after a simple alignment. They tried to blame the tires. I took it to another TK down the road and that tech had no problems.
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Old 07-30-2007, 07:38 AM
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Originally Posted by irish44j
ah I see....well that is the other downside to camber bolts - if you hit a hard bump or pothole, they can shift/rotate and screw up the alignment again.

Your best bet is to find out what part is bent, and replace it - and not to use camber bolts at all. They are not reliable, and I've heard more than one instance of them breaking, since they are thinner than the stock bolts.
i think you are right...something being bent could be the only reason accounting for the alignment going bad in only 2 days. Stupid NYC roads...I really hate them now.

Besides the strut possibly being bent is there anything else that could be messed up?
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Old 07-30-2007, 04:13 PM
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update: I went back they re-did the alignment and it still pulls. They checked the tie rods and said everything looked good. Should I be worried now?
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Old 07-31-2007, 06:49 PM
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Having the same problems.

Details of my situation:

November, 2006 - Had OEM jack collapse, while front/left tire was off.....causing rotor to hit the ground.

December, 2006 - Car starts pulling to the right, Alignment done


January, 2007 - Car continues to pull to the right, new tires, new rotors, new brake pads, all replaced.


Febuary, 2007 - Car continues to pull right, but now intermittent. No tire wear. But brake pad rubbing on top of right, front rotor, causing it to squeal in stop-n-go traffic and leaving a silver lining (where it is scraping, intermittent) on the top of rotor.


March 07' - Car is lowered 1.4", with Vogtland Springs and KYB-GR2 struts. New Strut Plates (aka, Strut Insulators) also added. Alignment done.

(Note: Found out OEM strut (right, front) was completely shot.)

(Note: Also, had to had SEVERAL spacers/washers to make up difference between the NEW struts and the NEW strut insulators, to keep them from knocking.........)
later, you will find out why)


April 07' - Car still pulls to the right (intermittent). No tire wear. Steering wheel now sits to the left at a 15-25 degree angle, when car is driving straight. Steering wheel feels as if its binding.


May 07' - Car still pulls to the right (intermittent), steering wheels sits at a 15-25 degree angle, while driving straight. Take it to another alignment shop, have it realigned. Tires crossed. Everything checks out ok. (still no tire wear, but right/front brakes continue to squeal in stop-n-go situations)


June 07' - Car continues to pull to the right (intermittent). Steering wheel continues to sit at 15-25 degree angle (almost as if the passenger side of the car, stood higher than the driver side, causing it to push the steering wheel up, and to the left, slightly). Also, Steering wheel getting worse due to binding (as if it doesnt want to "give" to the right on differ surface levels, but not to the point where you have to "force it".....this too seems intermittent).

Alignment re-done (no help). Brakes re-done to stop squealing on right/front rotor (no help). Tires Crossed/Rotated (no help). No wear on tires.


July 1st, 07' (approx) - Talked to Brian Catts, from Cattman Performance, and told him about the "spacers" I needed to add, at the top of my strut insulators (strut plates). He informs me that, and I quote,

"It sounds to me like they put on 95-99 strut mounts instead of the 00-03 version - having to put the washers in suggests this is the case because the 00-03 stock strut mount has a neck that extends down a ways beneath it (that the threaded end of the strut rod goes through) and the 95-99 mounts do not. Its also possible that since these parts weren't actually purchased from Nissan, then they're not actually Nissan parts.".

Long story short, I ended up figuring out that Brian was right on the money and the autoparts store sold me 95-99 strut mounts



Two Weeks ago (mid/late - July, 07') - All symptons described above continued, binding feeling worse. Finally able prove to the autoparts store they sold me the $#*!)@# wrong strut insulators (Nissan calls them this), and they gave me my money back.

I then hooked up with 4x4Max, from the org, and we rented a compression kit from Autozone and took the wrong strut plates out, and replaced them with the OEM ones I still had. They had approx 102,000 miles on them, but didnt look worn at all. So we slapped them back on, and what do you know..........the problem seemed fixed.

For TWO DAYS, I finally get to enjoy my new suspension. (worked like it should)



July 24th, 2007 - Took it back to Tire Discounters to have it re-aligned, (since we re-did the suspension.)...and as soon as I pulled out I felt the same thing over again.

Steering wheel sitting to the left at a 15-25 degree angle (again, as if the passenger strut "sits" higher than the other, causing the wheel to "sit" at an angle, all while driving straight). The car also has trouble veering to the right (binding feel, again, but not nearly as bad as before).....even though we replaced and re-did the struts/springs and slapped the OEM strut plates back on.

However, on straight aways/very flat surfaces, it drives straight as an arrow, with the steering wheel still sitting at a left angle, and having trouble veering to the right. (as if something is keeping it from turning smoothly, when turning right or going into right curves)

Soooooooo..........Took it back to Tire Discounters (w/the newest/top computer alignment rack around), had it re-aligned for the final time, and had the steering wheel re-centered....as perfect as can be.

Well, its still not right. And it still pulls to the right. (even though steering wheel sits to the left at an angle, when sitting or on a straight away)

Not nearly as much "binding" in the steering wheel, as before, but I can still feel it, too.

Also, (cant stress this enough) passenger side seems as if it sits slightly higher than the other, "pushing" my steering wheel to the left and making it still sit at a 15-25 degree angle, while driving/sitting straight, on flat surfaces.



Im honestly at a loss on what to do next....


Anyways, 4x4max thinks we should try and re-do it, but if it doesnt help, then I really dont know.



Any thoughts or ideas would be much appreciated.......ty
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Old 07-31-2007, 08:46 PM
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SilverMaxx, are you having similar problems man?
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Old 08-01-2007, 05:24 AM
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not exactly that same problem...you mentioned your car goes straight on normal flat roads but mine even has a problem doing that. So I dont know what to do anymore...
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Old 08-01-2007, 06:41 AM
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Apparantly this happened to a lot of people.
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Old 08-01-2007, 07:10 AM
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Long shot but check tire pressure? Also maybe your wheel bearing is bad, here's how to check lift the front end up, grab tire at top and bottom, then try to wiggle it in up down motion, if there is play your wheel bearing might be bad. A longer way to check it would be to remove the axle and disassembl everything so you just have the wheel knuckle and bearing their and then move around the hub that sit in the bearing to see if there is play there. This might be a long shot but hey it wouldn't hurt to try
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Old 08-01-2007, 08:52 AM
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Updated:

(semi-short version, due to lack of time)


Went to Tire Discounters this morning. Right off the bat, they said "radial pull". I told them this was not the case, and described many of the symptons I described above.

Went out on a few test drives w/ the mechanic, trying differ scenarios. First, we rotated the tires (didnt work), Tried crossing the tires (didnt work), re-checked alignment (was ok), and then did a test run by reversing the tires, to double-check for tire wear (not the problem).

After takin it out a fourth time, he finally agreed it wasnt a radial pull, but rather "torque steering", due to faulty motor mounts....(He determined this b/c when he left off the gas, the steering wheel would run completely straight, but as soon as he hit it, the steering wheel was very erractic.)

We brought it back to the shop, and put it back on the rack, checking each motor mount, as best we could. Turns out the Right/front motor mount is shot.


So, long story short, (and after getting a second and third opinion, this morning), Im 90% sure its the motor mounts.

I was also told there are 3 motor mounts in all, and a "mount actuator" (not sure what it does, exactly.....I will have to read up on it).

Anyways, I'm going to replace all 3 motor mounts, and possibly the actuator (if I have to), and go from there. Also, I believe I both wheel bearings are out on both my Right & left fronts......so Im going to replace them too, with a press.

I'll keep you updated, but so far, Im confident this is the problem(s).



ps - I plan on using Polyurethane motor mounts......(Does anyone know if DaveB sells them?)
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Old 08-01-2007, 10:02 AM
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hope it gets worked out
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Old 08-01-2007, 10:42 AM
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Good luck, I m gonna check my motor mounts.It seems that my car puuls when i step on the gas and let off.
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Old 08-01-2007, 11:00 AM
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its normal for your car to pull when you step on the gas abruptly...its torque steer, it will happen

Man I dont know what to do...I narrowed it down to these things:

-faulty motor mounts
-springs (I bought the front h&rs used with 6k miles on them)
-rack and pinion...maybe there is no hydrolic pressure being sent to the front right wheel
-wheel bearings - too much play?
-power steering fluid? I know it may be a long shot
-power steering valve not centered
-uneven sway bar links

Im getting fed up now of this..problem after problem with this car
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Old 08-01-2007, 03:07 PM
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Originally Posted by SLVRMAXX
its normal for your car to pull when you step on the gas abruptly...its torque steer, it will happen

Man I dont know what to do...I narrowed it down to these things:

-faulty motor mounts
-springs (I bought the front h&rs used with 6k miles on them)
-rack and pinion...maybe there is no hydrolic pressure being sent to the front right wheel
-wheel bearings - too much play?
-power steering fluid? I know it may be a long shot
-power steering valve not centered
-uneven sway bar links

Im getting fed up now of this..problem after problem with this car
#3 rack and pinnion. It's a metal bar with your tie rods inner and outer moving sideways so they both move adversly
power steering valve not centered? - suspension does the centering and return to centre not P/S
Uneven sway bar links would just mean bat would sit higher slightly on one shot.
Also you don't check for wheels straight with wheels on ground. You can check in the air but it's just a wild shot. Alignment machine will tell you
Now camber is not really adjustable. What you can do is take off the 2 bolts off the bottom of strut and while one guy pulls the other tightenes with an impact gun to try to bring it as close as possible. But when you enlarge those holes to compensate for bent suspension parts (most likely strut) and then when you tighten it the first good pothole will throw it off. (camber)

A lot of alignment techs don't know that a .30 degree difference in camber could cause a pull even if it's on green on the screen. Yours is .40 Is that on front though cause you're supposed to read the rear and adjust front to compensate for rear pull that is not adjustable so car drives straight. (of course within limits)
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Old 08-01-2007, 03:46 PM
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let me read you the numbers that i got from Nissans alignment..gimme 5 min
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Old 08-01-2007, 03:53 PM
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Front left front right
Camber: -.5 -.07
caster: 3.2 2.9
toe: .03 .05
sai: 14.7 15.1
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Old 08-01-2007, 04:20 PM
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If your wheel bearings has play in them, then that is what needs to be fixed first. If your bearings don't have play then HAVE YOU TRIED CONTROL ARM BUSHINGS? Have you replace your control arms or your bushings? I would replace your control arms with Nissan units or quality aftermarket ones before I would replace the motor mounts. The mounts will cause the engine to move but your control arms will have a huge effect on alignment.
Originally Posted by MaximumPower01
Updated:

(semi-short version, due to lack of time)


Went to Tire Discounters this morning. Right off the bat, they said "radial pull". I told them this was not the case, and described many of the symptons I described above.

Went out on a few test drives w/ the mechanic, trying differ scenarios. First, we rotated the tires (didnt work), Tried crossing the tires (didnt work), re-checked alignment (was ok), and then did a test run by reversing the tires, to double-check for tire wear (not the problem).

After takin it out a fourth time, he finally agreed it wasnt a radial pull, but rather "torque steering", due to faulty motor mounts....(He determined this b/c when he left off the gas, the steering wheel would run completely straight, but as soon as he hit it, the steering wheel was very erractic.)

We brought it back to the shop, and put it back on the rack, checking each motor mount, as best we could. Turns out the Right/front motor mount is shot.


So, long story short, (and after getting a second and third opinion, this morning), Im 90% sure its the motor mounts.

I was also told there are 3 motor mounts in all, and a "mount actuator" (not sure what it does, exactly.....I will have to read up on it).

Anyways, I'm going to replace all 3 motor mounts, and possibly the actuator (if I have to), and go from there. Also, I believe I both wheel bearings are out on both my Right & left fronts......so Im going to replace them too, with a press.

I'll keep you updated, but so far, Im confident this is the problem(s).



ps - I plan on using Polyurethane motor mounts......(Does anyone know if DaveB sells them?)
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Old 08-02-2007, 02:33 PM
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so my buddy replaced the left side inner tie rod b/c it had excessive play in it and he did an alignment afterwards...guess what the car still pulls!!!!

It was fine after he did it but a few hours later it went back to its previous state...why is the car unable to hold an alignment? this time EVERYTHING was checked out including control arms, bushings etc.
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Old 08-02-2007, 07:46 PM
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So I was thinking...Sears put a new camber bolt on the front right side but did not touch the driver's side. maybe that was shop-error on their part b/c they did know how to do a proper alignment and they possibly did not know the real problem was with the tie rod so they used a camber bolt instead. Now when nissan replaced the inner-tie rod and did an alignment, maybe it did not have much of an effect due to have a camber bolt on one side but not the other? In other words, the camber bolt may be preventing the car from driving straight even when the proper measures were taken: replace inner tie rod and perform alignment. Normally camber bolts are thinner and Im assuming more play would result in the strut? But then again, theres one more screw under that which should provide the extra support so I dont know...

Luckily I have the old screw and I will swap em out tomorrow...if the car drives straight then it will be very interesting.
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Old 08-02-2007, 08:15 PM
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the bottom line is this:

There is no reason you should need camber bolts on the suspension. Our cars do not have adjustable camber. If you are using the normal bolts and the camber is STILL off, then that points directly to something being bent or broken.

You need to address that point first. The most likely culprit is a bent strut. Or a bent spindle. It could also be worn LCA bushings, a shot lower balljoint, etc. In any case, you need to figure out why the camber is off first of all. Because if the camber is wack on one side, then you will NEVER be able to get a good alignment...

or it could still be the tires.
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Old 08-02-2007, 08:16 PM
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I hate to also say this, but there is a small chance you may have a bad steering rack ...
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Old 08-02-2007, 08:23 PM
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he checked for everything and nothing is bent and everything is good. Im going to swap the bolts out tomorrow and pop the OEM one in there...I will update later

He also did mention the possibility of a bad steering rack
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Old 08-02-2007, 11:13 PM
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Camber bolts suck! lol They are known to slip and mess up the alignment. Not to mention Maximas do not need camber correction unless they are dropped VERY low. I am 99% sure that right now the problem is caused by the weak camber bolts, especially after you mentioned that it was fine for some time after the last alignment. (with new tie-rods)

Here's what, I think, has been happening. At first, the problem was being caused by warn tie-rods. Alignment guys overlooked it and decided that the car pulls to the side due to uneven camber, and installed camber bolts. This made the whole thing even more complicated, because camber bolts were not strong enough for NYC roads. After that, you installed new tie rods, which partially fixed the problem, but since the camber bolts are still there, the car still can not hold proper alignment for a long time.

So I would take out those camber bolts, and do another alignment. And most likely everything will get back to normal.
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Old 08-03-2007, 06:40 AM
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thanks Roman....btw the tie rod that was changed was the left one NOT the right one even though the car pulls to the right
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Old 08-03-2007, 10:18 AM
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It could still pull to the right...

But what ever the case may be, you just can't diagnose this any further while the camber bolts are still there. And what sucks is that by taking them out you are messing up your toe again. Thus, a need for another alignment.
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Old 08-03-2007, 10:53 AM
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IT WORKED!!! woohoo the car drives straight now and no camber bolts are there...thanks!
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