Car Trouble...Advice

[Guest clsutton21]

Well if you haven't read my story about what happened to my car, it's in detail here: http://www.tngunowners.com/forums/general-off-topic/30455-ever-have-those-days.html , but basically Nissan told me I needed a new rim, hub, and bearing after hitting a curb. So I got those parts, installed them, and got the alignment done.

Only problem now is that the car pulls to the left...but ONLY when accelerating. It's got me confused about what could possibly be wrong. The alignment came out perfect except for the right rear is off by .02 degrees. Could a belt in the tire be the cause of this? I didn't think it could since the pulling only happens when I hit the gas pedal. I thought maybe I bent a motor mount or something like that, but when you swap the new wheel (front right) with an old one(right rear) it pulls to the right side which is opposite of before. I'm confused as hell. I plan on crawling around all under it tomorrow to see if something else may have been damaged, but considering the circumstances, I can't even figure something out that it would logically be. Any ideas what to check?

Thanks

[BenS]

Are you sure the hub is installed correctly? it may be moving around when power is applied. I'm no FWD expert though...

[dats82]

Put your two rear tires/wheels on the front, and the ones on the front to the back. Based on what you have said, it seems like the new tire/wheel might be the cause, but I do not know why. If that tire is new and the others are pretty worn, could be a problem.

[Guest H0TSH0T]

if that don't work get your tie-rods checked, it is also possible that you may have bent them and you will need to know if it is the inner or outer.What Is A Tie Rod : How Car Stuff Works

[Superman]

It could be the new tire but not likely. Most of the time when you have a pull under acceleration, it is 1 or more bad engine/trans mounts.

Block the wheels, set the parking brake, and have someone hold the brake while giving it a little gas in drive and reverse. While somene else stands at either side and see if you get any excessive movement. If there is, determine which mount is causing it.

If there isn't any excessive movement. rotate the front tires left to right. And if that doesn't change anything, I would replace the left side axle.

HAHA, it would help if I read your entire post. Seems like you have found the problem. Put the new wheel and tire on the left side of the vehicle. If it changes again, then you have definitely found your problem.

Edited November 21, 2009 by Superman

[Magiccarpetrides]

All front wheel drive cars will pull slightly to one side or the other under acceleration. That being said if its severe you should probably have a competent(i.e. very experienced) mechanic look at it so you dont prematurely cause wear on your new parts and go through tires.

[HillbillyMafia]

furst off if the troublee moves side to side with the new tire and rim, check to make sure the tire and rim are the same size as whats on the car. if the tire is the old one, it may have a brokem beltin the road surface or the sidewall. if a soidewall defprmity, it will be garder to spot as it will not be evident until you put weight on the tire ie: on the carother than the change from side to side, classic broken motor mount signs but also check to see if the cv joint is still in the transaxle correctly ie lock ring engaged bent tie rod ion the rack, broken torsion bar, if equipped, broken strut mount,

[Magiccarpetrides]

hillbilly gives good advice...go easy on his typing...he is legally blind. ;-D (seriously)

[Guest clsutton21]

I'll check on what all has been mentioned. It shouldn't be a rim problem because the replacement was another stock wheel. I was thinking it might be a broken motor mount but didn't really get a chance to work on much today due to work. It's just weird that it all of a sudden started happening after hitting the curb, I guess a pre-existing condition could have been worsened.

What I checked to day was the torque on the hub and checked both tires for odd bumps. I swapped the tire positions and it did make it pull to the opposite side, but it wasn't near as severe as the way it was originally. I'll probably be taking it out to the interstate tonight to see if the problem has been helped enough to hold me.

I'm afraid it might be the tire that hit the curb, I guess the Nissan techs thought it wouldn't have a broken belt...how I could have warped the aluminum alloy wheel without damaging the tire itself is beyond me.

[oldogy]

[quote name='clsutton21;.

I swapped the tire positions and it did make it pull to the opposite side' date=' but it wasn't near as severe as the way it was originally.

[/quote']

Sounds to me like you found your problem. A bad belt will cause this and you can not detect it in the tire with out a tire fault detector and I have not seen one of them in years.

oldogy