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Old 11-15-2012, 03:12 PM   #1
CloudXIII
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Default Steering = bad help lol

Hello nice to meet everyone. My issue stems from hitting a pothole hard enough to dent both passenger side wheels. Since then I've had escalating steering issues. I've replaced the wheels / tires and had them aligned. However my car wanders all over the road if its at all uneven. I understand what tramiling is and this is far worse. Bad enough to get me pulled over if I was followed by a cop. Anyway I brought my car into Subaru who said they saw nothing wrong with it but there is something wrong with the steering and I should bring it to tirerama???? Wow anyway tirerama rotates my tires and gives me an alignment which makes it feel somewhat better but it's still all over the road. Has anyone else had this issue? I've been all over the Internet doing research and I don't just want to start replacing parts for nothing as that would mean serious $$$. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for hearing me out.
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Old 11-15-2012, 03:16 PM   #2
jayman4312
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Take it to a place that knows what its doing.....I don't know how the subaru dealer really said there was nothing wrong if the steering is this bad.
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Old 11-15-2012, 04:21 PM   #3
CloudXIII
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I agree and they said that the alignment was fine but tirerama said it was off. What a sad day for Subaru~
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Old 11-15-2012, 04:30 PM   #4
HinshawWRX
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Well, it's more a sad day for that dealer. I'm honestly surprised Subaru would divert you to a chain store for something like that. Did Tirerama happen to give you a print out? Your "steering axis inclination" could be off causing the issue. Depending on what type of person did the alignment, and how it was setup, they could have overlooked this.

P.S. Fill out your profile.
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Old 11-15-2012, 04:31 PM   #5
KillerRabbit
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^THIS

Check the alignment, If you hit a pothole hard enough i could see the camber changing and/or the toe. If the camber is off it could pull a certain direction, also need to know if the toe is off, kinda sound like a typical out of wack alignment issue. The way you describe it is like bump steer.
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Old 11-15-2012, 04:41 PM   #6
HinshawWRX
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Forgot to mention, a lot of "alignment guys" at chain stores simply get the computer to read within spec, not actually trying to make the best of the alignment. It's easier to get it a hair within spec then spending time making it right.
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Old 11-15-2012, 04:41 PM   #7
Jack
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There are a few things that could cause this and I've felt them all with cars that have everything adjustable, which your subaru would not.

Bump steer is possible, which would be caused by something bent in the tie rod(s), but even that would have to be pretty severe and I'd think it would be seen.

Other things like caster isn't going to make this happen unless it's different from one side to the other. Camber wouldn't do it at all.

Something that could do this is if something is bent in the spring mount or maybe the shock. It would have to have been enough to unweight (or weight) one front wheel more than the other. The car can teeter totter to some extent.

If you go to a race shop that sets up and/or builds racecars, tell them what's going on. Between f/r wheel distances, corner weighing and "real" measurement including caster, camber and bump steer (that a generic shop won't do), they can at least figure out what is out of whack. From there, they can track down what's wrong with the car.
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Old 11-15-2012, 05:30 PM   #8
KillerRabbit
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^ Camber being to negative on one side versus the other would cause a pull and can affect bump steer, if the eccentric bolt moved then it would change the camber.
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Old 11-15-2012, 06:35 PM   #9
CloudXIII
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I'll be bringing it to another shop next week I think. I have the printout of the alignment at home. What a pain
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Old 11-15-2012, 08:50 PM   #10
rob1n1
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CloudXIII View Post
I'll be bringing it to another shop next week I think. I have the printout of the alignment at home. What a pain
Fill out your profile, namely your location. If you need recommendations for alignment shops that won't just get it "close enough" like Hinshaw said, ask in your local chapter.
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