Pulling to the left

[Craig Kelly]

So they didn't adjust caster. With a half degree less caster on the left it will pull left.
WIM are the guys to sort this. Taking anywhere else (other than WIM or Steve) is a waste of time and money, as you're finding out.

WIM are 300 miles from me, I did get in touch but unfortunately they could not recommend another wheeler alignment company close to where I live

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[Craig Kelly]

So they didn't adjust caster. With a half degree less caster on the left it will pull left.
WIM are the guys to sort this. Taking anywhere else (other than WIM or Steve) is a waste of time and money, as you're finding out.

So if I go back I should ask them to equalise the castor angle?

Cheers

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[LostKiwi]

Not equalise - it needs caster stagger to get it right. The stagger currently is the wrong way. The trick will be getting the amount of stagger correct.

Just saw you're near Middlesbrough (used to live in Great Ayton many years ago and my eldest was born in Northallerton). It might be worth treating the other half to a weekend away and booking into WIM for a Saturday morning before taking her off to the Cotswolds...

 

[Craig Kelly]

Found this doc which is pretty isefuk View attachment alignmentDownloadPdf.pdf

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[LostKiwi]

Looking at that print out again all they did was adjust front and rear toe. That can adjust the steering wheel position when the car is going straight but it will do nothing for a pull to one side or other.

 

[Craig Kelly]

Not equalise - it needs caster stagger to get it right. The stagger currently is the wrong way. The trick will be getting the amount of stagger correct.

Just saw you're near Middlesbrough (used to live in Great Ayton many years ago and my eldest was born in Northallerton). It might be worth treating the other half to a weekend away and booking into WIM for a Saturday morning before taking her off to the Cotswolds...

Yes spent many a sunny day at ayton getting ice cream, I'll go back and see what they say. The Kia alignment doc I uploaded confirms what you said about the caster. Thanks for your help, if I thought 100% WIM would sort it I would book the car in. I'm just mindful that I go all that distance and it turns out it's something else causing it!

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[Steve@Avantgarde]

So I have an update, I took the car to KwikFit on a recommendation that they were good at this particular branch for alignment, I gave them.the symptoms and said that the wheel.had to be held pointing to the right to keep the car straight, they said they had adjusted it and would be running straight and true. The car still pulls to the left and now I have to hold the steering wheel slightly to the left to keep it straight. This is driving me mad, I have attached the hunter 4 wheel alignment report but all seem within spec. Is there something else that can cause this quite severe pull which isn't being picked up in alignment??

Cheers in advance

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Looking at that report, the rear toe although in spec is still out, look at the total toe and the thrust angle. That is a big clue for starters.

To explain, your car is rear wheel drive, so the power is pushed from the rear, forwards of the axles. If your rear angles are out of alignment, it affects what the front does when its driving down the road. What that tells me is when your car is accelerating, it accelerates to the left, or the axle has a negative twist.

The camber on the rear isn't great on the right either. There is no rear camber adjustment on these I don't think, its set by the condition of the subframe and its relevant arms/bushes. W207s, like W204's suffer with rear sub bush wear, so I would be checking the condition of those too.

Once you sort that, I would then see what the front is measuring. But if you look at your castor swing, you have a 35' difference left to right, so on that basis, I'm not surprised it pulls.

 

[LostKiwi]

You may need camber adjustment bolts to get the front right. They're available from Mercedes.

 

[Craig Kelly]

You may need camber adjustment bolts to get the front right. They're available from Mercedes.

Yes Tony from WIM mentioned the exact same thing

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