bryanboling

All of a sudden, my car is pulling hard to the left. It acts, feels, and sound like a flat driver's side front tire, but the tire is fine. The other day I was driving in a bad rain and hit a pothole that was flooded (and thus invisible). i don't know that the two are related, just a thought.

If I let go of the wheel, it pulls hard to the left. I can also feel slight vibration in the steering wheel and even in the gas pedal. At low speeds (<35mph) it pulls slightly, but otherwise nothing (no noise, vibration etc.). At higher speeds it pulls harder and the vibration and noise increase. Like I say, it acts just like a flat.

Any ideas what this could be? Is it somehting that I can fix myself?
Thanks,
Bryan

F22B Prelude

Broken tie rod or bad wheel bearing

bryanboling

Something else I just thought of...the tire on the front driver's side (where it is pulling) is pretty worn. I need to replace it. Could that have something to do with it?

I don't mean is the wear causing the pull, I mean, because it is older, could something be wrong with it or could some damage have been cause by hitting the pothole?

JimBlake

The worn out tire can be a result of bad alignment.

OTOH, if a tire wears bad, then you have the car aligned properly, the bad wear of the tire can cause it to pull.

bryanboling

Well, it seems it WAS the tire. I needed to have it replaced anyway (the tread was almost gone...) so I relplaced it this morning. No more pull! I think that the alignment still needs to be looked at (the guy at the tire place said it looked like the front tires were wearing a little unevenly, but that can wait til next month!
Bryan

dleccord

as far as bad wheel bearing goes, he will hear a pop if it was bad and then a grind and then a constant sqeuak.