Pulling to one side?

Speedfreak

Speedfreak

Active Member
OK chaps can anyone offer advice on this.
1973 2000sc.
My car started pulling to the right under breaking. Soft breaking OK, but heavy ish breaking and she pulls.
Now I cleaned up callipers on BOTH sides, but found the left hand (nearside) piston was stuck. I freed it up but still pulled,
so yesterday from WINS (who are first class by the way) I fitted a brand new one. Bled it all thru and she is still pulling!!!
On the rolling road both brakes pass the MOT test!! So the left hand side is working OK and so is the right hand side!!
Could the right hand side calliper be grabbing so to speak?
Steering is OK, drives in a straight line, wheel bearings OK tyre pressures all spot on.
Any one ever had this, I could buy a new RHS calliper, but their not cheap, so thought I would ask first.
 
Hi speed freak
I recomend you ask a friendly m.o.t station to run your car up in thier brake rollers ask them to run both front wheels up at the same time and hold the brakes on you will see any fault if one is working better than the other.
There may be a fault with one of the brake flexi hoses but advise you to do the above first before fitting any more parts.
 
I had a similar issue, but worse. One of my front wheels would lock up.
The problem was traced to different brands of tyre on the front wheels. Different tread patterns and quality of rubber (one was a cheap crappy remould) caused the issue.
I learned my lesson :wink:

Bri.
 
rov71 said:
Hi speed freak
I recomend you ask a friendly m.o.t station to run your car up in thier brake rollers ask them to run both front wheels up at the same time and hold the brakes on you will see any fault if one is working better than the other.
There may be a fault with one of the brake flexi hoses but advise you to do the above first before fitting any more parts.
Click to expand...
Hi..
Did that this afternoon, both side pull up nicely, however the rolling road break test is only at 4MPH!
My brakes would pass an MOT TEST! ARGHHH
 
Brian-Northampton said:
I had a similar issue, but worse. One of my front wheels would lock up.
The problem was traced to different brands of tyre on the front wheels. Different tread patterns and quality of rubber (one was a cheap crappy remould) caused the issue.
I learned my lesson :wink:

Bri.
Click to expand...
Thanks Bri, thing is, this has just started the tyres on my car are not new and have been changed swapped etc
 
Did you see them do the brake test did the rollers have two clock type faces or were they digital.
 
The reason i ask is for example if both rollers were turning both front wheels and when brakes are used the n/s is at 125 and the o/s is at 200 there would be an inbalance.
If the imbalance is greater than 25% its a m.o.t fail.
so if the rollers were clock face type if all is well the needles on the both clocks should raise and fall at the same time.
 
I'd suspect the flexi hoses or it could be the pads- one might have picked up some contaminant or glazed
I would suggest swapping the pads around but if your discs are grooved/worn , it would take a long time to bed in
 
rov71 said:
The reason i ask is for example if both rollers were turning both front wheels and when brakes are used the n/s is at 125 and the o/s is at 200 there would be an inbalance.
If the imbalance is greater than 25% its a m.o.t fail.
so if the rollers were clock face type if all is well the needles on the both clocks should raise and fall at the same time.
Click to expand...
They were digital.....
 
DaveHerns said:
I'd suspect the flexi hoses or it could be the pads- one might have picked up some contaminant or glazed
I would suggest swapping the pads around but if your discs are grooved/worn , it would take a long time to bed in
Click to expand...
Guy at the garage said the same thing, so worth a try as it wont cost anything.....thanks
 
Check caster angle. That can give the same symptom, especially at high speed. Maybe check front alignment with a modern system.

Just a thought if the hoses don't fix things.
 
sdibbers said:
Check caster angle. That can give the same symptom, especially at high speed. Maybe check front alignment with a modern system.

Just a thought if the hoses don't fix things.
Click to expand...

I think this is the case with my car too, although it's not too bad. Worn out bottom link bushes cause a change in caster angle under braking that could upset a lot of things. I know that i have one bad bottom link bush, but i haven't had the time to replace it yet and report the results.
 
Problems like this are notoriously difficult to solve and to pontificate about from a distance! Garages faced with this sort of thing tend to start by changing everything that could conceivably be relevant and hope they solve the actual problem along the way. Worse they can be the result of a combination of minor problems that have built up to the point where, together, they cause a problem, but individually are within normal tolerence.

So where to start? Personally I would first think through what could have caused a sudden change. An example would be a minor kerbing knocking out the tracking slightly. Were this to be a V8 I'd suggest one of the double pistons being stuck after a period of non use. You might get away with two out of the three pistons working in roller testing and not on the road. But it is a 4 cyl so that's out. So first off go to a garage with a full laser optical suspension set up (not just tracking) and get them to do a full assesment of all of the front suspension - tracking, camber, caster etc. Take the results away for a slow read! The only other potential sudden change that I can think of would be a problem with the rear suspension leading to a bit of crabbing - one rear wheel being ahead of the other. Possible causes would be rust issues with the de dion elbows or the top link fixings onto the boot sides.

After this there's a good chance you will finish up completely overhauling all of the front brakes and front suspension! I think I agree with Demetris - I'd start with the large rubber bush in the bottom link that resists rearward movement of the bottom of the suspension leg. Perhaps after that I'd want to fit an overhauled steering idler box and adjust up the backlash in the main steering box, on the grounds that a lot of play there could allow the front wheels to splay under braking whilst having apparently correct tracking static. After these it's new discs, new pads, overhauled calipers and new flexibles. Then on to everything else in the suspension - top and bottom ball joints, top swivel link bushes at the bulkhead etc.

Sorry not to be more positive.

Chris
 
In 1990 I purchased two brand new calipers. Not long after I discovered that one of the calipers fitted to the car was displaying brake fluid around one of the rubber boots. So I removed the caliper and fitted one o the new ones.

Took it for a test run, put the brakes on and...boy did it pull to one side.. :shock:

Went home and changed the other caliper, so now two news ones were fitted. Road test...perfect...no pulling at all.

I dare say that you should fit another new caliper to the other side, so you will have two new calipers fitted. More than likely it will rectify the problem.

Ron.
 
chrisyork said:
Problems like this are notoriously difficult to solve and to pontificate about from a distance! Garages faced with this sort of thing tend to start by changing everything that could conceivably be relevant and hope they solve the actual problem along the way. Worse they can be the result of a combination of minor problems that have built up to the point where, together, they cause a problem, but individually are within normal tolerence.

So where to start? Personally I would first think through what could have caused a sudden change. An example would be a minor kerbing knocking out the tracking slightly. Were this to be a V8 I'd suggest one of the double pistons being stuck after a period of non use. You might get away with two out of the three pistons working in roller testing and not on the road. But it is a 4 cyl so that's out. So first off go to a garage with a full laser optical suspension set up (not just tracking) and get them to do a full assesment of all of the front suspension - tracking, camber, caster etc. Take the results away for a slow read! The only other potential sudden change that I can think of would be a problem with the rear suspension leading to a bit of crabbing - one rear wheel being ahead of the other. Possible causes would be rust issues with the de dion elbows or the top link fixings onto the boot sides.

After this there's a good chance you will finish up completely overhauling all of the front brakes and front suspension! I think I agree with Demetris - I'd start with the large rubber bush in the bottom link that resists rearward movement of the bottom of the suspension leg. Perhaps after that I'd want to fit an overhauled steering idler box and adjust up the backlash in the main steering box, on the grounds that a lot of play there could allow the front wheels to splay under braking whilst having apparently correct tracking static. After these it's new discs, new pads, overhauled calipers and new flexibles. Then on to everything else in the suspension - top and bottom ball joints, top swivel link bushes at the bulkhead etc.

Sorry not to be more positive.

Chris
Click to expand...
Thanks for that Chris. That lot should keep me busy this weekend! It is a hard thing to work out, I have had this car 23 years so I know her well.
The feel of the drive seems fine, nothing else feels odd, just this brake pull. Therefore I would like to think/HOPE it's somthing thing to do with brakes. OH well
off to my garage, and out with the socket set!
 
SydneyRoverP6B said:
In 1990 I purchased two brand new calipers. Not long after I discovered that one of the calipers fitted to the car was displaying brake fluid around one of the rubber boots. So I removed the caliper and fitted one o the new ones.

Took it for a test run, put the brakes on and...boy did it pull to one side.. :shock:

Went home and changed the other caliper, so now two news ones were fitted. Road test...perfect...no pulling at all.

I dare say that you should fit another new caliper to the other side, so you will have two new calipers fitted. More than likely it will rectify the problem.

Ron.
Click to expand...
The fella at my local garage said he would only replace calipers in pairs for that very reason. I think that will be my next job, new flexi hose and new caliper.
 
SydneyRoverP6B said:
In 1990 I purchased two brand new calipers. Not long after I discovered that one of the calipers fitted to the car was displaying brake fluid around one of the rubber boots. So I removed the caliper and fitted one o the new ones.

Took it for a test run, put the brakes on and...boy did it pull to one side.. :shock:

Went home and changed the other caliper, so now two news ones were fitted. Road test...perfect...no pulling at all.

I dare say that you should fit another new caliper to the other side, so you will have two new calipers fitted. More than likely it will rectify the problem.

Ron.
Click to expand...
Oh Dear, all day Saturday, two new callipers, 2 new hoses, swapped pads, and it still pulling.....next stop ......the mad house :roll:
 
Start interchanging things side to side, start with the tyres, then pads, then discs, testing after each item has been done to see when it either pulls up straight, or the other way. The bottom link strut is more likely to have the ball joint with excess play than the rear bush doing the same. I'ts not necessarily a case of replacing everything, rather finding any faults, and then swapping bits over until you get to the thing causing the problem.

But if you get to replacing discs and calipers, I would always suggest fitting in pairs. (Although when it was for a customer they often didn't see it the same way......)
 
DaveHerns said:
Are your discs in good condition ?
Ditto for the tyres ?
Click to expand...
Tyres are fine. Discs look OK to me, may get an expert to look at them, this did start sudenly though, one day fine, the next......
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top