Hi Guys, I really need your help with this issue I have been experiencing for the last couple months. Whenever I accelerate from a stop, my car will pull left and I have to counter steer right. The harder I accelerate the more I need to counter steer. Once I am at cruising speed, the car tracks straight. Also around the time this began to occur, I started experience a clunking, popping, coil-bind noise when I accelerate or stop at low speeds. This noise occurs mostly when driving straight but can occur sometimes with a full lock turn.

My current setup:

Tanabe Sustec Pro Coilovers-35k miles
SPC front (10k miles) and rear camber kits (35k miles)
Hotchkiss sway bars (37k miles)
Nitto Invo 245/35/20 front and 275/30/20 rear-10k miles with normal wear-tires are set at 40psi

I have been to the dealership and an independent mechanic who did my alignment and installed my control arms. Both said that everything looked normal and just made sure everything was tightened. My independent mechanic did say that the only thing that seemed to give him any noise was the front SPC control arms. He said that the rubber bushings were hardening due to the weather change, but they are in good shape.

It seems like anyone who looks at the car says everything is in good shape, but I feel like something is off and it is driving me crazy. Any suggestions on what might be wrong or can all this be normal due to my aftermarket parts? Thanks in advance for suggestions and advice.

 

When I hear of clinking or popping noises I think of strut mounts so I would start their and if not try going back to stock and shocks and springs and seeing if that helps

 

usually, when a car pulls under acceleration, that means power is not hitting the pavement equally. In a front wheel drive car, its called torque steer. Have you had anyone check the axles? A worn CV joint can cause a clunking sound. It can also have the car pulling to one side if it is worn.

 

Thanks for the suggestions. I have an oil change coming up in 2k miles and will get it checked out again. Wouldn't the mechanic have seen the torn cv boot right away?

 

have you checked the brakes? If a caliper is sticking it would cause it to pull to that side

 

IN the many years of my experience before deciding to do most of my own work, most mechanics will only look at what you describe the problem to be. No mechanic will do a complete and thorough check on every single car that comes in. Takes too much time but thats what most customers expect. So, no, if you dont tell them to look there, they usually dont. UNLESS you go in saying you want a full and complete analysis of the car.

ANMVQ brings up a good point though, brakes can be a possible solution.

 

+1 for brakes. I had this problem with my F150. The only difference was it was only pronounce at low speeds stopping or going.

 

A sticky caliper was my first thought originally and I went to the dealer and they said that my brakes were fine. I really appreciate all the feedback.

I can ask them when I go for an oil change to check it out, hopefully it will be something easy to replace.

Just to add, when doing a hard accel in a straight line, the car will actually fishtail a little and the vdc will kick on.

 

OK, I have to ask this based on new information you presented.

Is it possible, and I am being dead honest here, that you are spinning the tires and that is causing the rear end to slide to the side? If you are spinning, then the VDC light will come on.

 

That is true^^^^^ I had some SH!tty tires and they would break traction EVERY time I got into the pedal a bit. Got Michelin PSS and never had this issue again. Tires can be your worst enemy or your saving grace. Trust me on this advice. Hope you get it worked out. I had the crap scared out of me the first time I lost traction..... It was on the highway doing 80 and stomping on the gas. I thought I was going to lose it for a split second. (Felt like an eternity)

 

I have Nitto Invo tires which are fairly good I think. I had them for about 10k miles without any issue. Car will still pull regardless of vdc light coming on, but it is not too hard for me to break traction. In addition, when accelerating, the front end becomes floaty and loose feeling.

 

Update: I went to the dealer because my battery needs to be replaced. They found my rear subframe bushing was cracked and leaking. They replaced and during the alignmwnt that goes along with replacement they found the the rear toe/ cam bolt to be stripped. Car is still at the dealership so I have not driven yet. But do you think these are related to my problems?

 

subframe bushings worn out would cause unwanted movement. Subframe is kinda important... you know, it just holds the suspension to the car. Cam bolt could be another culprit but getting the subframe bushings fixed would be at the tippy top of my list, above anything else!

 

I know this is hard but get the car to fishtail, ect pull, then jump right out and walk around the car , see if you can smell the pads , if its sticking long enough the rotors will actually be hot and can feel it, Found this on my friends F150 when he was buying it I noticed the same thing it would pull under excel, We jumped out and I we could smell the pad burning and the RT rear rotor was HOT could actually feel the heat coming of it, Mind you this was in Aug :/

 

I'd say it' the alignment in the rear. What you describe is exactly what happens when you have wacky toe angles. Specifically, rear toe out. And you mentioned that the rear subframe bushing was cracked and leaking - well there you have it. Under load, the rear subframe wants to pull away from the chassis. It's up to the rear subframe bushings to keep it attached to the chassis. If you have a bushing going out, the whole subframe is probably shifting to the right or left, causing a rear-steering effect. It will happen more when accelerating because the drivetrain is torquing it hardest. There's relatively not much torque being sent through the drivetrain once you're cruising.