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EVfun
Samba Member
Joined: April 01, 2012
Posts: 5481
Location: Seattle
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 Posted: Sun May 01, 2016 6:49 am Post subject: Re: Can a bad wheel bearing cause the car to pull to one side? |
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| Mos6502 wrote: |
| Volks Wagen wrote: |
Vehicles veer to the side of the road by design. |
Find one law that mandates this and I will be impressed.
I do know that some car's factory specs are set up to cause the car to drift gently to the right, but this is by no means universally practiced, and I have yet to find any law that mandates it.
Suspension geometry on modern cars is symmetrical and self centering, the car will go straight, indefinitely, on a flat surface, without a driver. Unless the alignment has purposefully been put "off" - and some factories will give specs to dealer's shops to do just that. But it is not something which is inherent in the design of the car, and can be adjusted out. |
Most cars drift to the right because of the crown of the road. If you put them in the left lane on the freeway they will pull slightly to the left. The alignment on many, perhaps even most, cars is neutral and does not give them a direction to go.
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| Wildthings wrote: |
| As a general rule, cheap parts are the most expensive parts you can buy. |
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johnnypan
Samba Member
Joined: October 24, 2007
Posts: 7431
Location: sackamenna
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| Posted: Sun May 01, 2016 8:07 am Post subject: Re: Can a bad wheel bearing cause the car to pull to one side? |
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| EVfun wrote: |
| Mos6502 wrote: |
| Volks Wagen wrote: |
Vehicles veer to the side of the road by design. |
Find one law that mandates this and I will be impressed.
I do know that some car's factory specs are set up to cause the car to drift gently to the right, but this is by no means universally practiced, and I have yet to find any law that mandates it.
Suspension geometry on modern cars is symmetrical and self centering, the car will go straight, indefinitely, on a flat surface, without a driver. Unless the alignment has purposefully been put "off" - and some factories will give specs to dealer's shops to do just that. But it is not something which is inherent in the design of the car, and can be adjusted out. |
Most cars drift to the right because of the crown of the road. If you put them in the left lane on the freeway they will pull slightly to the left. The alignment on many, perhaps even most, cars is neutral and does not give them a direction to go. |
Only the transmission provides direction  ..crown or road cross slope provides drainage and wheel alignment trues the front wheels to the back wheels,camber and caster,and toe..all of which are done on a rack,and none of them allow are a car to pull or drift unless the alignment isnt performed correctly. |
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iowegian 
Samba Curmudgeon
Joined: February 16, 2005
Posts: 9829
Location: Somewhere between Dubuque and Keokuk
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| Posted: Sun May 01, 2016 8:44 am Post subject: Re: Can a bad wheel bearing cause the car to pull to one side? |
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| johnnypan wrote: |
| EVfun wrote: |
| Mos6502 wrote: |
| Volks Wagen wrote: |
Vehicles veer to the side of the road by design. |
Find one law that mandates this and I will be impressed.
I do know that some car's factory specs are set up to cause the car to drift gently to the right, but this is by no means universally practiced, and I have yet to find any law that mandates it.
Suspension geometry on modern cars is symmetrical and self centering, the car will go straight, indefinitely, on a flat surface, without a driver. Unless the alignment has purposefully been put "off" - and some factories will give specs to dealer's shops to do just that. But it is not something which is inherent in the design of the car, and can be adjusted out. |
Most cars drift to the right because of the crown of the road. If you put them in the left lane on the freeway they will pull slightly to the left. The alignment on many, perhaps even most, cars is neutral and does not give them a direction to go. |
Only the transmission provides direction ..crown or road cross slope provides drainage and wheel alignment trues the front wheels to the back wheels,camber and caster,and toe..all of which are done on a rack,and none of them allow are a car to pull or drift unless the alignment isnt performed correctly. |
Fine, but just maybe aerodynamics enter into the equation?
I mean-----will the car track the same with only the driver's window rolled down compared to how it acts if the driver's window is up and the passenger window is all the way down? |
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Dwayne1m
Samba Member
Joined: December 31, 2011
Posts: 3538
Location: Pennsylvania
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| Posted: Sun May 01, 2016 9:23 am Post subject: Re: Can a bad wheel bearing cause the car to pull to one side? |
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| iowegian wrote: |
Fine, but just maybe aerodynamics enter into the equation?
I mean-----will the car track the same with only the driver's window rolled down compared to how it acts if the driver's window is up and the passenger window is all the way down? |
But what about cross wind, tail wind and head wind? And don't forget about added weight of a passenger(s). How does that affect the weight distribution and pull of a vehicle?
Must be a slow day. |
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johnnypan
Samba Member
Joined: October 24, 2007
Posts: 7431
Location: sackamenna
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| Posted: Sun May 01, 2016 9:48 am Post subject: Re: Can a bad wheel bearing cause the car to pull to one side? |
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| iowegian wrote: |
| johnnypan wrote: |
| EVfun wrote: |
| Mos6502 wrote: |
| Volks Wagen wrote: |
Vehicles veer to the side of the road by design. |
Find one law that mandates this and I will be impressed.
I do know that some car's factory specs are set up to cause the car to drift gently to the right, but this is by no means universally practiced, and I have yet to find any law that mandates it.
Suspension geometry on modern cars is symmetrical and self centering, the car will go straight, indefinitely, on a flat surface, without a driver. Unless the alignment has purposefully been put "off" - and some factories will give specs to dealer's shops to do just that. But it is not something which is inherent in the design of the car, and can be adjusted out. |
Most cars drift to the right because of the crown of the road. If you put them in the left lane on the freeway they will pull slightly to the left. The alignment on many, perhaps even most, cars is neutral and does not give them a direction to go. |
Only the transmission provides direction ..crown or road cross slope provides drainage and wheel alignment trues the front wheels to the back wheels,camber and caster,and toe..all of which are done on a rack,and none of them allow are a car to pull or drift unless the alignment isnt performed correctly. |
Fine, but just maybe aerodynamics enter into the equation?
I mean-----will the car track the same with only the driver's window rolled down compared to how it acts if the driver's window is up and the passenger window is all the way down? |
hell if its set up right you have to do is hand signal for a left turn to make one |
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EVfun
Samba Member
Joined: April 01, 2012
Posts: 5481
Location: Seattle
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| Posted: Sun May 01, 2016 11:07 am Post subject: Re: Can a bad wheel bearing cause the car to pull to one side? |
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| johnnypan wrote: |
| EVfun wrote: |
| Most cars drift to the right because of the crown of the road. If you put them in the left lane on the freeway they will pull slightly to the left. The alignment on many, perhaps even most, cars is neutral and does not give them a direction to go. |
Only the transmission provides direction ..crown or road cross slope provides drainage and wheel alignment trues the front wheels to the back wheels,camber and caster,and toe..all of which are done on a rack,and none of them allow are a car to pull or drift unless the alignment isnt performed correctly. |
Have you driven a car on the freeway? Get you car nicely set up, know the parts are all good and the alignment is correct, and then test it. Hop up onto your nearest divided freeway and try a few miles in the right lane and then the left lane. If you chose a Bug please don't go holding up traffic in the left lane. It is not uncommon to set up a car so it goes strait when the road is slightly lower on the right side (frequently done by dialing in a little less camber on the right front), but you will feel it drift left in the passing lane. If it is truly neutral in alignment it will slightly drift right when in the right lane and slightly left in the left lane. Some modern cars with power steering have restored to such heavily stabilizing suspension setups that they will resist minor road crowns and maintain a strait path in either right or left lane, but even then you only have to find a more banked road to see them follow the crown. I've got a local onramp near me that is frequently backed up and moves at about 10 mph. It was banked to be taken at some speed but when it is moving at a crawl you can see drivers continue to correct to the right while turning left. If you let go of the wheel at low speeds your car will go excessively left.
_________________
| Wildthings wrote: |
| As a general rule, cheap parts are the most expensive parts you can buy. |
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sb001
Samba Member
Joined: May 19, 2011
Posts: 10406
Location: NW Arkansas
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| Posted: Sun May 01, 2016 12:16 pm Post subject: Re: Can a bad wheel bearing cause the car to pull to one side? |
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| johneliot wrote: |
Wow, this has gone so far off topic.
sb001, what was the verdict for your friend? Did he end up buying the car? |
Sorry hadn't talked to him in a few days. He ended up not buying the car-- he didn't want to spend any more than about 3k ad seller would not come down on price of $4500.
He never did really figure out why it pulled to the right.
_________________
I'm the humblest guy on this board.
1969 autostick sedan, family owned since new
1600 SP engine
Solex 30 PICT 3 carburetor
Bosch 113905205AE autostick distributor |
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iowegian
Samba Curmudgeon
Joined: February 16, 2005
Posts: 9829
Location: Somewhere between Dubuque and Keokuk
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| Posted: Sun May 01, 2016 12:44 pm Post subject: Re: Can a bad wheel bearing cause the car to pull to one side? |
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| sb001 wrote: |
| johneliot wrote: |
Wow, this has gone so far off topic.
sb001, what was the verdict for your friend? Did he end up buying the car? |
Sorry hadn't talked to him in a few days. He ended up not buying the car-- he didn't want to spend any more than about 3k ad seller would not come down on price of $4500.
He never did really figure out why it pulled to the right. |
Meanwhile, we've had at least 1500 dollars worth of fun in this thread. |
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johnnypan
Samba Member
Joined: October 24, 2007
Posts: 7431
Location: sackamenna
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| Posted: Sun May 01, 2016 1:45 pm Post subject: Re: Can a bad wheel bearing cause the car to pull to one side? |
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| iowegian wrote: |
| sb001 wrote: |
| johneliot wrote: |
Wow, this has gone so far off topic.
sb001, what was the verdict for your friend? Did he end up buying the car? |
Sorry hadn't talked to him in a few days. He ended up not buying the car-- he didn't want to spend any more than about 3k ad seller would not come down on price of $4500.
He never did really figure out why it pulled to the right. |
Meanwhile, we've had at least 1500 dollars worth of fun in this thread. |
or 22 hours worth,so its time for a tear down and re lube.. |
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Mos6502
Samba Member
Joined: December 30, 2015
Posts: 725
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| Posted: Mon May 02, 2016 5:55 am Post subject: Re: Can a bad wheel bearing cause the car to pull to one side? |
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| EVfun wrote: |
| Mos6502 wrote: |
| Volks Wagen wrote: |
Vehicles veer to the side of the road by design. |
Find one law that mandates this and I will be impressed.
I do know that some car's factory specs are set up to cause the car to drift gently to the right, but this is by no means universally practiced, and I have yet to find any law that mandates it.
Suspension geometry on modern cars is symmetrical and self centering, the car will go straight, indefinitely, on a flat surface, without a driver. Unless the alignment has purposefully been put "off" - and some factories will give specs to dealer's shops to do just that. But it is not something which is inherent in the design of the car, and can be adjusted out. |
Most cars drift to the right because of the crown of the road. If you put them in the left lane on the freeway they will pull slightly to the left. The alignment on many, perhaps even most, cars is neutral and does not give them a direction to go. |
The crown does cause that. But if you look at the factory alignment settings for some cars you will see that the driver and passenger sides get different settings, despite the suspension/geometry being symmetrical. This is to cause the car to veer to the right when somebody lets go of the wheel. This is also why you'll see endless internet arguments about whether or not cars are "built" to do this. So far as I know, no cars are "built" to, but many are tuned to. Anybody who is good at alignments can tune this out. But a dealer for instance will set it to the factory specs which causes the car to veer, and they will rightly insist they did it "correctly" according to the service manual. |
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Volks Wagen
Samba Member
Joined: February 13, 2013
Posts: 2926
Location: Germany
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| Posted: Mon May 02, 2016 12:43 pm Post subject: Re: Can a bad wheel bearing cause the car to pull to one side? |
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Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if I was right.
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1973 1303 with AB-motor - sporadic
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Aithníonn ciaróg ciaróg eile. |
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garyt
Samba Member
Joined: June 14, 2015
Posts: 763
Location: Burgundy
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| Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2017 10:34 am Post subject: Re: Can a bad wheel bearing cause the car to pull to one side? |
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Its better to drift into the side of the road if you fall asleep or something than into oncoming traffic, generally.
But I was getting a pull to the right and it turned out to definitely be the outer wheel bearing, cos it smashed itself up a bit later. Managed to get home though, just about. |
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