4 Common Causes of Steering Pull in Cars

Have you noticed that your car pulls towards one side when you are driving straight? Read on and discover some of the reasons why your car may be exhibiting such a behaviour.

Conicity 

"Conicity" refers to a steering pull that results when the beads on car tyres are on different planes. This difference makes one side of the tyre's sidewall to be higher than the other side. The outcome of this tyre imbalance is that the vehicle will pull towards the lower side. This problem usually becomes evident when such a tyre is installed on a drive wheel. Rotating the tyre to a non-drive wheel can fix the steering pull.

Unequal Tyre Inflation

Steering pull can also occur in case the tyres on the drive wheels don't have the same amount of pressure in them. The tyre with less pressure will be lower than the tyre that has more pressure. Consequently, the car will pull towards the side that has less pressure. Checking and correcting the tyre pressure imbalance will fix the problem in case the tyre with less pressure hadn't sustained additional damage. Furthermore, steering pull can also be noticed when the drive wheels don't have tyres of the same size. Correcting this anomaly will usually fix the problem.

Ride Height Defects

Some car owners who lift their vehicles may not notice that the ride height isn't the same on both sides of the car. One should therefore have the car checked so that any of its sides that is higher than the level recommended in the specifications of the car can be adjusted. The car will always pull towards the side that is lower. Restoring balance to the ride height on both sides will eliminate such steering pull issues.

Brake Problems

Another common cause of steering pull is brake drag. This occurs when a caliper in one of the drive wheels sticks or freezes. Such a situation can cause the affected wheel to experience more drag when compared to the other wheel whose caliper is functioning normally. The vehicle will then start pulling towards the side with the defective braking system. Fixing the brake problem will result in better steering control.

As you may have noticed from the discussion above, steering pull problems do not necessary mean that the car tyres have a problem. Other systems may be responsible for that problem. It is therefore wise for you to consult a car service technician.