Alignment Shifting During Braking

SON240sx Automotive
1

For those that don’t want to read it all: wheel turns right when braking, car pulls left when braking while I’m forcing the wheel to remained centered. When braking hard, left wheel loses traction before ABS kicks in. Car is a stock 1993 Hicas & ABS equipped hatch.

I recently replaced a tie rod end on the front right side because there was a bit of play. I was going to get the suspension realigned afterwards, my autoshop teacher did the alignment and then realized the tie rod was bad.

Anyways my wheel is still a bit off center and the car pulls to the right when the wheel is let go. When I brake however, the steering wheel turns to the 1 'o clock position, assuming centered it is 12 'o clock (rotates a bit to the right) when I’m braking. If I brake lightly it moves less, so it is proportional to the force up to a certain point.

My take on this is that a suspension bushing somewhere is gone or that my left brake caliper is gripping harder or sooner than the right. I also need to change the power steering belt because it is squeeking.

Any inputs will be appreciated.

2

I think you should replace BOTH the tie rods on the front, inner an outer.

But I think what might affect that is that your tension rods could be bad. You should check the bushing on those. It’d be a good idea to upgrade the tension rods and maybe pick up a NISMO power brace. :slight_smile:

3

tension rods for sure. check the bushings on them i’ll guarantee you they’re shot. sounds like your LH’s done for sure and possibly your right depending on what your castor’s set to right now. either way i’d highly suggest replacing both with oem or pillowball aftermarkets if you haven’t already. then do your FR alignment after you’ve checked your inner tie rods, lca ball joint, etc…

4

OH… MY… GOD… Mark! You gave good well thought out advice in the tech section!

I agree with mark… check the tc bushings… and never waste time replacing just one tie rod end… do it all at the same time.

5

get another alignment if your steering wheel is still off a bit then the alignment was done improperly this will cause steering change under breaking

6

Sounds like ball joints.

7

if it pulls when you brake. either service your brakes or replace front calipers.

and you may or may not need an alignment. any vehicle will always feel as if it’s pulling because of the crown in the road for water drainage.

8

lower control arm bushing, probably the front passenger side one. i had the exact same problem with my first 240.

9

Thanks for the input guys. I had absolutely no money when the tie rod issue came up. Being poor sucks balls… I had enough to buy just one. Right now I just worked a week to save up for a road trip me and a couple of buddies have been planning since last year :). Hopefully, I’ll get some TC rods off Bing in the near future and get help from Steven (Draggone) installing them :).

10

is the car is bone stock.?