hey, we just took ownership of our tch and she's pulling to the left too much for my liking. i know alot of cars from the factory are setup this way, to account for crowns in the road, but im usually in the fast lane, so i actually prefer a car to either be dead straight, or pull slightly to the right. does anyone know if the camber in these cars is adjustable, or if there is an adjustable part i can buy to put on? thanks,
jason

 

This could be caused by older worn tires. I have a '07 TCH. I put a couple of motor home 'stick on' levels in mine. I placed the car on a level concrete drive late one night at a 24 hour service station. With 3/4 tank of gas I used toothpicks to carefully make sure the levels showed zero. One level is for front to rear and the other for right to left.

The inside lane of our highway to town is level for about 4 miles. The right land on the 8 miles home, 5 miles of that is level. I can let go of the steering wheel and the car goes straight for 1/8th mile and sometimes farther as long as their is no wind. This is while driving at 40 to 46 mph with little traffic.

Enjoy your new TCH, it's quite a car to own.

I found your cross-camber and cross-caster information here at tirerack.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete...e.jsp?techid=4

 

Camber is probably somewhat adjustable via strut to knuckle bolts but usually won't cause pulling unless drastic difference side to side. Caster setting will cause pulling but is generally not adjustable on cars with struts and shouldn't be out unless there was some kind of damage.

More likely cause is either tire pressure side to side or tires themselves. Try rotating front to rear if pressure is good.

Also if the steering wheel isn't centered it might seem like it pulls when in fact it is just the driver instinctively trying to keep wheel straight while driving. If it pulls to the left the wheel is probably high on the left side. Think of a small t. By high on the left I mean the left cross is high and the right low. If the wheel is off and you are trying to keep the t straight it will of course go to the left. Try letting the wheel stay high in the left while you are driving and see if it still "pulls".

Keep in mind the total toe can be good but both sides need to be adjusted equally (and oppositely) to straighten wheel.

If tire pressure is good and rotation makes no difference, bring it someplace to get it aligned and make sure they center the wheel. Sometimes it takes more than one try to get wheel centered. If total toe is good but wheel is still not centered make sure you bring it back and have them do it right.

Best of luck and hope you enjoy the car...

 

Camber is adjustable. Vehicle will pull to side with more positive camber. Tires can cause a pull. Swap front tires side to side and compare.
See the attachment for the chapter on front suspension from the Toyota manual. Different bolts are installed to allow camber adjustment.

 

funny story. i just took the car to a local tire shop that i never use cause theyre idiots, and im afraid theyll rip me off like they did when i was young. but they are open sundays and i figured they can handle swapping the two front tires for me. (i marked them just in case as i have actually had that messed up at a walmart tire shop). so i come back in and the lady is handing me free alignment spec sheet, cause we had talked about why im swapping the fronts. smart lady. well the kid walks in with the after specs. she tells him, "i only told you to do a free check." anyways she was about to ring me up for the $6 tire swap and i said let me drive the car first. if it runs like i like it, we'll work something out for payment on that accidental allignment. i'd say about 70-80% of the pull is out, still very slight left, and i prefer very slight right if not dead center. the kid didn't want to do the job the rest of the way for the $40 the lady had offered me, so we parted ways for $6. but it worked out great for me, if you guys tell me our camber is adjustable. i'll go in myself with a mechanic friend and slightly tweak the drivers side front wheel to push me more to the right. where do i go from here?

p.s. thanks for all the helpful comments so far. im very picky about my allignments.

 

This sounds like they hooked the machine up and gave you before and after specs. Curious as to what those readings were and how they compare to the specs dg370 attached above.

Simply swapping front tires shouldn't have changed the before and after readings.

Also, for what it's worth, and there are definitely differing opinions here, but I was always taught swapping radial tires side to side is a no-no as it changes the direction of rotation. (Unless the tires are actually dismounted and flipped).

Also for what it's worth I would never try to adjust the camber by just guessing. It really needs to be set on the rack. And I stand by my statement that camber won't cause a car to pull unless there is a large difference side to side. That's why I'm curious what the before/after readings they gave you are.

 

has been through similar not so long ago. rotated tires on perfectly straight tracking TCH, resulted in immediate noticeable pull.
with this said, in my case, it was most likely a radial pull. at some point i have flipped front end tires and pull is gone.
(i also had tires pressure very low and had that fixed).

anyhow, if it's a low mileage car, there should not be any damage to steering/suspension components, to cause a pull, unless car was in a wreck. i am assuming this is not the case.

like other poster said, tire pressure plays huge role in straight tracking and should be equal for all four. this is best starting point for pinpointing pull cause.

i had so many tires with radial pull, even on a brand new vehicle, 78 miles when purchased, that my 2nd step normally goes towards determining if that's the case.

TIRE CONICITY PROBLEMS

When a tire is being built, the belts must be almost perfectly centered. According to some tire manufacturers, a belt that is out of position more than one millimeter may cause a steering pull on some vehicles. The position of the outermost belt is the most important because it has the greatest effect on directional stability.

A tire with an off-center belt will lead to one side because the location of the belt shifts more weight to one side of the tread than the other. This condition is known as a "conicity" problem, and occurs because the tire behaves as it if were cone-shaped. A cone always rolls in a circular path towards the pointed end. A conicity pull will therefore always be directional (either to the left or right), and can be reversed by switching the front tires from side to side, or by mounting the offending tire backwards on the rim.

Conicity problems can also arise when the beads are not in the same plane. The resulting difference in sidewall height and loading will create the same unbalanced steering forces that make the tire want to roll towards the shorter side.

Conicity problems are usually most noticeable on the front wheels, but may affect tracking and induce some rear axle steer on vehicles with independent rear suspensions. Vehicles with less caster also seem to be more sensitive to conicity probably because high caster angles have a stabilizing effect on the steering.

If you are trying to diagnose a steering pull and suspect a tire may have a conicity problem, rule out the other possibilities first. Check inflation pressure in both front tires and make sure it is equal on both sides. Low pressure can cause a pull towards the side with less pressure. Compare tire sizes and tread wear on both sides. Measure tread wear, too, because the steering will pull towards the side with the "shorter" tire (the one with the most tread wear). Also, check ride height and make sure it is within specs and is equal on both sides. The steering will usually pull towards the low side. Check for brake drag. A frozen or sticky caliper can cause a pull towards the side that's dragging.

Next, switch the left and right front tires to see what effect it has on the steering. If the steering still pulls in the same direction, the problem is not a bad tire. It is an alignment problem. Take your vehicle to an alignment shop and have them check for camber or caster misalignment, or the presence of a rear axle thrust angle. If the direction of a steering pull changes direction when you swap the front tires, one or both front tires may have a conicity problem.

The next step would be to swap the front and rear wheels on one side (right or left) to see if it eliminates the pull. No change would tell you it is the other front tire that is causing the steering pull. Swapping the other front tire to the rear should eliminate the problem as long as the offending tire remains in the rear. But if somebody rotates the tires later on and the bad tire ends up back in the front again, the steering pull will return. Replacing the offending tire will get rid of the problem altogether, and may be necessary if the tire causes problems in the rear, too.

Another way to reduce the effect of a tire conicity problem is to increase the inflation pressure of the tire. But the tradeoff may be a harsher ride and increased center wear in the tread.

conicity pull is just a different word for radial pull.

before going through all this, you may want to do quick tierod ends check. car should not be attempted to be aligned if tierod ends are loose.
also, look at tires. maybe one has a pronounced strange wear pattern different from the rest.

 

thanks for all the responses. it wasnt the swapping tires that changed the readings. im sure he did that before the free alignment check. really i would have taken the car out to see if that caused a change. now i dont even know so technically my $6 was a waste, if it didn't lead to the event of me getting a free alignment. i still dont know if there is a tire pull up there.

ive had good luck in the past with do it yourself camber adjustments, on a hyundai azera that pulled and i put on a camber kit on the front drivers side tire. we gave it more and less camber until the adjustments got smaller and smaller and the car did what i wanted it to.

that said, anyone know how i adjust the camrys camber. im gonna give the drivers side front tire a little positive camber and go re-drive it. but some technical support would be nice. anyone know what i gotta do?

 

Did you look at the Totota manual chapter on front suspension that I posted in this thread? You also don't appear to understand that making the left front camber more poisitive will result in the car going left even more. OK I get I you are just having some fun....

 

oops. the alignment guy the other day said positive camber was when the cars tire pointed inward. i thought he had it backward but he ended up not wanting to earn my money so he probably just does what the computer tells him to.

im definitely not having fun with this. but once i get the car tracking how i like it, i will be able to fall in love with this car.

i'll look over your manual again, but i didn't really see a how to or else i just didnt get it. i was hoping someone could have just given me simple directions. last time i fooled with it on the azera, i had a knowledgeable friend/mechanic with me