Well this issue has been going on for a month now, and I thought it was due to a seized front right caliper but after replacing all of the front brakes even calipers the car still pulls to the left when braking. After I am stopped and take my foot of the brake pedal and let go of the steering wheel, the steering wheel actually turns itself about 15 degress to the left?! Obviously something is really wrong here. I noticed that the alignment seems off somewhat as well so I am thinking a bad tie rod end or ball joint? I had the passenger side tie rod end replaced a couple months ago. Any feedback?


J

Master cylinder?
Not putting equal amount of pressure on either side.





Cavalier z24......A poor man's Camaro....close enough, right?

I had an issue, With my car pulling right, Done replacing brake calipers thinking that would correct the issue, Bled the brakes, still nothing. Then I decided to replace the fron brake lines, For sure that corrected the issue, I also thought it would be the master cyl. was going to do that part replacement as the last repair.


Good Luck.

Someone had just mentioned this recently too me as well so I am going to replace the lines tomorrow and bleed the whole system with ATE Super Blue brake fluid so I know all the old stuff is out. Hopefully this does work as the master cylinder I am sure is way more expensive to replace. Thanks for the reply.


J

Ok, frustration is setting in now! Argh!

So we replaced both front flex lines, both front calipers. Rotors and pads are less than 6 months old, no abnormal/uneven wear. Rear drums were done about a year ago, again working fine. Bled the whole system, all four corners and the master cylinder. Replaced outer tie rod ends, ball joints are good, had car aligned, that went fine. Car STILL pulls BADLY to the left even when applying the brakes lightly. Someone mentioned master brake cylinder but according to the dealer they are rare to fail and does not seem to be the solution to my issue, HELP anyone?!



J

Hi,

Cheap easy check,
Rotate your tires, Put the rears on the front and see if that not only fixes your "alignment" issues but your brake pulling as well. IF it does, new tires are in order along with an alignment. IF not you've got unequal braking action or an out of align situation.

Dave

Rotated the tires and brake pulling is still present. Argh! I replaced the right caliper AGAIN and also changed the brake pads, issue just will not go away! Help!


J

OK,
Time for more info.

When did it start pulling to the left? What were you doing? was there an event that occured before it started?

Did you hit a pot hole?
Any unusual event, rain snow ice, etc?

Does it pull while driving or only when stopping?

If it pulls when stopping ......
IF all of the brake components are good, caliper piston size matches, rotor thickness matches and pads are the same brand and there isn't any grease or oil on them, brake hoses aren't kinked or rotten, I'd check a few things
Wheel bearing, spins freely, no binding
Suspension parts, worn ball joint, worn strut bushings, control arm bushings, etc,

Brake pipe pinched from a repair or accident to the RF wheel

Rare is a Master the cause of this problem

If it pulls when driving you've got alignment / suspension issues.

You ruled out tire wear, belt slippage, pressure or radial set.

Dave

Mine pulled upon braking when I got it.

Simple control arm bushing replacement should suffice.

david keevil wrote:OK,
Time for more info.

When did it start pulling to the left? What were you doing? was there an event that occured before it started?

Did you hit a pot hole?
Any unusual event, rain snow ice, etc?

Does it pull while driving or only when stopping?

If it pulls when stopping ......
IF all of the brake components are good, caliper piston size matches, rotor thickness matches and pads are the same brand and there isn't any grease or oil on them, brake hoses aren't kinked or rotten, I'd check a few things
Wheel bearing, spins freely, no binding
Suspension parts, worn ball joint, worn strut bushings, control arm bushings, etc,

Brake pipe pinched from a repair or accident to the RF wheel

Rare is a Master the cause of this problem

If it pulls when driving you've got alignment / suspension issues.

You ruled out tire wear, belt slippage, pressure or radial set.

Dave

Well the car always kind of pulled to the left a little after the right side outer tie rod was replaced. That was done in the fall last year and we did not opt to get an alignment as the mechanic said it was not worth the money at the time. He also replaced the "hockey pucks" as the car would make a banging type of noise over rough terrain. These bushing did fix that issue. Are these the control arm lower bushings?


Potholes are very common here, but this is the wife's car and she said it has been doing it for about 3-4 months now but gradually getting worse and worse. She claims that when I replaced the right side caliper it was even worse than before! I did not seem to think so, but I rarely drive her car...

Wheels spins good freely, when alignment was done they verified that everything was good concerning the ball joints, tie-rod ends (after we replaced them).

Checked the brake line to the front right and there is no pinches and when we bled it a good stream of brake fluid does expel.

The car drives straight on it own, the pulling only occurs when braking. If I brake while not holding the steering wheel, it appears the steering wheel moves slightly to the right and then upon releasing the brakes the steering wheel moves abruptly to the left. That make sense?!

When I did some harder brake sessions tonight with the windows down you can most definitely here the front left wheel getting more brake force as the tire makes more "noise". This occured also after I swapped the front tires to another set. Tire pressure all around is at 32 psi.




J

Mike (96RedCav) wrote:Mine pulled upon braking when I got it.

Simple control arm bushing replacement should suffice.

Both sets of bushings or just the lower/larger ones? I recall having the larger (hockey puck style) bushings done last Fall.


J

I just looked online and it appears according to AC Delco I had the rear vertical mount bushings replaced last Fall. Thats the ones I was referring to as the "hockey puck"



J

Well, if all of the suspension parts are in good order and you've had an alignment and if it doesn't pull at all while driving, the brake system is highly suspect.

Doesn't always work but...

Jack up the front of the car and put on jack stands.
Leave the wheels on and have a helper gently step on the brake pedal and hold it.
You grab the RF tire and try to rotate it, now the LF
Is the resistance the same on both sides.

This isn't an exact test and pedal pressure must stay even. It would be good to have a 3rd person try to rotate the other wheel while you do one while one steps on the brake pedal.

Without the proper gauges and adapters it is tough to measure fluid pressure to the wheels. Even if you purchased the gauges, it would have been cheaper to purchase a master cylinder.

Brakes ARE important. There comes a time one must cry "uncle" recognize limitations and pay someone to diagnose and fix. I recently did that on an electric GEM car that had me baffled in the charging / driving circuits.

Good Luck
Dave

Even though the horizontal control arm bushingswere replaced not too long cin would it or could it be the vertical control arm bushings that are defective?


J

So we replaced the master cylinder and abs modulator with one we got from the junk yard. No change.

We also replaced both wheel cylinders. No change.

Replacec front pads. No change.

Pressure going to front tires seems okay as we did the test above as recommended by David. Somehow

I think we have ruled out brakes as being the issue and am leaning possibly towards a suspension issue here. I am going to check out the control arm bushings again as the vertical ones were done not long ago but who knows?

This car has become quite a PITA to fix/diagnose!

Someone also mentioned to me that it could memory steer which could be due to a defective strut mount?

I do not hear any noise while driving to indicate a bad wheel hub and have not noticed any play in the tire while the car is on axle stands. I would think some of these later possible solutions would/should have come up during the recent alignment last week though.

Any other ideas to steer me straight while braking



J

ball joint. lift up the car and really push that front wheel up and down with both hands, left and right and have someone take a real good look at the ball joint and see if it moves. IMO

i know the 2.4 have a torque strut on pas side and their is a bolt behind it that started to back out on me one day and it started to pull so i just put lock tight on it and tightened it real tight and never had that problem again